Read Online A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Oprah's Book Club) by Charles Dickens - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Charles Dickens
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and silence into which the storm called Life must hush at last – they came forward to raise the father and daughter from the ground. He had gradually drooped to the floor, and lay there in a lethargy, worn out. She had nestled down with him, that his head might lie upon her arm; and her hair drooping over him curtained him from the light.
‘If, without disturbing him,’ she said, raising her hand to Mr Lorry as he stooped over them, after repeated blowings of his nose, ‘all could be arranged for our leaving Paris at once, so that, from the very door, he could be taken away—’
‘But, consider. Is he fit for the journey?’ asked Mr Lorry.
‘More fit for that, I think, than to remain in this city, so dreadful to him.’
‘It is true,’ said Defarge, who was kneeling to look on and hear. ‘More than that; Monsieur Manette is, for all reasons, best out of France. Say, shall I hire a carriage and post-horses?’
‘That’s business,’ said Mr Lorry, resuming on the shortest notice his methodical manners; ‘and if business is to be done, I had better do it.’
‘Then be so kind,’ urged Miss Manette, ‘as to leave us here. You see how composed he has become, and you cannot be afraid to leave him with me now. Why should you be? If you will lock the door to secure us from interruption, I do not doubt that you will find him, when you come back, as quiet as you leave him. In any case, I will take care of him until you return, and then we will remove him straight.’
Both Mr Lorry and Defarge were rather disinclined to this course, and in favour of one of them remaining. But, as there were not only carriage and horses to be seen to, but travelling papers; and as time pressed, for the day was drawing to an end, it came at last to their hastily dividing the business that was necessary to be done, and hurrying away to do it.
Then, as the darkness closed in, the daughter laid her head down on the hard ground close at the father’s side, and watched him. The darkness deepened and deepened, and they both lay quiet, until a light gleamed through the chinks in the wall.
Mr Lorry and Monsieur Defarge had made all ready for the journey, and had brought with them, besides travelling cloaks and wrappers, bread and meat, wine, and hot coffee. Monsieur Defarge put this provender, and the lamp he carried, on the shoemaker’s bench (there was nothing else in the garret but a pallet bed), and he and Mr Lorry roused the captive, and assisted him to his feet.
No human intelligence could have read the mysteries of his mind, in the scared blank wonder of his face. Whether he knew what had happened, whether he recollected what they had said to him, whether he knew that he was free, were questions which no sagacity could have solved. They tried speaking to him; but, he was so confused, and so very slow to answer, that they took fright at his bewilderment, and agreed for the time to tamper with him no more. He had a wild, lost manner of occasionally clasping his head in his hands, that had not been seen in him before; yet, he had some pleasure in the mere sound of his daughter’s voice, and invariably turned to it when she spoke.
In the submissive way of one long accustomed to obey under coercion, he ate and drank what they gave him to eat and drink, and put on the cloak and other wrappings that they gave him to wear. He readily responded to his daughter’s drawing her arm through his, and took – and kept – her hand in both of his own.
They began to descend; Monsieur Defarge going first with the lamp, Mr Lorry closing the little procession. They had not traversed many steps of the long main staircase when he stopped, and stared at the roof and round at the walls.
‘You remember the place, my father? You remember coming up here?’
‘What did you say?’
But, before she could repeat the question, he murmured an answer as if she had repeated it.
‘Remember? No, I don’t remember. It was so very long ago.’
That he
‘If, without disturbing him,’ she said, raising her hand to Mr Lorry as he stooped over them, after repeated blowings of his nose, ‘all could be arranged for our leaving Paris at once, so that, from the very door, he could be taken away—’
‘But, consider. Is he fit for the journey?’ asked Mr Lorry.
‘More fit for that, I think, than to remain in this city, so dreadful to him.’
‘It is true,’ said Defarge, who was kneeling to look on and hear. ‘More than that; Monsieur Manette is, for all reasons, best out of France. Say, shall I hire a carriage and post-horses?’
‘That’s business,’ said Mr Lorry, resuming on the shortest notice his methodical manners; ‘and if business is to be done, I had better do it.’
‘Then be so kind,’ urged Miss Manette, ‘as to leave us here. You see how composed he has become, and you cannot be afraid to leave him with me now. Why should you be? If you will lock the door to secure us from interruption, I do not doubt that you will find him, when you come back, as quiet as you leave him. In any case, I will take care of him until you return, and then we will remove him straight.’
Both Mr Lorry and Defarge were rather disinclined to this course, and in favour of one of them remaining. But, as there were not only carriage and horses to be seen to, but travelling papers; and as time pressed, for the day was drawing to an end, it came at last to their hastily dividing the business that was necessary to be done, and hurrying away to do it.
Then, as the darkness closed in, the daughter laid her head down on the hard ground close at the father’s side, and watched him. The darkness deepened and deepened, and they both lay quiet, until a light gleamed through the chinks in the wall.
Mr Lorry and Monsieur Defarge had made all ready for the journey, and had brought with them, besides travelling cloaks and wrappers, bread and meat, wine, and hot coffee. Monsieur Defarge put this provender, and the lamp he carried, on the shoemaker’s bench (there was nothing else in the garret but a pallet bed), and he and Mr Lorry roused the captive, and assisted him to his feet.
No human intelligence could have read the mysteries of his mind, in the scared blank wonder of his face. Whether he knew what had happened, whether he recollected what they had said to him, whether he knew that he was free, were questions which no sagacity could have solved. They tried speaking to him; but, he was so confused, and so very slow to answer, that they took fright at his bewilderment, and agreed for the time to tamper with him no more. He had a wild, lost manner of occasionally clasping his head in his hands, that had not been seen in him before; yet, he had some pleasure in the mere sound of his daughter’s voice, and invariably turned to it when she spoke.
In the submissive way of one long accustomed to obey under coercion, he ate and drank what they gave him to eat and drink, and put on the cloak and other wrappings that they gave him to wear. He readily responded to his daughter’s drawing her arm through his, and took – and kept – her hand in both of his own.
They began to descend; Monsieur Defarge going first with the lamp, Mr Lorry closing the little procession. They had not traversed many steps of the long main staircase when he stopped, and stared at the roof and round at the walls.
‘You remember the place, my father? You remember coming up here?’
‘What did you say?’
But, before she could repeat the question, he murmured an answer as if she had repeated it.
‘Remember? No, I don’t remember. It was so very long ago.’
That he
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