Two Cities

Chapter 11

"Do you know Old Baylor well?" said an elderly pilot to Jerry, who was running errands.

"N-yes, sir," replied Jerry, somewhat defiantly, "I do know it well."

"Very well. You know Mr. Lorry, too?" "I know Mr. Lorry better than I do old Baylor, sir,"

Jerry said it wasn't like there was no way to get to Old Baylor to testify in that tone. "As an honest businessman, I'd rather know Mr. Lorry than old Baylor."

"Very well. Go to the witness door, and show this note addressed to Mr. Lorry to the porter, and he will let you in."

"To court, sir?" "Yes."

Cruncher's eyes seemed to come closer together, and they were probing each other, "What better idea do you have for this?"

"Should I wait in the courtroom, sir?" he asked as a result of interchanging eyes.

"Let me tell you. The concierge will hand over the note to Mr. Lorry. At that time, you will gesture to Mr. Lorry to attract his attention and let him see where you are waiting. Then you wait where you are." Stand by and wait for orders."

"That's it, sir?" "Yes, that's it. He hopes that there is someone around to deliver the letter. This letter is to tell him that you are there." The old clerk carefully folded the note and marked the name of the recipient.Mr. Cruncher looked at him silently, and said as he blotted the ink dry: "I figured there would be a perjury trial this morning?" "Treason!"

"That's going to be dismembered," Jerry said. "It's fierce!" "It's the law," said the aged pilot, turning his incredulous spectacles to him. "It's the law!"

"I feel that the law's dismemberment is too strong. Killing him is enough, dismemberment is too much, sir."

"Not at all," said the old pilot. "Speak well of the law. Protect your chest and throat, good friend. Don't worry about the law, which has nothing to do with you. I advise you."

"I've got moisture on my chest and throat, sir," said Jerry. "Think about how much moisture I have to bear to earn my living."

"Okay, okay," said the old clerk, "we're all going to make a living, but we're all different. Some get wet, some get bored. Here's the letter, go."

Jerry received the letter with a respectful appearance, but he was very dissatisfied in his heart, and said, "You are also a scrawny old man." He bowed, told his son where he was going, and then left.

Hangings were still being carried out in Taiben at the time, so the street outside the gates of Newgate Prison was not as disreputable as it was later, but the prison was a dirty place, where all kinds of shameful acts happened, and all kinds of terrible things happened. All the diseases of the world also multiplied there, and as the prisoner entered the courtroom, sometimes even directly from the dock to the chancellor, dragged him down from his throne.When the judge wearing the black top hat announced the death sentence for the prisoner, he also announced his own destruction, and there were many times when he was destroyed earlier than the prisoner.In addition, the old Baylor is also known as the "death against the journey".From there the pale-faced travellers, in wagons and carriages, passed a violent road to another world.Few, if any, citizens were ashamed of walking about two and a half miles of avenues and highways.Habits are powerful, and habituation is useful in the beginning as well.This prison is also famous for its shackles.It was an ancient and clever system, and it punished harm to a degree that no one could have predicted.It is also famous for its flogging posts, a lovely and ancient institution, too, which, after seeing it, arouses great sympathy.It is also famous for its massive "blood money" dealings, a sign of the ingenuity of our ancestors, which can lead to the most egregious crime-for-hire in the world.All in all, the old Baylor at that time is the best example of the famous saying "to be is to be reasonable".This aphorism would have been conclusive if it hadn't included the embarrassing corollary that what didn't exist was also irrational, even though it didn't work.

Dirty crowds fill the scene of such terror.The messenger, accustomed to move silently and deftly through the crowd, found the door he was looking for, and handed in the letter through a small trap.At that time people paid as much money to see the old Baylor as they paid to see Bedlam, and the old Baylor was much more expensive.Therefore, all the doors of Old Baylor are strictly guarded-only the traffic gates for criminals to enter and exit are wide open.

After some delay and indecision, the door reluctantly opened and Jerry Cruncher squeezed into the courtroom.

"What are you doing?" He whispered to the people around him. "Not yet." "What case is going to be tried?" "Treason case."

"The corpse is to be dismembered, isn't it?" "Ah!" the man replied excitedly, "first hang him half to death on the rack, then put him down and let him see the knife and knife, and then take out the internal organs, in front of his eyes." His face was burned. Finally, his head was cut off and cut into four pieces. That's what this punishment is like."

"You mean, if he's found guilty?" Jerry said, as if adding a proviso.

"Ah! They'll surely find him guilty," said the other. "Don't worry."

Mr. Cruncher's attention was at this moment distracted by the doorman.He saw the doorman approaching Mr. Lorry with the letter.Mr. Lorry sat at the table with the gentlemen in wigs, very close to the prisoner's advocate.The advocate wore a wig and had a large bundle of papers in front of him.Almost directly across from them sat another gentleman in a wig, with his hands in his pockets.When Mr. Cruncher visited him then and later, his attention paused on the courtroom ceiling.Jerry coughed loudly, rubbed his chin again, and made a gesture that caught Mr. Lorry's attention. Mr. Lorry had stood up and looked for him by this time, nodded and sat down again when he saw him. .

"What has he to do with the case?" asked the man with whom he had just spoken. "If only I knew," Jerry said. "If someone were to investigate, would you have anything to do with the case?" "I wish I knew," Jerry said.The entry of the judge caused a commotion, which was quickly quieted down, and they stopped talking.The dock immediately became their focus.The two wardens who had been standing there went out and brought the prisoner in and sent him to the dock.

All eyes were on the accused, except the man in the wig looking at the ceiling.All human breath there rolled toward him like sea waves, like wind, like fire.Eager faces try to circle the capitals, turn the horns, wanting to see him.The audience in the back row stood up, not letting even a hair of his hair go.The standing people put their hands on the shoulders of the people in front of them and looked forward. Whether it affected others or not, they just wanted to see clearly—some of them stood on tiptoe, some stepped on the dado, and some stepped on the ground that could not be stepped on. On the living things, to fully see the prisoner.Standing out from the crowd, Jerry stood out like a living room in the barbed wire walls of Newgate Prison, blowing his beer-smelling snort at the prisoners (he had only had a drink on the way). cup), and mixed that smell with other smells—beer, gin, tea, coffee, and so on—into a wave.The tide had merged into a cloudy cloud of fog and rain and was rushing towards him, and was already rushing towards the large window behind him.

The object of all this staring and uproar was a young man of about twenty-five, of medium height and good complexion, with a sunburned face and dark eyes, who looked like a young gentleman.He was dressed in plain black (perhaps dark gray) and had long dark hair.The purpose is to avoid trouble not for decoration.Mental emotions are often revealed through the surface of the body, so the pallor of his situation showed through the tawny cheeks, showing that his soul is stronger than the sun.Other than that he was very calm.He saluted the judge and stood silently.

The interest with which people look at this man and spray mist on him is not the kind of interest which ennobles human beings.If the sentence he faced was less horrific than he imagined, if there was any chance that the details of the punishment's brutality would be diminished, so would his charm.The nice thing about this guy is that he's going to be chopped up so vilely.A living person is about to be slaughtered and torn to pieces, and that's where the sensation comes from.Although different audiences can justify this interest with different rhetoric and self-deception, it is ugly and murderous at its bottom.

Very quiet in the courtroom!Charles Darnay pleaded not guilty to the prosecution yesterday.There are countless ringing words in that indictment, that he is a most pathetic traitor, who betrayed our quiet, brilliant, brilliant, etc., sovereign, king, master.For he, at different times and in different ways, helped King Louis of France to attack our above-mentioned quiet, brilliant, illustrious, etc. kings.That is to say, he frequented the land of our above-mentioned quiet, brilliant, illustrious, etc. king, and the above-mentioned land of King Louis of France, and thus heinously, perfidiously, treasonously, etc. The above-mentioned King Louis of France confided that our above-mentioned quiet, brilliant, brilliant, etc. king has arranged the troops he intends to send to Canada and North America.The legal documents were filled with confusion, and the hair on Jerry's head was slowly standing on end, and the barbed wire was opened. After all kinds of twists and turns, he came to the conclusion with great satisfaction, and understood that the above-mentioned one has been repeated over and over again. The Charles Darnay in question was standing before him at this moment for trial, and the jury was taking their oaths.Mr. Attorney General is ready to speak.

At this time, the defendant had already been strangled, decapitated, and dismembered by everyone present in the imagination.The defendant is also very clear about this point.But he didn't show fear in front of this situation, nor did he show dramatic heroism.He didn't say a word, with a focused expression, watching the opening ceremony with quiet interest, and gently placed his hands on the wooden railing in front of him.The wooden railing was full of herbs, but his hands were so calm that he didn’t even touch a single leaf—in order to prevent the prison stink and prison fever from spreading, the court had been filled with herbs and sprinkled with vinegar.

There is a mirror on the prisoner's head, which is used to cast light on him.How many wicked and unfortunate beings have been reflected in this mirror and have vanished from its face and the face of the earth without a trace.If this mirror could reproduce its image as the ocean unearths its drowned, the Hateful Place would be haunted and ghastly.Perhaps the prisoner once thought that the purpose of keeping this mirror was to embarrass and humiliate the prisoners. In short, he moved his position, but felt a light shining on his face. When he looked up, his face glowed when he saw the mirror. With a blush, he stretched out his right hand and knocked off the herbal medicine.

The motion caused him to turn his head towards the courtroom to his left.There were two people sitting next to the judge's seat, basically at eye level with him.His eyes immediately fell on the two of them.The gaze flashed down so quickly, and his face changed so much that all the gazes that turned to him looked at those two people again.

One of the two people the audience sees is a young lady who is just over twenty, and the other is obviously her father.Her father attracts attention with his white hair.There was an expression of indescribable tension on his face: not the tension of activity, but the tension of brooding introspection.When that look was on his face, he looked old and frail, but once the look was gone—and now it was gone for a while, because he was talking to his daughter—he was a handsome man again, not yet Beyond his best years.

His daughter sat beside him, holding his arm.Because she was afraid of this scene, and because she sympathized with the prisoner, she got closer to him.For the mere sight of the defendant's danger, her brow evidently expresses the terror of concentration.This expression was so attractive and natural that the spectators who had no sympathy for the prisoner could not help but be infected.A whisper followed, "Who are these two?"

Messenger Jerry, observing in his own way, and sucking the rust from his hands as he observed, craned his neck to see who the two men were.The people around him leaned against each other, passing the questioning in order to the closest person in court.The answer came back more slowly, and finally reached Jerry's ears.

"It's a witness."

"Which side?" "Against." "Against which side?" "Against the defendant's side."

The judge withdrew his scattered gaze just now, leaned back on the chair, and stared at the young man with his eyes motionless——the man's life was in his hands.At this moment, Mr. Attorney-General stood up, twisted the noose, sharpened the axe, and drove the nail into the guillotine.

(End of this chapter)