Two Cities

Chapter 34
The day of the wedding was sunny.Everything was ready, but the doctor closed the door and talked with Charles Darnay in the room, and everyone waited outside the door.The beautiful bride, Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross are all ready for church.After some time of acclimatization, Miss Pross had come to accept the unalterable fact that the marriage was now nothing but absolute joy to her, though she still lingered in the hope that her brother Solomon would be the bridegroom.

"So," said Mr. Lorry, who had endless admiration for the bride, and walked round her, admiring every detail of her fine dress, "so it was for today that I carried you across the Channel, You were but such a little doll, my dear Lucy! God bless! What an insignificant thing I thought I had done! I was in the service of my friend Mr. Charles, but my importance to him Sex is underestimated!"

"I'm afraid you wouldn't have imagined what happened today," said Miss Pross truthfully. "How would you know? Nonsense!"

"Nonsense? Well, don't cry then," said gentle Mr. Lorry. "I didn't cry," said Miss Pross, "you did." "Me, my Pross?" (Mr. Lorry had now ventured to joke with her now and then.) "I saw You were crying just now, but I don't think it's strange. You gave me that silver set that would have wept. When the box came last night," said Miss Pross, "there were no forks and spoons in the box. One thing kept me from crying, I cried until my eyes were blurred and I couldn't see anything."

"I'm terribly sorry," said Mr. Lorry, "but, I swear, I didn't mean to keep my little gift invisible. Good God! It's time for me to count what I've lost." .Gosh, gosh, gosh! Come to think of it, there's been a Mrs. Lowry almost every moment for 50 years!"

"Impossible!" said Miss Pross.

"You don't think there's ever been a Mrs. Lorry?" asked the gentleman whose name was Lorry.

"Pooh!" replied Miss Pross, "you were destined to be a loner from birth!"

"Yes, that seems quite likely," said Mr. Lorry, stroking his little wig grinningly.

"Before you were born," went on Miss Pross, "you were destined to be a bachelor for life."

"In that case I feel," said Mr. Lorry, "that my lot is unfair. I should have a choice and a say in my own way of life. Enough! My dear Lucy," he said consolingly. Arms around her waist, "I heard them moving in the next room. Miss Pross and I are experts, and we both want to say something to you at last, my dear, you can tell your father Give it to someone as sincere and loving as yourself, and he will get all the care you can imagine. During your two weeks in Warwickshire and the surrounding area, even Tellson's Bank Obedience to his demands (comparatively speaking). When two weeks pass, and he goes to Wales with you and your dear husband, you will surely see him in the healthiest and happiest spirit. Now they come to the door Let me hurry up and kiss my darling girl before you are his, and give him the blessing of an old-fashioned bachelor!" He cupped that pretty face, and approached, gazing at the unforgettable smile on her brow. , and hugged her bright blond hair to her own little brown wig with tenderness and delicacy.If it's old school, it's as old as Adam.

The door opened, and the Doctor and Charles Darnay came out.The doctor was pale - which he had not been when they entered the room.However, he looked calm and his expression was the same as before, but Mr. Lorry's sharp eyes also saw some clues, indicating that all the sufferings and fears of the past came back to his heart.

He gave his daughter his arm, and led her down-stairs into the buggy which Mr. Lorry had hired in advance for the day, while the others sat in another.Charles Darnay and Lucy Manette were then happily married in a nearby church, with no strangers watching.

At the wedding, the tears in the smiling eyes of everyone and the sparkling diamonds in the bride's hand shone together and complemented each other.Those diamonds had only recently been liberated from the dark corners of Mr. Lorry's pocket.The party went home to breakfast, and all was well.Not long after, the poor shoemaker's gray hair was joined to the bright blond hair in the morning sun in the Paris attic.That was when they said goodbye to each other on the threshold.

Although the parting was short, the parting was painful.But her father gently shook her off her embracing arms, encouraging her, saying, "Take it, Charles, she's yours!" She waved excitedly to them from the car window, and walked away.The corner was far from idlers, and the preparations for the wedding were so austere, that it was not long before the Doctor, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross found themselves alone.As they entered the bleak shadows of the ancient hall, Mr. Lorry saw that the Doctor had been changed, as if fatally.

He has indeed been in control of his feelings, and now he suddenly relaxes and there will be a rebound.But what worried Mr. Lorry was the reappearance of his old frightened and dazed look.The way he went into his room absent-mindedly and desolately with his head folded as they went upstairs reminded Mr. Lorry of Defarge the Innkeeper and the coach ride under the stars.

"I think," he whispered anxiously to Miss Pross, "I think we'd better not talk to him or bother him just now. I must go back to Tellson now, right away, right away." Come back. Then we'll take him for a ride into the country, have dinner there, and then everything will be all right."

It was easy for Mr. Lorry to get into Tellson, but difficult to get out, and he was delayed there for two hours.On his return he went straight up the ancient stairs without asking the servants, and entered the doctor's room.A low knocking sound made him stop.

"My God!" he said, startled, "what happened?"

Miss Pross whispered in his ear in dismay, "Oh, my God, my God! It's all over!" She wrung her hands and cried, "How can I explain to the little bird? He doesn't know me anymore. Make shoes by yourself!"

Mr. Lorry did his best to calm her down, and went himself into the doctor's room.The bench had been moved to face the sunlight, and the doctor was busy with his head down, just like when he saw the shoemaker working.

"Dr. Manette, my dear friend, Dr. Manette!" The doctor watched him for a moment, half questioning, half angry at being spoken to, and then dropped his head and went on with his work.He took off his coat and vest as he did when he was making shoes, and opened the collar of his shirt, and even regained his haggard and yellow face.He worked hard, but he was also a little angry and impatient, as if he didn't like to be interrupted.

Mr. Lorry glanced at what he was doing, said that the style and size of the shoe were out of fashion, picked up another shoe beside him, and asked what it was.

"Young lady's walking shoes," he muttered, still bowing his head. "It should have been done a long time ago."

"But, Dr. Manette, look at me!" He raised his head in the same dead-faced, submissive manner as before, but he continued to work. "Do you know me, my dear friend. Think again. You are not fit for the job. Think, dear friend!" It was hard to get him to say a word more.If you want him to look up, he occasionally looks up, but no matter how much you try to persuade him, he doesn't say a word.He was always working, working, working, and not saying a word.Words fell upon him as upon an echoless wall or into an abyss.The only hope Mr. Lorry could find was that once in a while he would look up by himself, with what seemed to be an expression of curiosity or dismay--as if to answer some question in his mind.

Mr. Lorry felt that two things must be done: first, that Lucy must be kept secret.Second, it must be kept secret from all those who knew him.He immediately took measures with Miss Pross to solve the second problem, and announced that the doctor was not in good health and needed a period of complete recuperation.In order to deceive his daughter in good faith, Miss Pross had to write a letter, saying that the doctor was away for a consultation, and referring to a letter of his own hand that did not exist, saying it was only scribbled. Two or three lines and send it to her with this letter.

In addition to taking these necessary steps, Mr. Lowry also hoped that the doctors themselves would return to normal.If he soon recovered to normal, Mr. Lorry was prepared to take another step, which was to find a diagnosis and treatment according to the doctor's disease that he thought most appropriate.

In the hope that he would return to normal on his own, and that the third measure would be carried out, Mr. Lorry resolved to observe him with all his heart, and, as far as possible, without his perception.So he made his first arrangements with Tellson, took a leave of absence, and stayed with the doctor.

He soon discovered that talking to the doctor was not helpful but harmful, because he became restless when he was forced to talk, and from the first day he abandoned that plan and decided to stop him by keeping himself in his presence all the time. hallucinating.So he sat all the time in the window-seat, reading and writing, and thought of all sorts of natural and pleasant ways to show that this room was no prison.

Dr. Manette worked and ate and drank what was given him the first day, and did not stop until it was too dark to see the work--after Mr. Lorry was unable to read and write, he worked halfway. Hours.Then he was packing up his tools, intending to use them again in the morning, when Mr. Lorry rose and said to him:
"Are you going out?" He stared at the floor on both sides in the usual way, searched in the same way, and repeated in his own soft voice: "Get out?"

"Yes, go for a walk with me. Why not?" He tried his best to say why not?But there was no sound.But Mr. Lorry fancied that as he sat bent over a stool in the darkened room, with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, he also seemed to be saying to himself in a daze, "Why not?" ?” The shrewdness of the businessman allowed him to seize a favorable condition here, and he was determined to seize it.

Miss Pross and he took turns watching over him at night in the next room.The doctor walked up and down the room for a long time before going to bed, but fell asleep right away when he finally lay down.In the morning he got up on time and went straight to the bench to start working.

The next day Mr. Lorry greeted him cheerfully by his first name, and spoke to him of things which had lately become acquainted.He didn't answer, but it was evident that he was thinking hard and mumbling something.This greatly boosted Mr. Lorry's confidence.He had Miss Pross come in several times during the day to do the housework.Then they were talking quickly about Lucy, about Lucy's father (who was next to him), exactly as usual, as if nothing had changed.All of this was done very naturally, without showing any flaws on purpose, each time was very short and not too frequent, so as not to upset him.Mr. Lorry's friendly heart finally relaxed. He believed that the number of times the doctor looked up to listen to him had increased, and the doctor seemed to be aware that things around him did not match his feelings, and he seemed to be stimulated.

When dusk came again, Mr. Lorry asked him as before: "Dear doctor, would you like to go out?" He repeated, "Go out?" "Yes, go for a walk with me, why not?" What?" Mr. Lorry pretended to go out this time after he failed to induce him to answer.He stayed out for an hour before coming back.During this time, the doctor gently came to the seat under the window and sat down, staring blankly at the sycamore tree under the window.But as soon as Mr. Lorry came back, he slipped back to his old stool again.

The time passed slowly, and Mr. Lorry's hopes grew fainter and his heart more heavy every day.The third day came and went, then the fourth day, five days, six days, seven days, eight days, nine days.Mr. Lorry passed these anxious days under the heavy weight of dying hopes.The two were tight-lipped, and Lucy was so happy that she didn't notice it.But Mr. Lorry had to admit that the shoemaker's somewhat unfamiliar hands became more proficient again, and what was more frightening was that on the evening of the ninth day, he became more enthusiastic about work than ever before, even Those hands were also more dexterous than ever.

(End of this chapter)