THE marriage-day was shining brightly, and they were ready outside the closed door of the Doctor's room, where he was speaking with Charles Darnay. They were ready to go to church; the beautiful bride, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross--to whom the event, through a gradual process of reconcilement to the inevitable, would have been one of absolute bliss, but for the yet lingering consideration that her brother Solomon should have been the bridegroom.

`And so,' said Mr. Lorry, who could not sufficiently admire the bride, and who had been moving round her to take in every point of her quiet, pretty dress; `and so it was for this, my sweet Lucie, that I brought you across the Channel, such a baby!  Lord bless me! How little I thought what I was doing! How lightly I valued the obligation I was conferring on my friend Mr. Charles!'

`You didn't mean it,' remarked the matter-of-fact Miss Pross, `and therefore how could you know it? Nonsense!'

`Really? Well; but don't cry,' said the gentle Mr. Lorry.

`I am not crying,' said Miss Pross; `you are.

`I, my Pross?' (By this time, Mr. Lorry dared to be pleasant with her, on occasion.)

`You were, just now; I saw you do it, and I don't wonder at it. Such a present of plate as you have made `em, is enough to bring tears into anybody's eyes. There's not a fork or a spoon in the collection,' said Miss Pross, `that I didn't cry over, last night after the box came, till I couldn't see it.'

`I am highly gratified,' said Mr. Lorry, `though, upon my honour, I had no intention of rendering those trifling articles of remembrance invisible to any one. Dear me! This is an occasion that makes a man speculate on all he has lost. Dear, dear, dear! To think that there might have been a Mrs. Lorry, any time these fifty years almost!'

`Not at all!' From Miss Pross.

`You think there never might have been a Mrs. Lorry?' asked the gentleman of that name.

`Pooh!' rejoined Miss Pross; `you were a bachelor in your cradle.'

`Well!' observed Mr. Lorry, beamingly adjusting his little wig, `that seems probable, too.

`And you were cut out for a bachelor,' pursued Miss Pross, `before you were put in your cradle.'

`Then, I think,' said Mr. Lorry, `that I was very unhandsomely dealt with, and that I ought to have had a voice in the selection of my pattern. Enough! Now, my dear Lucie,' drawing his arm soothingly round her waist, `I hear them moving in the next room, and Miss Pross and I, as two formal folks of business, are anxious not to lose the final opportunity of saying something to you that you wish to hear. You leave your good father, my dear, in hands as earnest and as loving as your own; he shall be taken every conceivable care of; during the next fortnight, while you are in Warwickshire and thereabouts, even Tellson's shall
go to the wall (comparatively speaking) before him. And when, at the fortnight's end, he comes to join you and your beloved husband, on your other fortnight's trip in Wales, you shall say that we have sent him to you in the best health and in the happiest frame. Now I hear Somebody's step coming to the door. Let me kiss my dear girl with an old-fashioned bachelor blessing, before Somebody comes to claim his own.'

For a moment, he held the fair face from him to look at the well-remembered expression on the forehead, and then laid the bright golden hair against his little brown wig, with a genuine tenderness and delicacy which, if such things be old-fashioned, were as old as Adam.

The door of the Doctor's room opened, and he came out with Charles Darnay. He was so deadly pale--which had not been the case when they went in together--that no vestige of colour was to be seen in his face. But, in the composure of his manner he was unaltered, except that to the shrewd glance of Mr. Lorry it disclosed some shadowy indication that the old air of avoidance and dread had lately passed over him, like a cold wind.

He gave his arm to his daughter, and took her downstairs to the chariot which Mr. Lorry had hired in honour of the day. The rest followed in another carriage, and soon, in a neighbouring church, where no strange eyes looked on, Charles Darnay and Lucie Manette were happily married.

Besides the glancing tears that shone among the smiles of the little group when it was done, some diamonds, very bright and sparkling, glanced on the bride's hand, which were newly released from the dark obscurity of one of Mr. Lorry's pockets. They returned home to breakfast, and all went well, and in due course the golden hair that had mingled with the poor shoemaker's white locks in the Paris garret, were mingled with them again in the morning sunlight, on the threshold of the door at parting.

It was a hard parting, though it was not for long. But her father cheered her, and said at last, gently disengaging himself from her enfolding arms, `Take her, Charles! She is yours!'

And her agitated hand waved to them from a chaise window, and she was gone.

The corner being out of the way of the idle and curious, and the preparations having been very simple and few, the Doctor, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross, were left quite alone. It was when they turned into the welcome shade of the cool old hall, that Mr. Lorry observed a great change to have come over the Doctor; as if the golden arm uplifted there, had struck him a poisoned blow.

He had naturally repressed much, and some revulsion might have been expected in him when the occasion for repression was gone. But, it was the old scared lost look that troubled Mr. Lorry; and through his absent manner of clasping his head' and drearily wandering away into his own room when they got up-stairs, Mr. Lorry was reminded of Defarge the wine-shop keeper, and the starlight ride.

`I think,' he whispered to Miss Pross, after anxious consideration, `I think we had best not speak to him just now, or at all disturb him. I must look in at Tellson's; so I will go there at once and come back presently. Then, we will take him a ride into the country, and dine there, and all will be well.'

It was easier for Mr. Lorry to look in at Tellson's, than to look out of Tellson's. He was detained two hours. When he came back, he ascended the old staircase alone, having asked no question of the servant; going thus into the Doctors rooms, he was stopped by a low sound of knocking.

`Good God!' he said, with a start. `What's that?'

Miss Pross, with a terrified face, was at his ear. `O me, O me! All is lost!' cried she, wringing her hands. `What is to be told to Ladybird? He doesn't know me, and is making shoes!'

Mr. Lorry said what he could to calm her, and went himself into the Doctor's room. The bench was turned towards the light, as it had been when he had seen the shoemaker at his work before, and his head was bent down, and he was very busy.

`Doctor Manette. My dear friend, Doctor Manette!'

The Doctor looked at him for a moment--half inquiringly, half as if he were angry at being spoken to--and bent over his work again.

He had laid aside his coat and waistcoat; his shirt was open at the throat, as it used to be when he did that work; and even the old haggard, faded surface of face had come back to him. He worked hard--impatiently--as if in some sense of having been interrupted.

Mr. Lorry glanced at the work in his hand, and observed that it was a shoe of the old size and shape. He took up another that was lying by him, and asked what it was?

`A young lady's walking shoe,' he muttered, without looking up' `It ought to have been finished long ago. Let it be.'

`But, Doctor Manette. Look at me'

He obeyed, in the old mechanically submissive manner, without pausing in his work.

`You know me, my dear friend? Think again. This is not your proper occupation. Think, dear friend!'

Nothing would induce him to speak more. He looked up, for an instant at a time, when he was requested to do so; but, no persuasion would extract a word from him. He worked, and worked, and worked, in silence, and words fell on him as they would have fallen on an echoless wall, or on the air. The only ray of hope that Mr. Lorry could discover, was, that he
sometimes furtively looked up without being asked. In that, there seemed a faint expression of curiosity or perplexity--as though he were trying to reconcile some doubts in his mind.

Two things at once impressed themselves on Mr. Lorry, as important above all others; the first, that this must be kept secret from Lucie; the second that it must be kept secret from all who knew him. In conjunction with Miss Pross, he took immediate steps towards the latter precaution, by giving out that the Doctor was not well, and required a few days of complete rest. In aid of the kind deception to be practised on his daughter, Miss Pross was to write, describing his having been called away professionally, and referring to an imaginary letter of two or three hurried lines in his own hand, represented to have been
addressed to her by the same post.

These measures, advisable to be taken in any case, Mr. Lorry took in the hope of his coming to himself. If that should happen soon, he kept another course in reserve; which was, to have a certain opinion that he thought the best, on the Doctor's case.

In the hope of his recovery, and of resort to this third course being thereby rendered practicable, Mr. Lorry resolved to watch him attentively, with as little appearance as possible of doing so. He therefore made arrangements to absent himself from
Tellson's for the first time in his life, and took his post by the window in the same room.

He was not long in discovering that it was worse than useless to speak to him, since, on being pressed, he became worried. He abandoned that attempt on the first day, and resolved merely to keep himself always before him, as a silent protest against the
delusion into which he had fallen, or was falling. He remained, therefore, in his seat near the window, reading and writing, and expressing in as many pleasant and natural ways as he could think of that it was a free place.

Doctor Manette took what was given him to eat and drink, and worked on, that first day, until it was too dark to see--worked on, half an hour after Mr. Lorry could not have seen, for his life, to read or write. When he put his tools aside as useless, until morning, Mr. Lorry rose and said to him:

`Will you go out?' "

He looked down at the floor on either side of him in the old manner, looked up in the old manner, and repeated in the old low voice:

`Out?'

`Yes; for a walk with me. Why not?'

He made no effort to say why not, and said not a word more. But, Mr. Lorry thought he saw, as he leaned forward on his bench in the dusk, with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, that he was in some misty way asking himself `Why not?' The sagacity of the man of business perceived an advantage here, and determined to hold it.

Miss Pross and he divided the night into two watches, and observed him at intervals from the adjoining room. He paced up and down for a long time before he lay down; but, when he did finally lay himself down, he fell asleep. In the morning, he was up betimes, and went straight to his bench and to work.

On this second day, Mr. Lorry saluted him cheerfully by his name, and spoke to him on topics that had been of late familiar to them. He returned no reply, but it was evident that he heard what was said, and that he thought about it, however confusedly.
This encouraged Mr. Lorry to have Miss Pross in with her work, several times during the day; at those times, they quietly spoke of Lucie, and of her father then present, precisely in the usual manner, and as if there were nothing amiss. This was done without any demonstrative accompaniment, not long enough, or often enough to harass him; and it lightened Mr. Lorry's friendly heart to believe that he looked up oftener, and that he appeared to be stirred by some perception of inconsistencies surrounding him.

When it fell dark again, Mr. Lorry asked him as before:

`Dear Doctor, will you go out?'

As before, he repeated, `Out?'

`Yes; for a walk with me. Why not?'

This time, Mr. Lorry feigned to go out when he could extract no answer from him, and, after remaining absent for an hour, returned. In the meanwhile, the Doctor had removed to the seat in the window, and had sat there looking down at the plane-tree; but, on Mr. Lorry's return, he slipped away to his bench.

The time went very slowly on, and Mr. Lorry's hope darkened, and his heart grew heavier again, and grew yet heavier and heavier every day. The third day came and went, the fourth, the fifth. Five days, six days, seven days, eight days, nine days.

With a hope ever darkening, and with a heart always growing heavier and heavier, Mr. Lorry passed through this anxious time. The secret was well kept, and Lucie was unconscious and happy; but he could not fail to observe that the shoemaker, whose
hand had been a little out at first, was growing dreadfully skilful, and that he had never been so intent on his work, and that his hands had never been so nimble and expert, as in the dusk of the ninth evening.

婚礼那天阳光普照。一切都已就绪，医生却紧闭了房门在屋里跟查尔斯.达尔内谈话，大家在门外等着。美丽的新娘、罗瑞先生和普洛丝小姐都已作好去教堂的准备。经过了一个适应过程，普洛丝小姐已逐渐接受了那无法逃避的事实，这桩婚事对她只剩下绝对的欢乐了，尽管她仍然恋恋不舍，希望当新郎的是她的弟弟所罗门。

“原来，”罗瑞先生说，他对新娘总是崇拜个不够，一直围着她转圈，欣赏着她那素净美丽的服装的每一个细节，“原来我把你抱过海峡来是为了今天呀，你那时可是那么个小娃娃呢，我可爱的露西！上帝保佑！我那时认为自己办的事多么渺小呀！我为我的朋友查尔斯先生效了劳，可我对它的作用估计得多么不足呀！”

“那时你恐怕是不会有这种打算吧，”实心眼的普洛丝小姐说，“你怎会知道呢？废话！”

“废话？好，那你就别哭呀，”温和的罗瑞先生说。

“我没有哭，”普洛丝小姐说，“你才哭了呢。”

“我么，我的普洛丝？”（这时罗瑞先生已经敢于偶然跟她开开玩笑了）

“你刚才就哭了的，我看见的，可我也不觉得奇怪。你送的那套银餐具谁见了也免不了流泪的。昨天晚上礼品盒送到的时候，”普洛丝小姐说，“盒里的叉子和羹匙没有一件不放我流过泪，我哭得都看不见东西了。”

“我非常满意，”罗瑞先生说，“不过，我以我的荣誉担保，我可没有存心让人看不见我那小小的礼品的意思。天呐！现在倒是我估计一下自己所失去的一切的时候了。天呐，天呐，天呐！想想看，差不多五十年来任何时候都可能出现一个罗瑞太太呢！”

“没有那么回事！”普洛丝小姐说。

“你认为从来就不可能出现个罗瑞太太么？’叫罗瑞的那位先生问。

“呸！”普洛丝小姐回答，“你在摇篮里就打光棍呢！”

“不错，这也好像非常可能，”罗瑞先生说，笑嘻嘻地调整着他的小假发。

“你还没有进摇篮，”普洛丝小姐接下去说，“就已经注定要打一辈子光棍了。”

“那样我就觉得，”罗瑞先生说，“对我的处理太不公平了。我对自己的生活方式是应当有权选择和发表意见的。够了！亲爱的露西，”他用手安慰地搂着她的腰，“我听见他们在隔壁房里有响动了。普洛丝小姐和我都是正牌的业务人员，我们都不愿意失去最后机会对你们说点你们喜欢听的话，亲爱的，你可以把你的父亲交到跟你一样真诚挚爱的人手里，你们能想象出什么样的照顾，他就能得到什么样的照顾。你们到华列克郡和附近地区旅游的两周里，就连台尔森银行也得服从他的要求（比较而言）。等到两个礼拜过去，他跟你和你亲爱的丈夫一起去威尔士时，你准会说我交给你们的是个身体最健康、心情最愉快的他。现在我听见脚步声来到门口了。让我在某人宣布她属于他之前吻吻我亲爱的站娘，并给他一个老派单身汉的祝福吧！”

他捧住那美丽的脸儿，推到一定的距离，观察她额上那令人难忘的表情，然后带着真诚的温柔和体贴把她那明亮的金发跟自己那褐色的小假发搂到了一起。如果这样做应当叫作老派的话，那么它就老得跟亚当一样了。

门开了，医生和查尔斯.达尔内走了出来。医生脸色惨白，一丝血色也没有——他俩进屋去时他并不如此。但是，他态度镇定，神色如常，不过罗瑞先生精明的目光却也看出了一些模糊的迹象，表明过去的回避与畏惧的神气又曾如一道寒风在他身上刮过。

他把手臂伸给了女儿，带她下了楼，进了罗瑞先生为祝贺这一天雇好的四轮轻便马车，其他的人坐在另一部车里随后。不久之后，查尔斯.达尔内和露西.曼内特便在附近的教堂里举行了幸福的婚礼，没有陌生的眼睛看热闹。

除了婚礼完成时在众人微笑的眼中有泪花闪耀之外，还有几粒非常晶莹耀眼的钻石也在新娘的手上闪耀。那是新近才从罗瑞先生口袋的黑暗角落里解放出来的。这一行人回家吃早饭，一切顺利。不久之后，曾在巴黎阁楼上跟可怜的鞋匠的白发混在一起的金发又在上午的阳光中跟那白发混在一起了。那是他们在门槛上的告别。

别离虽不长，分别却很苦。但是她的父亲却鼓励了她。他轻轻地摆脱了她拥抱他的双臂，说，“接过去吧，查尔斯，她是你的！”

她从车窗里向他们挥动着激动的手，走了。

那街角距离闲逛和好奇的人很远，婚礼的准备又极简单朴素，因此不一会儿工夫医生、罗瑞先生和普洛丝小姐就发现只剩下自己了。他们进人古老的厅堂那清凉可人的阴影中时，罗瑞先生注意到医生已发生了巨大的变化，仿佛高举在那儿的金胳膊给了他狠命的一击。

他自然曾狠狠地压抑过自己，压抑一放松免不了会产生反弹。但叫罗瑞先生着急的却是他以往那副恐惧而茫然的样子又出现了。他们上楼时他那心不在焉地抱住头和凄凉地里进自己房间的模样使罗瑞先生想起了酒店老板德伐日和星光之下的马车旅行。

“我认为，”他着急地想了想，悄悄对普洛丝小姐说，“我认为我们现在最好别跟他说话，也别去打扰他。现在我得回台尔森去看看，马上就去，立即回来。然后我们就带他坐车下乡去逛一逛，在那儿吃晚饭，然后一切就会好的。”

罗瑞先生进台尔森容易，出来却难，他在那儿耽误了两个小时。回来时他没有向仆人询问情况就径直爬上了古老的楼梯，走进了医生的房间。一阵低低的敲打声却阻止了他。

“天呐！”他吃了一惊，说，“是怎么回事？”

普洛丝小姐满面惊惶地在他耳边说，“啊天呐，天呐！全都完了！”她绞着自己的双手叫道，“向小鸟儿怎么交代？他已经不认得我了，在做鞋呢！”

罗瑞先生竭尽全力让她平静下来，自己进了医生的房间。板凳已挪了过来对着日光，医生低着头正忙着，跟他当年见到那鞋匠干活儿时一样。

“曼内特医生，我亲爱的朋友，曼内特医生！”

医生望了他一会儿，一半是疑问，一半是因有人对他说话而生气，随后又低下头干起活儿来。

他已跟过去做鞋时一样脱下了外衣和背心，敞开了衬衫领口，就连那憔悴枯黄的脸色也回来了。他干活儿很努力，也有些不耐烦，好像不高兴受到了打扰。

罗瑞先生瞥了一眼他手上的活儿，说那鞋式样和大小都老式，又捡起他身边另一只鞋，问那是什么。

“是年轻女士的步行鞋，”他嘟哝说，并没有抬头看。“很久以前就该做完的了。放下它。”

“可是，曼内特医生，你看看我！”

他服从了，是以前那种机械的、驯服的态度，活儿却没有停。

“你还认得我吗，我亲爱的朋友。再想想看。这职业并不适合于你。想想吧，亲爱的朋友！”

要让他多说一句话都是办不到的。要他抬头，他倒偶然抬头望望，但是无论怎样劝说，他也不说一句话。他老是干活儿，干活儿，干活儿，一声不响。话语落到他身上就像落到没有回声就墙壁上或是进入了虚空。罗瑞先生能够发现的仅有的希望是有时他会自己抬起头来，脸上似乎有一种好奇或惶感的表情——仿佛想回答心里的某些疑问。

罗瑞先生感到有两件事比任何其它的事都重要：第一，一定要对露西保密；第二，一定要对所有认识他的人保密。他立即跟普洛丝小姐合作采取措施解决了第二个问题，对了外宣称医生身体欠安，需要彻底休养几天。为了对他的女儿进行善意的欺骗，普洛丝小姐必须写一封信去，说是医生到外地出诊去了，还提到他一封并不存在的亲笔信，说是只有潦潦草草的两三行与此信同一班邮车寄给她。

除了采取这些必需的措施之外，罗瑞先生也希望医生就自己恢复正常。若是他很快就正常了，罗瑞先生还准备采取另外一个措施，要对医生的病找一个他认为最恰当的了断。

怀着他自行恢复正常的希望，也希望第三个措施得以实现，罗瑞先生决定专心地观察他，而且尽可能不引起他的注意。因此他平生第一次在台尔森作了安排，请了假，在医生的窗下住定下来。

不久，他就发现跟医生说话不但无益而且有害，因为一逼他说话，他就烦恼，从第一天起他就放弃了那种打算，决定只让自已一直留在他面前，作为对他所落入或正要落入的幻觉的一种无声的对抗。因此他一直在窗前的座位上读书写字，而且用种种他想得出的自然而愉快的方式表示这屋子并不是牢房。

头一天曼内特医生吃着喝着给他的东西，干着活儿，一直干到天黑得看不见活儿为止——就在罗瑞先生无论如何也无法读书写字之后他还干了半小时。然后他就收拾工具，打算明天早上再用，这时罗瑞先生站起来对他说道：

“你要出去一下吗？”

他以固有的方式盯着两侧的地板，以固有的方式搜寻着，并以固有的细声重复着：

“出去？”

“是的，跟我一起出去散散步。为什么不可以呢？”

他也努力想说为什么不可以呢？却没有出声。但是，罗瑞先生觉得当他在昏暗中躬着身子坐在凳上，胳膊肘靠着膝头，双手抱着脑袋时，他也在以某种模糊的方式对自己说，“为什么不可以呢？”生意人的精明在这里看出了一个有利条件，他决心抓住。

普洛丝小姐和他把夜晚分作两班，在隔壁屋里轮班观察着他。医生在睡觉之前来回走了许久，但终于躺下之后便立即睡着了。早上他安时起床，然后径直走到凳子边去开始干活儿。

第二天罗瑞先生叫着他的名字向他欢欢喜喜打了个招呼，而且跟他谈起双方近来都熟悉的问题。他并未回答，但显然听见了他的话，而且思考着，尽管头脑不清楚。这就鼓舞了罗瑞先生。他让普洛丝小姐白天进屋好几趟来干家务活儿。．那时他们很快地谈起露西，谈起露西的父亲（他就在旁边），跟平时完全一样，仿佛并无异常。这一切都做得很自然，并没有故意表现什么，每次时间很短，也不太频繁，不致令他心烦。罗瑞先生那友好的心感到了轻松，他相信医生抬头听他说话的次数增加了，也好像看出了周围有许多跟他的感觉不一致的东西，受到了刺激。

黄昏又一次来临时，罗瑞先主又像以前那样问他：

“亲爱的医生，你愿意出去一下吗？”

他照样重复道，“出去？”

“是的，跟我出去散散步，有什么不可以的？”

这一次罗瑞先生在诱导他回答失败之后就假装出门去了。他在外面呆了一个小时才回来。在这段时间里医生已来到窗户下的座位上坐下，望着窗下的梧桐树。但罗瑞先生一回来，他又悄悄溜回原来的凳子边去了。

时间过得非常缓慢，罗瑞先生的希望越来越渺茫，心情也越来越沉重，而且一天比一天沉重。第三天来了又去了，然后是第四天、五天、六天、七天、八天、九天。

罗瑞先生带着日益渺茫的希望和越来越沉重的心情度过了这段好不令人焦灼的日子。两人守口如瓶，露西很快乐，一点也没有觉察。但是罗瑞先生却不能不注意到那鞋匠多少已经生疏的双手又变得可怕地熟练起来，而且到了第九天的黄昏，他不但比以往任何时候都更热中于工作，而且那双手也比以往任何时候都灵巧熟练了。