A Tale of Two Cities - Dave Mckay, Charles Dickens (the kiss of deception read online .TXT) 📗

wall or on the air. One little piece of hope that Mr. Lorry could see was that at times he would look up even when he was not asked, like he himself was trying to understand what was happening.

There were two things that Mr. Lorry believed were important at this time. One was that they must keep this secret from Lucie, and the other was that they must keep it secret from all who knew him. Working together with Miss Pross he was able to meet the second target by telling people that the Doctor was not well, and that he needed a few days of full rest. To help in hiding the secret from his daughter, Miss Pross was to write a letter saying that he had been called away on business, and telling her that he had written a short letter to tell her about it, and that it had gone out with the same mail.

These steps, which were wise ones to take even if there was never going to be a change, Mr. Lorry took in the hope that Doctor Manette would soon come to himself. If that should happen soon, Mr. Lorry had another plan which he would use if Miss Pross thought it was okay.

Hoping that Doctor Manette would be better soon, so that he could use this other plan, Mr. Lorry agreed to watch him closely, but to do so without him feeling watched, if possible. So he took time off from Tellson's for the first time ever, so that he could spend all his time in a seat by the window in the same room as Doctor Manette.

It was not long before he learned that there was no point in trying to talk to the Doctor. Each time he tried, it only worried him more; so he dropped that on the first day and reasoned that it would be best just to be there, saying nothing, but showing by his being there that he was not going to give in to the Doctor's belief that he was back in prison. So he stayed there in his seat by the window, reading and writing, and showing in any friendly way that he could that it was not a prison.

Doctor Manette took what food and drink were given to him, and then worked on until it was too dark to see, which was half an hour after Mr. Lorry would not have been able to see enough to read or write, not even to save his life. When he put his tools down for the night, Mr. Lorry stood up and asked him:

"Would you like to go out?"

He looked down at the floor on each side of himself, in the same old way, looked up, and then repeated in the old, soft voice:

"Out?"

"Yes, for a walk with me. Why not?"

He did not try to answer, and said not one other word either. But Mr. Lorry thought he could see, as the Doctor leaned forward on the bench in the early darkness, with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, that in some cloudy way he was asking himself, "Why not?” The wisdom of this man of business was such that he saw an opening here, and he planned to keep a good hold on it.

Miss Pross and he each took half of the night in which to look in on the Doctor from the next room from time to time. He walked up and down for a long time before climbing into bed. But when he did, at last, lay down, he quickly fell to sleep. And he was up early in the morning to return to his work.

On the second day, Mr. Lorry gave him a friendly hello, called him by name, and talked about things that they had been doing over the past few days. He gave no answer, but it could be seen that he heard what was said, and even in his confusion, he was thinking about it. This encouraged Mr. Lorry to then have Miss Pross come into the room at times during the day. When she did, they would quietly talk about Lucie and about her father (who was there to hear it all) in the same way that they would if there was nothing wrong. They did this without any special show of emotion, not for a long time and not so often as to make the old man angry. It lifted Mr. Lorry's spirits to believe that Doctor Manette was looking up more often and could see that what was happening around him was not the same as what was happening inside his head.

When it was dark, Mr. Lorry asked as he had the night before: "Good Doctor, would you like to go on an outing?"

As before, he repeated, "Out?

"Yes, for a walk with me. Why not?"

This time, when there was no answer, Mr. Lorry left the room, acting like he was really going out. He returned an hour later. During that time, the Doctor had moved to the seat by the window, and was sitting there looking down at the tree in the yard; but when Mr. Lorry returned, he moved quietly back to his bench.

After that, things moved slowly. Mr. Lorry's hopes grew darker, and his heart heavier as the days went by. The third day came and went, then the fourth, and the fifth. Five days, six days, seven days, eight days, nine days.

Mr. Lorry passed through this worrying time with his hopes becoming weaker and weaker. But the secret was well kept, and Lucie was happy, knowing nothing of it. Mr. Lorry could not help but see that the shoemaker, whose work had been a little rough at first, was becoming very good at his work, that he had never been so serious about his work, and that his hands had never been so fast and so good at what they were doing as they were in the early evening of the ninth day.

19. Help from the Doctor

Being very tired from watching and worrying, Mr. Lorry fell asleep during his early morning watch that night. On the tenth morning he was surprised by the sun coming strongly into the room, because the last thing he remembered was dark night, just before he fell deeply asleep.

He rubbed his eyes and forced himself more fully awake; but when he had done this, he found it hard to believe he really was awake. For, going to the door of the Doctor's room and looking in, he saw that the shoemaker's bench and tools had been put away again, and that the Doctor himself sat reading at the window. He was wearing his morning clothes, and his face (which Mr. Lorry could clearly see), apart from still being very white, was at peace as he read.

Even when he was sure that he was awake, Mr. Lorry was in confusion for a short time, thinking that maybe the shoemaking of the past days had been a dream; for didn't his eyes show him his friend wearing the right clothes and doing the right thing for this time of day; and was there any proof in the room that the change that he remembered so strongly had really happened?

But when he asked himself the question, the answer came just in him being there. How did it happen that he had been sleeping in his clothes on the couch in Doctor Manette's office, and why was he there now asking himself these questions outside the Doctor's bedroom so early in the morning?

A few minutes later Miss Pross stood whispering at his side. If he needed more proof, her talk would have been it; but by that time, his head was clear and he needed none. He told her that they should wait until it was time for breakfast, and then they could meet the Doctor as if nothing strange had happened. If he looked to be in his right mind, then Mr. Lorry would do what he had been hoping to do, and that was to get help from the Doctor himself.

Miss Pross agreed to his plan, and that is what they did. Because he had more than enough time to prepare for breakfast, Mr. Lorry came to the table with a nice white shirt and clean pants. The Doctor was told that it was time for breakfast, and he came as he always had done in the past.

From what they could understand, without being too forward in asking him, it seemed that the Doctor believed his daughter's wedding had taken place only yesterday. A word or two from the others about what day of the week it was and what day of the month it was, said as part of small talk about the day, started the Doctor thinking and counting, and it worried him a little. But in every other way, the Doctor was so much himself that Mr. Lorry chose to get the help that he was looking for. And the help he was looking for was from the Doctor himself.

When breakfast was finished and cleared away, and he and the Doctor were alone together, Mr. Lorry said, with deep feeling:

"My good Manette, I need your help, in secret, on a very strange case in which I am deeply interested. I mean only that it is strange for me; maybe for you it will not be strange at all."

Looking at his hands, which had become coloured by his work with the leather, the Doctor showed signs of being troubled. But he listened well. It was not the first time he had looked at the colour on his hands like that.

"Doctor Manette," said Mr. Lorry, touching him kindly on the arm, "this case is about a close friend of mine. Please think about it seriously and give me wise answers, for the good of my friend, and, above all, for his daughter... for his daughter, my good Manette."

"If I understand," said the Doctor, "your friend has been through something that has had an effect on his mind?"

"Yes!"

“Tell me clearly," said the Doctor. "Do not leave anything out."

Mr. Lorry could see that they understood each other, and so he started.

"My good friend, it is the case of something very difficult that happened a long time ago, very deep and very serious in its effect on his feelings and on his... his... as you say it, his mind. Yes, his mind. It was a great weight that he carried. One cannot say how long he carried it, because I believe he does not even know himself, and there is no other way for me to find out about it. It is a case that he slowly got over, in some way that he himself cannot put into words, as I once heard him say very well himself in front of many people. But he was so fully healed in his mind that he was able to live and work as a very smart and very healthy man who was always adding to what he had learned. But, sadly, there has been," and he stopped to breathe in deeply, "a little return to the old problem."

The Doctor, in a low voice, asked, "For how long?

"Nine days and nights."

"How did it show itself? I am thinking," he said, looking again at his hands, "that he returned to doing something that was a part of the pain in his past?"

"That's true."

"Now, did you ever see him," asked the Doctor, clearly and without emotion, but in the same low voice, "engaged in that same action in the past?"

"Once."

"And when he returned to doing it, was he in most ways or in all ways the same as he had been in the past?"

"I think in all ways."

"You spoke of his daughter. Does his daughter know of what happened?"

"No. It has been kept from her, and I hope will always be kept from her. It is known only to myself, and to one other person, who is able to keep it secret."

The Doctor took his hand and said softly, "That was very kind. That was very smart!" Mr. Lorry squeezed his hand in return, and both of them were quiet for a little while.

"Now, my good Manette," said Mr. Lorry, at length, in his kindest and most loving way, "I am only a businessman, and not able to understand these difficult problems. I do not have the kind of information that is needed; I do not have the know-how; so I need your help. There is no other person on earth whom I could trust as I trust you. Tell me, how does a return to the old problem like this happen? Is there danger of it happening again? Is there a way to stop it from happening again? What should I do if it happens again? How does it happen? What can I do for my friend? No one could ever have wanted so much to help someone as I do for my friend, if only I knew how. I don't know how to