or Manette that the prisoner must remain in custody; but should for his sake; be held inviolate in safe custody。 That; immediately; on a signal; the prisoner was removed to the interior of the prison again; but; that lie; the Doctor; had then so strongly pleaded for permission to remain and assure himself that his son…in…law was; through no malice or mischance; delivered to the concourse whose murderous yells outside the gate had often drowned the proceedings; that lie had obtained the permission; and had remained in that Hall of Blood until the danger was over。
The sights he had seen there; with brief snatches of food and sleep by intervals; shall remain untold。 The mad job over the prisoners who were saved; had astounded him scarcely less than the mad ferocity against those who were cut to pieces。 One prisoner there was; lie said; who had been discharged into the street free; but at whom a mistaken savage had thrust a pike as lie passed out。 Being besought to go to him and dress the wound; the Doctor had passed out at the same gate; and had found him in the arms of a pany of Samaritans; who were seated on the bodies of their victims。 With an inconsistency as monstrous as anything in this awful nightmare; they had helped the healer; and tended the wounded man with the gentlest solicitude……had made a litter for him and escorted him carefully from the spot……had then caught up their weapons and plunged anew into a butchery so dreadful; that the Doctor had covered his eyes with his hands; and swooned away in the midst of it。
As Mr。 Lorry received these confidences; and as he watched the face of his friend now sixty…two years of age; a misgiving arose within him that such dread experiences would revise the old danger。 But; he had never seen his friend in hi; present aspect: he had never at all known him in his present character。 For the first time the Doctor felt; now; that his suffering was strength and power。 For the first time he left that in that sharp fire; lie had slowly forged the iron which could break the prison door of his daughter's husband; and deliver him。 ‘It all tended to a good end; my friend; it was not mere waste and ruin。 As my beloved child was helpful in restoring me to myself; I will be helpful now in restoring the dearest part of herself to her; by the aid of Heaven I will do it!' Thus; Doctor Manette。 And when Jarvis Lorry saw the kindled eyes; the resolute face; the calm strong look and bearing of the man whose life always seemed to him to have been stopped; like a clock; for so many years; and then set going again with an energy which had lain dormant during the cessation of its usefulness; he believed。
Greater things than the Doctor had at that time to contend with; would have yielded before his persevering purpose。 While he kept himself in his place; as a physician; whose business was with all degrees of mankind; bond and free; rich and poor; bad and good; he used his personal influence so wisely; that he was soon the inspecting physician of three prisons; and among them of La Force。 He could now assure Lucie that her husband was no longer confined alone; but was mixed with the general body of prisoners; he saw her husband weekly; and brought sweet messages to her; straight from his lips; sometimes her husband himself sent a letter to her (though never by the Doctor's hand); but she was not permitted to write to him: for; among the many wild suspicions of plots in the prisons; the wildest of all pointed at emigrants who were known to have made friends or permanent connections abroad。
This new life of the Doctor's was an anxious life; no doubt; still; the sagacious Mr。 Lorry saw that there was a new sustaining pride in it。 Nothing unbeing tinged the pride; it was a natural and worthy one; but he observed it as a curiosity。 The Doctor knew; that up to that time; his imprisonment had been associated in the minds of his daughter and his friend; with his personal affliction; deprivation; and weakness。 Now that this was changed; and he knew himself to be invested through that old trial with forces to which they both looked for Charles's ultimate safety and deliverance; he became so far exalted by the change; that he took the lead and direction; and required them as the weak; to trust to him as the strong。 The preceding relative positions of himself and Lucie were reversed; yet only as the liveliest gratitude and affection could reverse them; for he could have had no pride but in rendering some service to her who had rendered so much to him。 ‘All curious to see;' thought Mr。 Lorry; in his amiably shrewd way; ‘but all natural and right; so; take the lead; my dear friend; and keep it; it couldn't be in better hands。'
But; though the Doctor tried hard; and never ceased trying; to get Charles Darnay set at liberty; or at least to get him brought to trial; the public current of the time set too strong and fast for him。 The new era began; the king was tried; doomed; and beheaded; the Republic of Liberty; Equality; Fraternity; or Death; declared for victory or death against the world in arms; the black flag waved night and day from the great towers of Notre Dame; three hundred thousand men; summoned to rise against the tyrants of the earth; rose from all the varying soils of France; as if the dragon's teeth had been sown broadcast; and had yielded fruit equally on hill and plain; on rock; in gravel; and alluvial mud; under the bright sky of the South and under the clouds of the North; in fell and forest; in the vineyards and the olive…grounds and among the cropped grass and the stubble of the corn; along the fruitful banks of the broad rivers; and in the sand of the sea…shore。 What private solicitude could rear itself against the deluge of the Year One of Liberty……the deluge rising from below; not falling from above; and with the windows of Heaven shut; not opened!
There was no pause; no pity; no peace; no interval of relenting rest; no measurement of time。 Though days and nights circled as regularly as when time was young; and the evening and morning were the first day; other count of time there was none。 Hold of it was lost in the raging fever of a nation; as it is in the fever of one patient。 Now; breaking the unnatural silence of a whole city; the executioner showed the people the head of the king…and now; it seemed almost in the same breath; the head of his fair wife which had had eight weary months of imprisoned widowhood and misery; to turn it grey。
And yet; observing the strange law of contradiction which obtains in all such cases; the time was long; while it flamed by so fast。 A revolutionary tribunal in the capital; and forty or fifty thousand revolutionary mittees all over the land; a law of the Suspected; which struck away all security for liberty or life; and delivered over any good and innocent person to any bad and guilty one; prisons gorged with people who had mitted no offence; and could obtain no hearing; these things became the established order and nature of appointed things; and seemed to be ancient usage before they were many weeks old。 Above all; one hideous figure grew as familiar as if it had been before the general gaze horn the foundations of the world……the figure of the sharp female cal