Page 24 - A Tale of Two Cities

Chapter 3
A Tale of Two Cities
In the months that followed the trial, Mr Darnay, Mr Carton and
Mr Stryver came often to the Manettes’ home, where Mr Lorry was
already a regular visitor. The Manettes lived in a pretty house in a
lovely part of London, and each room was arranged carefully and
thoughtfully. The furniture was simple, the colours were restful to
the eye, and everything about it was pleasant.
One Sunday afternoon, not long after the trial, Mr Lorry arrived
at the Manettes’ house and found that the doctor and his daughter
were both out. While he was waiting in the doctor’s rooms, he
noticed that Doctor Manette’s shoemaker’s bench and tools were
still there. When Lucie arrived back before her father, he decided to
question her gently.
‘Does your father ever talk of his time in the French prison, my
dear?’
‘Never,’ Lucie said, sitting down near the window.
‘Do you think,’ Mr Lorry went on, ‘that he has any ideas about
who imprisoned him, and why they did it?’

‘I think that he does,’ she said. ‘But it is too terrible for him to
remember. Sometimes he gets up in the night and walks up and
down, up and down. I go to him and we walk together until he feels
better. But he never says a thing about it, and I have learned that it is
best not to ask.’
The doctor himself arrived home at that moment, and the
conversation came to an end, but every time Mr Lorry visited the
house and saw the bench and the tools, he worried that he and
Lucie still knew so little about the terrible times Doctor Manette had
experienced.

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