Page 60 - A Tale of Two Cities

When I returned to the bedside of the young woman, she was still
A Tale of Two Cities
shouting and crying. I gave her some more medicine, and sat with her into
the night.

At one point the marquis came and sat next to me and said quietly,
‘Doctor, you are young but already well known. It would be a great shame
for you to lose your good name. The things that you have seen here must
not be spoken of.’
‘The conversations any doctor has with his patients are always private,’
I said.

The poor girl died just before midnight. They gave me some money, but I
would not take it, and I left without a word.
I said nothing of this to my wife or to anyone, but I decided the next day
to write privately to the government, explaining the story of the boy and

girl. Before I had finished the letter, a young woman arrived to see me.
She introduced herself as the wife of the Marquis of Evrémonde. She had
discovered the cruel story of what had happened from her husband, and she
wanted very much to help the young sister of this family who had suffered
so much. She was a good woman and not happy in her marriage, but I was
not able to help her. I did not know the name of the sister nor where she had
been taken. When I went out with her to her carriage, there was a pretty
boy in the carriage waiting for her, who was only two or three years old.
‘I must make amends, Doctor, for my poor boy,’ she cried. ‘I am afraid
that if I cannot, one day he will have to pay for this, my poor little Charles.’

I never saw the woman again. I finished the letter and posted it, but that
night, a man came for me in a carriage, saying that I was needed urgently.

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