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PinkMonkey.com Digital Library - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens


171

relapse?” “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 who
may be trusted.” The Doctor grasped his hand, and murmured,
“That was very kind. That was very thoughtful!” Mr. Lorry
grasped his hand in return, and neither of the two spoke for a little
while.

“Now, my dear Manette,” said Mr. Lorry, at length, in his most
considerate and most affectionate way, “I am a mere man of
business, and unfit to cope with such intricate and difficult matters.
I do not possess the kind of information necessary; I do not possess
the kind of intelligence; I want guiding. There is no man in this
world on whom I could so rely for right guidance, as on you. Tell
me, how does this relapse come about? Is there danger of another?
Could a repetition of it be prevented? How should a repetition of it
be treated? How does it come about at all? What can I do for my
friend? No man ever can have been more desirous in his heart to
serve a friend, than I am to serve mine, if I knew how. But I don’t
know how to originate, in such a case. If your sagacity, knowledge,
and experience, could put me on the right track, I might be able to
do so much; unenlightened and undirected, I can do so little. Pray
discuss it with me; pray enable me to see it a little more clearly,
and teach me how to be a little more useful.” Doctor Manette sat
meditating after these earnest words were spoken, and Mr. Lorry
did not press him.

“I think it probable,” said the Doctor, breaking silence with an
effort, “that the relapse you have described, my dear friend, was
not quite unforeseen by its subject.” “Was it dreaded by him?” Mr.
Lorry ventured to ask.

“Very much.” He said it with an involuntary shudder.
“You have no idea how such an apprehension weighs on the
sufferer’s mind, and how difficult-how almost impossible-it is, for
him to force himself to utter a word upon the topic that oppresses
him.” “Would he,” asked Mr. Lorry, “be sensibly relieved if he
could prevail upon himself to impart that secret brooding to any
one, when it is on him?” “I think so. But it is, as I have told you,
next to impossible. I even believe itin some cases-to be quite
impossible.” “Now,” said Mr. Lorry, gently laying his hand on the
Doctor’s arm again, after a short silence on both sides, “to what
would you refer this attack?” “I believe,” returned Doctor Manette,
“that there had been a strong and extraordinary revival of the train
of thought and remembrance that was the first cause of the malady.
Some intense associations of a most distressing nature were vividly
recalled, I think. It is probable that there had long been a dread
lurking in his mind, that those associations would be recalled-say,
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