Mr. Lorry saw that they understood one another, and
proceeded.
“My dear Manette, it is the case of an old and prolonged shock,
of great acuteness and severity to the affections, the feelings, the
theas you express itthe mind. The mind. It is the case of a
shock under which the sufferer was borne down, one cannot say
for how long, because I believe he cannot calculate the time
himself, and there are no other means of getting at it. It is the case
of a shock from which the sufferer recovered, by a process that he
cannot trace himselfas I once heard him publicly relate in a
striking manner. It is the case of a shock from which he has
recovered, so completely, as to be a highly intelligent man, capable
of close application of mind, and great exertion of body, and of
constantly making fresh additions to his stock of knowledge,
which was already very large. But, unfortunately, there has been,”
he paused and took a deep breath“a slight relapse.”
The Doctor, in a low voice, asked, “Of how long duration?”
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“Nine days and nights.”
“How did it show itself? I infer,” glancing at his hands again,
“in the resumption of some old pursuit connected with the
shock?”
“That is the fact.”
“Now, did you ever see him,” asked the Doctor, distinctly and
collectedly, though in the same low voice, “engaged in that pursuit
originally?”
“Once.”
“And when the relapse fell on him, was he in most respectsor
in all respectsas he was then?”
“I think in all respects.”
“You spoke of his daughter. Does his daughter know of the
relapse?”
“No. It has b