the boy, and said, caressing him, ‘It is for thine own dear sake.
Thou wilt be faithful, little Charles?’ The child answered her
bravely, ‘Yes!’ I kissed her hand, and she took him in her arms,
Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics
and went away caressing him. I never saw her more.
“As she had mentioned her husband’s name in the faith that I
knew it, I added no mention of it to my letter. I sealed my letter,
and, not trusting it out of my own hands, delivered it myself that
day.
“That night, the last night of the year, towards nine o’clock, a
man in a black dress rang at my gate, demanded to see me, and
softly followed my servant, Ernest Defarge, a youth, up-stairs.
When my servant came into the room where I sat with my wifeO
my wife, beloved of my heart! My fair young English wife!we
saw the man, who was supposed to be at the gate. standing silent
behind him.
“An urgent case in the Rue St. Honore, he said. It would not
detain me, he had a coach in waiting.
“It brought me here, it brought me to my grave. When I was
clear of the house, a black muffler was drawn tightly over my
mouth from behind, and my arms were pinioned. The two
brothers crossed the road from a dark corner, and identified me
with a single gesture. The Marquis took from his pocket the letter
I had written, showed it to me, burnt it in the light of a lantern that
was held, and extinguished the ashes with his foot. Not a word was
spoken. I was brought here, I was brought to my living grave.
“If it had pleased God to put it in the hard heart of either of the
brothers, in all these frightful years, to grant me any tidings