# ■ 3 A trial in London—1780

Tellson's Bank in the City of London was an old, dark, and ugly building. It smelt of dust and old papers, and the people who worked there all seemed old and dusty, too. Outside the building sat Jerry Cruncher, who carried messages for people in the bank.

One morning in March 1780, Jerry had to go to the Old Bailey to collect an important message from Mr Lorry. Trials at the Old Bailey were usually for very dangerous criminals, and the prisoner that morning was a young man of about twenty—five, well dressed and quite calm.

What's he done?' Jerry asked the doorman quietly.

He's a spy！A French spy！'the doorman told him.' He travels from England to France and tells the French King secret information about our English army.'

What'll happen if he's guilty?' asked Jerry.

oh, he'll have to die, no question of that, ' replied the doorman enthusiastically.'They'll hang him.'

What's his name?'

Darnay, Charles Darnay. Not an English name, is it?'

While Jerry waited, he looked around at the crowd inside the Old Bailey and noticed a young lady of about twenty years, and her father, a gentleman with very white hair. The young lady seemed very sad when she looked at the prisoner, and held herself close to her father.

Then the trial began, and the first person who spoke against Charles Darnay was called John Barsad.

He was an honest man, he said, and proud to be an Englishman. Yes, he was, or had been, a friend of the prisoner's. And in the prisoner's pockets he had seen important plans and lists about the English armies. No, of course he had not put the lists there himself. And no, he was not a spy himself, he was not someone paid to make traps for innocent people.

Next the young lady spoke. She said that she had met the prisoner on the boat which had carried her and her father from France to England.'He was very good and kind to my father and to me, 'she said.

Was he travelling alone on the ship?'

No, he was with two French gentlemen.'

Now, Miss Manette, did you see him show them any papers, or anything that looked like a list?'

No, I didn't see anything like that.'

Questions, questions, questions！The trial went on, and finally, a small, red－haired man spoke. He told the judge that he had seen Mr Darnay at a hotel in a town where there were many soldiers and ships. Then one of the lawyers, a man called Sydney Carton, wrote some words on a piece of paper, and gave it to Mr Stryver, the lawyer who was speaking for Mr Darnay.

Are you quite sure that the prisoner is the man you saw?' Mr Stryver asked the red－haired man.

Quite sure, ' said the man.

Have you ever seen anyone like the prisoner?' asked Mr Stryver.

I'd always be able to recognize him.' The red－haired man was very confident.

Then I must ask you to look at the gentleman over there, ' said Mr Stryver, pointing to Sydney Carton.'Don't you think that he is very like the prisoner?'

Everyone in the court could see that Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay were indeed very similar.

Well then, ' said Mr Stryver, 'it is so easy to find a man like the prisoner that we can even find one in this room. So how can you be so sure that it was the prisoner you saw in that hotel?'

And the red－haired man said not another word.

The lawyers talked and argued, and when at last the trial came to an end, Jerry Cruncher had fallen asleep.

But Mr Lorry woke him up and gave him a piece of paper. 'NOT GUILTY' were the words written on it, and Jerry hurried back to Tellson's Bank with the message.

Sydney Carton seemed to be a man who did not care about anyone or anything. He was Mr Stryver's assistant. In fact, he did most of the real work for Mr Stryver. Stryver was good at speaking at a trial, but he was not good at discovering important facts and details, especially when these details were hidden in a lot of papers. Every night Carton studied the many papers that lawyers have to read, and he wrote down the questions which Stryver should ask at the next day's trial. And every day Stryver asked these questions, and people thought how clever he was.

Outside the Old Bailey Mr Darnay, now a free man, met his friends： Dr Manette and his daughter Lucie, Mr Jarvis Lorry, Mr Stryver, and Mr Carton.

Dr Manette no longer looked like the man in the room above Defarge's wine－shop five years ago. His hair was white, but his eyes were bright and he stood straight and strong. Sometimes his face became dark and sad when he remembered the years in the Bastille prison；at these times only his daughter Lucie, whom he loved so much, could help him.

As they stood there talking, a strange expression came over Dr Manette's face. He was staring at Charles Darnay, but he did not seem to see him. For a few moments there was dislike, even fear in his eyes.'My father, ' said Lucie softly, putting her hand on his arm, 'shall we go home now?'

Yes, ' he answered slowly.

Soon they drove off in a coach, and then Mr Stryver and Mr Lorry walked away, leaving Mr Darnay and Mr Carton alone.

It must be strange for you, ' said Carton, 'to be a free man again, and to be standing here, talking to a man who looks just like you. Let us go out and eat together.'

After they had eaten, Carton said softly, 'How sad and worried Miss Manette was for you today！ She's a very beautiful young woman, don't you think?'

Darnay did not reply to what Carton had said, but he thanked him for his help at the trial.

I don't want your thanks, ' replied Carton.'I have done nothing. And I don't think I like you.'

Well, ' said Darnay, 'you have no reason to like me. But I hope that you will allow me to pay the bill for both of us.'

Of course. And as you are paying for me, I'll have another bottle of wine.'

After Darnay had left, Carton drank some more wine and looked at himself in the mirror. He was angry because Darnay looked so much like him, but was so different. Carton knew that he was a clever lawyer, and that he was a good and honest man, but he had never been successful for himself. He drank too much, and his life was unhappy and friendless. His cleverness and his hard work in the law only made others, like Mr Stryver, successful and rich. He remembered Lucie Manette's worried face when she watched Darnay in court.

If I changed places with Darnay, ' he whispered to himself, 'would those blue eyes of Miss Manette look at me, in the same way? No, no, it's too late now.'

He drank another bottle of wine and fell asleep.

In a quiet street not far away was the house where Dr Manette and Lucie lived. They had one servant, Miss Pross, who had taken care of Lucie since she was a child. Miss Pross had red hair and a quick, sharp voice, and seemed at first sight a very alarming person. But everybody knew that she was in fact a warm－hearted and unselfish friend, who would do anything to guard her darling Lucie from trouble or danger.

Dr Manette was now well enough to work as a doctor, and he, Lucie, and Miss Pross led a quiet, comfortable life. Mr Lorry, who had become a close family friend, came regularly to the house, and in the months after the trial, Mr Darnay and Mr Carton were also frequent visitors. This did not please Miss Pross at all, who always looked very cross when they came.

Nobody is good enough for my darling Lucie, ' she told Mr Lorry one day, 'and I don't like all these hundreds of visitors.'

Mr Lorry had a very high opinion of Miss Pross, but he wasn't brave enough to argue that two visitors were not'hundreds'. Nobody argued with Miss Pross if they could avoid it.

■ 3 倫敦的一次審判—1780年

倫敦城裡的臺爾森銀行是一座古老、灰暗而且醜陋的建築。這裡充斥著灰塵和廢紙的氣味，就連在裡面工作的人似乎也都古舊而灰頭灰腦的。負責為銀行裡的人傳書送信的傑裡·克拉徹坐在銀行的外面。

1780年3月的一天早晨，傑裡要去舊巴勒從勞裡先生那兒獲取一條重要信息。在舊巴勒的審判往往都是對那些非常危險的犯人進行的，而那天早上的罪犯是一個大約25歲左右的年輕人。他穿著體面，人也很沉著。

“他犯了什麼罪?”傑裡輕聲地問看門人。

“他是一個間諜！一個法國間諜！”看門人告訴他。“他從英國趕到法國，然後把英國軍隊的動向祕報給了法國國王。”

“如果判他有罪的話他會受什麼樣的懲罰?”傑裡問。

“哦，得判死刑，這是無疑的。”看門人情緒高昂地回答說。“他們會絞死他的。”

“他叫什麼名字?”

“代爾那，查爾斯·代爾那。不是一個英國名字，是吧?”

傑裡一邊等著，一邊朝舊巴勒裡的人群巡視。他注意到了一位20歲左右的年輕女子和她的父親——一位白髮蒼蒼的紳士。當年輕女子看著罪犯時顯得很悲傷，並緊緊地摟住她的父親。

審判開始了。第一個起訴查爾斯·代爾那的人名叫約翰·巴薩德。他自稱是一個誠實的人，並以自己是英國人而自豪。他承認自己是或曾經是罪犯的一個朋友，而且他曾見過罪犯的衣袋裡有一些關於英國軍隊的重要計劃和圖表。他否認是他本人把圖表放進去的，也否認自己是間諜，他也不是受人收買而去陷害無辜的那種人。

接下來是那個年輕子發言。她說在她和父親從法國來英國的船上曾遇到過這個犯人。“他對我父親和我都很友善。”她說。

“他當時是隻身一人乘船旅行的嗎?”

“不，他和兩個法國人在一起。”

“那麼，馬內特小姐，你看到他給他們看了什麼文件或任何類似表格一樣的東西嗎?”

“沒有，我沒有看見過任何這類的東西。”

問題一個接著一個地提出來！審判繼續進行著。最後，一位矮小，紅頭髮的男人說話了。他告訴法官說他曾在一個小鎮的一家旅館見到過代爾那先生，那兒有很多的士兵和船隻。接下來一位名叫西得尼·卡登的律師在一張紙上寫了幾個字並把它遞給代爾那先生的辯護律師史太弗先生。

“你能肯定這個犯人就是你見過的那個人嗎?”史太弗先生問那個紅頭髮男人。

“非常肯定。”他說。

“你曾見過和這個罪犯長得相像的人嗎?”史太弗先生問。

“無論如何我都能把他認出來的。”紅頭髮男人非常自信。

“那麼我得請您看看那邊的那位先生，”史太弗先生指著西得尼·卡登說。“您不認為他長得非常像這位犯人嗎?”

法庭上的每一個人都能看出西得尼·卡登和查爾斯·代爾那長得的確很相像。

“那麼說，”史太弗先生說道。“很容易就能找到一個與罪犯相像的人乃至在這間屋子裡我們就能找出一個和罪犯長得酷似的人，那你又怎麼能確信你在旅館裡看到的就是罪犯呢?”

紅頭髮男人再也說不出話來了。

律師們開始爭辯討論。當審判最後結束時，傑裡·克拉徹都已睡著了。

但是勞裡先生叫醒他並且給了他一張紙條，上面寫著“無罪”的字樣，傑裡便急急忙忙地帶著這條消息回了銀行。

西得尼·卡登似乎對任何人或任何事都不在乎。他是史太弗先生的助手，實際上，多數實際工作是他代勞的。史太弗先生在法庭上能言善辯，但卻不擅長於發現重要的事實和細節，尤其是當這些細節隱藏在一大堆文件中的時候。每天晚上卡登都要研讀那些律師必讀的文件，然後寫下史太弗在第二天的審判中所要問的問題。每天史太弗問到這些問題時，人們都會讚歎他的機智。

在舊巴勒的外面，現在已是自由人的代爾那先生和他的朋友們在一起：有馬內特醫生和他的女兒路茜、賈維斯·勞裡先生、史太弗先生和卡登先生。

馬內特醫生看上去已不再是5年前在得法熱酒店樓上房間裡的那個樣子了。他的頭髮白了，但眼睛炯炯有神。他站姿筆直，顯得很矍鑠。有時當他想起在巴士底獄的日子，臉上就會顯出陰沉和悲傷。這時只有他所鍾愛的女兒路茜能讓他快活起來。

在他們站著談話時，一種奇怪的表情掠過醫生的臉。他盯著查爾那·代爾那，但又似乎並沒有看他。有好一陣兒他的眼中都顯出反感甚至是恐懼的神情。

“爸爸，”路茜柔聲地說著並把手放在了他的胳膊上。“我們回家好嗎?”

“好吧。”他慢慢地答道。

很快他們就坐上馬車走了。然後，史太弗先生和勞裡先生也走開了，剩下代爾那和卡登先生單獨在一起。

“你一定感到奇怪。”卡登說。“你又自由了、而且站在這兒和一個長得酷似你的人談話。我們一起出去吃一頓吧。”

飯後，卡登輕聲地說，“瞧，今天馬內特小姐為你多麼傷心著急呀！她可是個漂亮的姑娘，你不這麼認為嗎?”

代爾那沒有迴應卡登的話，而是對他在法庭上的幫助表示感謝。

“我不要你的感謝。”卡登說。“我沒做什麼。我想我也並不喜歡你。”

“好吧，”代爾那說。“你沒有理由要喜歡我，但是我希望你要允許我為我們兩個人付賬。”

“當然。而且既然你要為我付賬，那麼我就再來一瓶葡萄酒吧。”

代爾那走後，卡登又喝了些酒，並照了照鏡子。讓他惱火的是代爾那長得和他如此相像，但是他們又如此不同。卡登明白自己是一個精明的律師，又是一個誠實的好人，但他自己卻從未成功過。他酗酒，生活不幸且沒有朋友。他在法律方面的聰明才智和辛勤工作僅僅使得他人，比如史太弗先生，名利雙收。路茜·馬內特在法庭上看著代爾那時的焦急面容仍在他的腦海中。

“如果我和代爾那換個位置，”他悄聲對自己說，“馬內特小姐的那雙藍眼睛也會那樣看著我嗎?不，不，現在已經太晚了。”

他又喝了一瓶酒，然後就睡著了。

馬內特醫生和路茜所住的房子就在不遠處的一條寧靜的街上。他們有一個僕人普羅斯小姐。路茜從小時候起就是由她帶大的。普羅斯小姐有一頭紅髮，說話急促而尖利。第一眼看上去她會讓人感到害怕。但每個人都知道她實際上是個熱心而無私的朋友。她會不惜一切地保護她親愛的路茜免遭麻煩和危險。

馬內特醫生現在已恢復得很好，已經可以勝任醫生的工作了。他、路茜和普羅斯小姐過著寧靜而舒適的生活。勞裡先生已成為這個家的親密朋友，經常來這裡作客。同時在那個審判會過後幾個月，代爾那先生和卡登先生也成了這裡的常客，這讓普羅斯小姐一點兒都不高興。每次他們來時她都顯得很生氣。

“沒有人能配得上我親愛的路茜。”她有一天對勞裡先生說，“而且我也不喜歡這成百個的客人。”

勞裡先生很看重普羅斯小姐，可他卻沒有足夠的勇氣去和她爭論說兩個客人夠不上“成百個”。只要能避免就沒人願意去和普羅斯小姐爭吵。