Chapter-9
During the following year, Charles Darnay became a popular and successful teacher and translator of French. As his success grew, so did his love for Lucie Manette. And so it was, one summer day, that he decided to ask Dr. Manette for Lucie’s hand in marriage.
“I know that you love her,” said the doctor. “But does Lucie know of your love, of your wish to marry her?”
“No, sir. I thought it proper to speak to you first, in case there were other suitors.”
“Well, Mr. Carton calls on us often.”
“There is something else, sir,” said Charles.
“I do not wish there to be any secrets between us. I wish to tell you my real name and why I am living in England.”
“Stop!” cried the doctor, placing his fingers over Charles’ lips, “Do not tell me now! If you and Lucie marry, you can tell me on your wedding day. Now go, before Lucie returns. I must speak to her alone.”
When Lucie came home an hour later, she was surprised to find her father’s reading chair empty. Then, a sudden hammering sound came from Dr. Manette’s bedroom. Lucie froze with fear, realizing that her father was working at his shoemaker’s bench. Trembling, she ran upstairs and gently helped him
to his feet. She walked with him back and forth for many hours, and it was late at night when she finally left him sleeping peacefully.
During that same year, another man also fell in love with Lucie Manette, but unlike Charles Darnay, Sidney Carton did not feel himself worthy of her. He had not made a success of his life and he drank too much, yet something in him drove him to confide his feelings to Lucie anyhow. So it was that one afternoon, Sidney’s feet carried him to the neat Manette house.
When Lucie received him in her sitting room, she noticed a rather strange look on his face. “Are you ill, Mr. Carton?” she asked.
“No, but the life I lead is rather unhealthy.”
“Forgive me for asking, but wouldn’t it be better to change your way of life?”
“It is too late to change,” he said, as tears filled his eyes. “I shall never be any better than I am now, and I fear that I shall sink even lower. However, I do hope that you will listen to what I have to say.”
“If it will make you feel better, of course I will listen!”
“Thank you for your kindness, Miss Manette. If you were able to return the love of the man you see here before you—this drunken, wasted, good-for-nothing man—he could bring you only misery. And so I am thankful that our love can never be.”
“But can I not help you, Mr. Carton, in some other way?”
“No, Miss Manette. I am grateful just to have you listen to me. I didn’t think I had any feelings for home and family left until I saw your beautiful face and the lovely home you have made for yourself and your father.”
“But could I not influence—you to change your life for the better, Mr. Carton?”
“You have influenced me, Miss Manette, to open my heart to you as I have not done to anyone else. And I beg you never tell anyone what I have confided to you.”
“I promise.”
“Thank you,” he said. And he lifted her hand to his lips, “Please always remember and believe that the true Sidney Carton is the man here with you now, the man who would lay down his life for you. Farewell, my dear Miss Manette, and God bless you!”
