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1The Substance of the Shadow "I, Alexandre Manette, unfortunate physician, native of Beauvais, and afterwards resident in
2Paris, write this melancholy paper in my doleful cell in the Bastille, during the last month of the year, 1767. I write
3it at stolen intervals, under every difficulty. I design to secrete it in the wall of the chimney, where I have slowly
4and laboriously made a place of concealment for it. Some pitying hand may find it there, when I and my sorrows are dust.
5"These words are formed by the rusty iron point with which I write with difficulty in scrapings of soot and charcoal
6from the chimney, mixed with blood, in the last month of the tenth year of my captivity. Hope has quite departed from my
7breast. I know from terrible warnings I have noted in myself that my reason will not long remain unimpaired, but I
8solemnly declare that I am at this time in the possession of my right mind--that my memory is exact and
9circumstantial--and that I write the truth as I shall answer for these my last recorded words, whether they be ever read
10by men or not, at the Eternal Judgment-seat. "One cloudy moonlight night, in the third week of December (I think the
11twenty-second of the month) in the year 1757, I was walking on a retired part of the quay by the Seine for the
12refreshment of the frosty air, at an hour's distance from my place of residence in the Street of the School of Medicine,
13when a carriage came along behind me, driven very fast. As I stood aside to let that carriage pass, apprehensive that it
14might otherwise run me down, a head was put out at the window, and a voice called to the driver to stop. "The carriage
15stopped as soon as the driver could rein in his horses, and the same voice called to me by my name. I answered. The
16carriage was then so far in advance of me that two gentlemen had time to open the door and alight before I came up with
17it. "I observed that they were both wrapped in cloaks, and appeared to conceal themselves. As they stood side by side
18near the carriage door, I also observed that they both looked of about my own age, or rather younger, and that they were
19greatly alike, in stature, manner, voice, and (as far as I could see) face too. "'You are Doctor Manette?' said one. "I
20am." "'Doctor Manette, formerly of Beauvais,' said the other; 'the young physician, originally an expert surgeon, who
21within the last year or two has made a rising reputation in Paris?' "'Gentlemen,' I returned, 'I am that Doctor Manette
22of whom you speak so graciously.' "'We have been to your residence,' said the first, 'and not being so fortunate as to
23find you there, and being informed that you were probably walking in this direction, we followed, in the hope of
24overtaking you. Will you please to enter the carriage?' "The manner of both was imperious, and they both moved, as these
25words were spoken, so as to place me between themselves and the carriage door. They were armed. I was not. "'Gentlemen,'
26said I, 'pardon me; but I usually inquire who does me the honour to seek my assistance, and what is the nature of the
27case to which I am summoned.' "The reply to this was made by him who had spoken second. 'Doctor, your clients are people
28of condition. As to the nature of the case, our confidence in your skill assures us that you will ascertain it for
29yourself better than we can describe it. Enough. Will you please to enter the carriage?' "I could do nothing but comply,
30and I entered it in silence. They both entered after me--the last springing in, after putting up the steps. The carriage
31turned about, and drove on at its former speed. "I repeat this conversation exactly as it occurred. I have no doubt that
32it is, word for word, the same. I describe everything exactly as it took place, constraining my mind not to wander from
33the task. Where I make the broken marks that follow here, I leave off for the time, and put my paper in its
34hiding-place. **** "The carriage left the streets behind, passed the North Barrier, and emerged upon the country road.
35At two-thirds of a league from the Barrier--I did not estimate the distance at that time, but afterwards when I
36traversed it--it struck out of the main avenue, and presently stopped at a solitary house, We all three alighted, and
37walked, by a damp soft footpath in a garden where a neglected fountain had overflowed, to the door of the house. It was
38not opened immediately, in answer to the ringing of the bell, and one of my two conductors struck the man who opened it,
39with his heavy riding glove, across the face. "There was nothing in this action to attract my particular attention, for
40I had seen common people struck more commonly than dogs. But, the other of the two, being angry likewise, struck the man
41in like manner with his arm; the look and bearing of the brothers were then so exactly alike, that I then first
42perceived them to be twin brothers. "From the time of our alighting at the outer gate (which we found locked, and which
43one of the brothers had opened to admit us, and had relocked), I had heard cries proceeding from an upper chamber. I was
44conducted to this chamber straight, the cries growing louder as we ascended the stairs, and I found a patient in a high
45fever of the brain, lying on a bed. "The patient was a woman of great beauty, and young; assuredly not much past twenty.
46Her hair was torn and ragged, and her arms were bound to her sides with sashes and handkerchiefs. I noticed that these
47bonds were all portions of a gentleman's dress. On one of them, which was a fringed scarf for a dress of ceremony, I saw
48the armorial bearings of a Noble, and the letter E. "I saw this, within the first minute of my contemplation of the
49patient; for, in her restless strivings she had turned over on her face on the edge of the bed, had drawn the end of the
50scarf into her mouth, and was in danger of suffocation. My first act was to put out my hand to relieve her breathing;
51and in moving the scarf aside, the embroidery in the corner caught my sight. "I turned her gently over, placed my hands
52upon her breast to calm her and keep her down, and looked into her face. Her eyes were dilated and wild, and she
53constantly uttered piercing shrieks, and repeated the words, 'My husband, my father, and my brother!' and then counted
54up to twelve, and said, 'Hush!' For an instant, and no more, she would pause to listen, and then the piercing shrieks
55would begin again, and she would repeat the cry, 'My husband, my father, and my brother!' and would count up to twelve,
56and say, 'Hush!' There was no variation in the order, or the manner. There was no cessation, but the regular moment's
57pause, in the utterance of these sounds. "'How long,' I asked, 'has this lasted?' "To distinguish the brothers, I will
58call them the elder and the younger; by the elder, I mean him who exercised the most authority. It was the elder who
59replied, 'Since about this hour last night.' "'She has a husband, a father, and a brother?' "'A brother.' "'I do not
60address her brother?' "He answered with great contempt, 'No.' "'She has some recent association with the number twelve?'
61"The younger brother impatiently rejoined, 'With twelve o'clock?' "'See, gentlemen,' said I, still keeping my hands upon
62her breast, 'how useless I am, as you have brought me! If I had known what I was coming to see, I could have come
63provided. As it is, time must be lost. There are no medicines to be obtained in this lonely place.' "The elder brother
64looked to the younger, who said haughtily, 'There is a case of medicines here;' and brought it from a closet, and put it
65on the table. **** "I opened some of the bottles, smelt them, and put the stoppers to my lips. If I had wanted to use
66anything save narcotic medicines that were poisons in themselves, I would not have administered any of those. "'Do you
67doubt them?' asked the younger brother. "'You see, monsieur, I am going to use them,' I replied, and said no more.
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