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1Drawn to the Loadstone Rock In such risings of fire and risings of sea--the firm earth shaken by the rushes of an angry
2ocean which had now no ebb, but was always on the flow, higher and higher, to the terror and wonder of the beholders on
3the shore--three years of tempest were consumed. Three more birthdays of little Lucie had been woven by the golden
4thread into the peaceful tissue of the life of her home. Many a night and many a day had its inmates listened to the
5echoes in the corner, with hearts that failed them when they heard the thronging feet. For, the footsteps had become to
6their minds as the footsteps of a people, tumultuous under a red flag and with their country declared in danger, changed
7into wild beasts, by terrible enchantment long persisted in. Monseigneur, as a class, had dissociated himself from the
8phenomenon of his not being appreciated: of his being so little wanted in France, as to incur considerable danger of
9receiving his dismissal from it, and this life together. Like the fabled rustic who raised the Devil with infinite
10pains, and was so terrified at the sight of him that he could ask the Enemy no question, but immediately fled; so,
11Monseigneur, after boldly reading the Lord's Prayer backwards for a great number of years, and performing many other
12potent spells for compelling the Evil One, no sooner beheld him in his terrors than he took to his noble heels. The
13shining Bull's Eye of the Court was gone, or it would have been the mark for a hurricane of national bullets. It had
14never been a good eye to see with--had long had the mote in it of Lucifer's pride, Sardanapalus's luxury, and a mole's
15blindness--but it had dropped out and was gone. The Court, from that exclusive inner circle to its outermost rotten ring
16of intrigue, corruption, and dissimulation, was all gone together. Royalty was gone; had been besieged in its Palace and
17"suspended," when the last tidings came over. The August of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two was come,
18and Monseigneur was by this time scattered far and wide. As was natural, the head-quarters and great gathering-place of
19Monseigneur, in London, was Tellson's Bank. Spirits are supposed to haunt the places where their bodies most resorted,
20and Monseigneur without a guinea haunted the spot where his guineas used to be. Moreover, it was the spot to which such
21French intelligence as was most to be relied upon, came quickest. Again: Tellson's was a munificent house, and extended
22great liberality to old customers who had fallen from their high estate. Again: those nobles who had seen the coming
23storm in time, and anticipating plunder or confiscation, had made provident remittances to Tellson's, were always to be
24heard of there by their needy brethren. To which it must be added that every new-comer from France reported himself and
25his tidings at Tellson's, almost as a matter of course. For such variety of reasons, Tellson's was at that time, as to
26French intelligence, a kind of High Exchange; and this was so well known to the public, and the inquiries made there
27were in consequence so numerous, that Tellson's sometimes wrote the latest news out in a line or so and posted it in the
28Bank windows, for all who ran through Temple Bar to read. On a steaming, misty afternoon, Mr. Lorry sat at his desk, and
29Charles Darnay stood leaning on it, talking with him in a low voice. The penitential den once set apart for interviews
30with the House, was now the news-Exchange, and was filled to overflowing. It was within half an hour or so of the time
31of closing. "But, although you are the youngest man that ever lived," said Charles Darnay, rather hesitating, "I must
32still suggest to you--" "I understand. That I am too old?" said Mr. Lorry. "Unsettled weather, a long journey, uncertain
33means of travelling, a disorganised country, a city that may not be even safe for you." "My dear Charles," said Mr.
34Lorry, with cheerful confidence, "you touch some of the reasons for my going: not for my staying away. It is safe enough
35for me; nobody will care to interfere with an old fellow of hard upon fourscore when there are so many people there much
36better worth interfering with. As to its being a disorganised city, if it were not a disorganised city there would be no
37occasion to send somebody from our House here to our House there, who knows the city and the business, of old, and is in
38Tellson's confidence. As to the uncertain travelling, the long journey, and the winter weather, if I were not prepared
39to submit myself to a few inconveniences for the sake of Tellson's, after all these years, who ought to be?" "I wish I
40were going myself," said Charles Darnay, somewhat restlessly, and like one thinking aloud. "Indeed! You are a pretty
41fellow to object and advise!" exclaimed Mr. Lorry. "You wish you were going yourself? And you a Frenchman born? You are
42a wise counsellor." "My dear Mr. Lorry, it is because I am a Frenchman born, that the thought (which I did not mean to
43utter here, however) has passed through my mind often. One cannot help thinking, having had some sympathy for the
44miserable people, and having abandoned something to them," he spoke here in his former thoughtful manner, "that one
45might be listened to, and might have the power to persuade to some restraint. Only last night, after you had left us,
46when I was talking to Lucie--" "When you were talking to Lucie," Mr. Lorry repeated. "Yes. I wonder you are not ashamed
47to mention the name of Lucie! Wishing you were going to France at this time of day!" "However, I am not going," said
48Charles Darnay, with a smile. "It is more to the purpose that you say you are." "And I am, in plain reality. The truth
49is, my dear Charles," Mr. Lorry glanced at the distant House, and lowered his voice, "you can have no conception of the
50difficulty with which our business is transacted, and of the peril in which our books and papers over yonder are
51involved. The Lord above knows what the compromising consequences would be to numbers of people, if some of our
52documents were seized or destroyed; and they might be, at any time, you know, for who can say that Paris is not set
53afire to-day, or sacked to-morrow! Now, a judicious selection from these with the least possible delay, and the burying
54of them, or otherwise getting of them out of harm's way, is within the power (without loss of precious time) of scarcely
55any one but myself, if any one. And shall I hang back, when Tellson's knows this and says this--Tellson's, whose bread I
56have eaten these sixty years--because I am a little stiff about the joints? Why, I am a boy, sir, to half a dozen old
57codgers here!" "How I admire the gallantry of your youthful spirit, Mr. Lorry." "Tut! Nonsense, sir!--And, my dear
58Charles," said Mr. Lorry, glancing at the House again, "you are to remember, that getting things out of Paris at this
59present time, no matter what things, is next to an impossibility. Papers and precious matters were this very day brought
60to us here (I speak in strict confidence; it is not business-like to whisper it, even to you), by the strangest bearers
61you can imagine, every one of whom had his head hanging on by a single hair as he passed the Barriers. At another time,
62our parcels would come and go, as easily as in business-like Old England; but now, everything is stopped." "And do you
63really go to-night?" "I really go to-night, for the case has become too pressing to admit of delay." "And do you take no
64one with you?" "All sorts of people have been proposed to me, but I will have nothing to say to any of them. I intend to
65take Jerry. Jerry has been my bodyguard on Sunday nights for a long time past and I am used to him. Nobody will suspect
66Jerry of being anything but an English bull-dog, or of having any design in his head but to fly at anybody who touches
67his master." "I must say again that I heartily admire your gallantry and youthfulness." "I must say again, nonsense,
68nonsense! When I have executed this little commission, I shall, perhaps, accept Tellson's proposal to retire and live at
69my ease. Time enough, then, to think about growing old."
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