A Tale of Two Cities(excerpt)
In the part of Paris called Saint Antoine everyone was poor.The streets were narrow and dirty，the food shops were almost empty.The faces of the children looked old already，because they were so hungry.In the wine shop of Monsieur Defarge there were not many customers and Defarge was outside，talking to a man in the street.His wife，Madame Defarge，sat inside the shop，knitting and watching.Defarge came in and his wife looked at him，then turned her eyes to look at two new customers，a man of about sixty and a young lady.Defarge went over to speak to them，suddenly kissed the young lady's hand，and led them out of the back of the shop.They followed him upstairs，many stairs，until they reached the top.Defarge took a key out of his pocket.
“Why is the door locked？”asked Mr. Lorry in surprise.“He is a free man now.”
“Because he has lived too long behind a locked door，”replied Defarge angrily.“He is afraid if the door is not locked！That is one of the things they have done to him.”
“I'm afraid，too，”whispered Miss. Manette.Her blue eyes looked worriedly at Mr. Lorry.“I am afraid of him—my father.”
Defarge made a lot of noise as he opened the door.Mr. Lorry and Lucie went into the room behind him.A thin，whitehaired man was sitting on a wooden seat.He was very busy，making shoes.
“Good day，”said Defarge“You are still working hard，I see.”
After a while they heard a whisper，“Yes，I am still working.”
“Come，”said Defarge.“You have a visitor.Tell him your name.”
“My name？”came the whisper，“One Hundred and Five，North Tower.”
Mr. Lorry moved closer to the old man.“Dr Manette，don't you remember me，Jarvis Lorry？”he asked gently.
The old prisoner looked up at Mr. Lorry，but there was no surprise，no understanding in his tired face，and he went back to work making shoes.
