.

His haggard eyes turned to Defarge, as if he would have

transferred the question to him: but as no help came from that

quarter, they turned back on the questioner when they had sought

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the ground.

“I am not a shoemaker by trade? No, I was not a shoemaker by

trade. II learnt it here. I taught myself. I asked leave to” He

lapsed away, even for minutes, ringing those measured changes on

his hands the whole time. His eyes came slowly back, at last, to the

face from which they had wandered; when they rested on it, he

started, and resumed, in the manner of a sleeper that moment

awake, reverting to a subject of last night.

“I asked leave to teach myself, and I got it with much difficulty

after a long while, and I have made shoes ever since.”

As he held out his hand for the shoe that had been taken from

him, Mr. Lorry said, still looking steadfastly in his face:

“Monsieur Manette, do you remember nothing of me?”

The shoe dropped to the ground, and he sat looking fixedly at

the questioner.

“Monsieur Manette”; Mr. Lorry laid his hand upon Defarge’s

arm; “do you remember nothing of this man? Look at him. Look at

me. Is there no old banker, no old business, no old servant, no old

time, rising in your mind, Monsieur Manette?”