t suppose anything about it but what Ladybird tells me.«
    »And that is -?«
    »That she thinks he has.«
    »Now don't be angry at my asking all these questions; because I am a mere
dull man of business, and you are a woman of business.«
    »Dull?« Miss Pross inquired, with placidity.
    Rather wishing his modest adjective away, Mr. Lorry replied, »No, no, no.
Surely not. To return to business: - Is it not remarkable that Doctor Manette,
unquestionably innocent of any crime as we are all well assured he is, should
never touch upon that question? I will not say with me, though he had business
relations with me many years ago, and we are now intimate; I will say with the
fair daughter to whom he is so devotedly attached, and who is so devotedly
attached to him? Believe me, Miss Pross, I don't approach the topic with you,
out of curiosity, but out of zealous interest.«
    »Well! To the best of my understanding, and bad's the best, you'll tell me,«
said Miss Pross, softened by the tone of the apology, »he is afraid of the whole
subject.«
    »Afraid?«
    »It's plain enough, I should think, why he may be. It's a dreadful
remembrance. Besides that, his loss of himself grew out of it. Not knowing how
he lost himself, or how he recovered himself, he may never feel certain of not
losing himself again. That alone wouldn't make the subject pleasant, I should
think.«
    It was a profounder remark than Mr. Lorry had looked for. »True,« said he,
»and fearful to reflect upon. Yet, a doubt lurks in my mind, Miss Pross, whether
it is good for Doctor Manette to have that suppression always shut up within
him. Indeed, it is this doubt and the uneasiness it sometimes causes me that has
led me to our present confidence.«
    »Can't be helped,« said Miss Pross, shaking her head. »Touch that string,
and he instantly changes for the worse. Better leave it alone. In short, must
leave it alone, like or no like. Sometimes, he gets up in the dead of the night,
and will be heard, by us overhead there, walking up and down, walking up and
down, in his room. Ladybird has learnt to know then that his mind is walking
