Повесть о двух городах / A Tale of Two Cities

The coachman looked back and the guard looked back, and even the emphatic leader pricked up his ears and looked back, without contradicting.

The stillness consequent on the cessation of the rumbling and labouring of the coach, added to the stillness of the night, made it very quiet indeed. The panting of the horses communicated a tremulous motion to the coach, as if it were in a state of agitation. The hearts of the passengers beat loud enough perhaps to be heard; but at any rate, the quiet pause was audibly expressive of people out of breath, and holding the breath, and having the pulses quickened by expectation.

The sound of a horse at a gallop came fast and furiously up the hill.

�So-ho!’ the guard sang out, as loud as he could roar. �Yo there! Stand! I shall fire!’

The pace was suddenly checked, and, with much splashing and floundering, a man’s voice called from the mist, �Is that the Dover mail?’

�Never you mind what it is!’ the guard retorted. �What are you?’

�Is that the Dover mail?’

�Why do you want to know?’

�I want a passenger, if it is.

’

�What passenger?’

�Mr. Jarvis Lorry.’

Our booked passenger showed in a moment that it was his name. The guard, the coachman, and the two other passengers eyed him distrustfully.

�Keep where you are,’ the guard called to the voice in the mist, �because, if I should make a mistake, it could never be set right in your lifetime. Gentleman of the name of Lorry answer straight.

’

�What is the matter?’ asked the passenger, then, with mildly quavering speech. �Who wants me? Is it Jerry?’

(�I don’t like Jerry’s voice, if it is Jerry,’ growled the guard to himself. �He’s hoarser than suits me, is Jerry.’)

�Yes, Mr. Lorry.’

�What is the matter?’

�A despatch sent after you from over yonder. T. and Co.[13 - T. and Co. = Tellson’s Bank – банк, в котором служил мистер Лорри.]’

�I know this messenger, guard,’ said Mr.

Lorry, getting down into the road – assisted from behind more swiftly than politely by the other two passengers, who immediately scrambled into the coach, shut the door, and pulled up the window. �He may come close; there’s nothing wrong.’

�I hope there ain’t, but I can’t make so �Nation sure of that,’[14 - �Nation sure of that – зд. �Nation = Damnation.] said the guard, in gruff soliloquy.