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The latent uneasiness in Darnay's mind was roused to vigourous

life by this letter. The peril of an old servant and a good one,

whose only crime was fidelity to himself and his family, stared

him so reproachfully in the face, that, as he walked to and fro

in the Temple considering what to do, he almost hid his face from

the passersby.

He knew very well, that in his horror of the deed which had

culminated the bad deeds and bad reputation of the old family

house, in his resentful suspicions of his uncle, and in the

aversion with which his conscience regarded the crumbling fabric

that he was supposed to uphold, he had acted imperfectly. He knew

very well, that in his love for Lucie, his renunciation of his

social place, though by no means new to his own mind, had been

hurried and incomplete. He knew that he ought to have

systematically worked it out and supervised it, and that he had

meant to do it, and that it had never been done.