A Tale of Two Cities — Chapter 37 in French
By Charles Dickens
Je l'ai sauvé. "I have saved him." Ce n'était pas un de ces rêves dans lesquels il était souvent revenu; il était vraiment ici. It was not another of the dreams in which he had often come back; he was really here. Et pourtant sa femme tremblait, et une peur vague mais pesante s'était emparée d'elle. And yet his wife trembled, and a vague but heavy fear was upon her.
L'air ambiant était si épais et sombre, les gens étaient si passionnément vengeurs et capricieux, les innocents étaient si constamment mis à mort sur de vagues soupçons et une noire malveillance, qu'il était si impossible d'oublier que beaucoup, aussi irréprochables que son mari et aussi chers à d'autres qu'il ne l'était à elle, partageaient chaque jour le sort dont il avait été arraché, que son cœur ne pouvait se délester de son fardeau autant qu'elle sentait qu'il le devrait. All the air round was so thick and dark, the people were so passionately revengeful and fitful, the innocent were so constantly put to death on vague suspicion and black malice, it was so impossible to forget that many as blameless as her husband and as dear to others as he was to her, every day shared the fate from which he had been clutched, that her heart could not be as lightened of its load as she felt it ought to be. Les ombres de l'après-midi hivernal commençaient à tomber, et déjà les charrettes terribles roulaient dans les rues. The shadows of the wintry afternoon were beginning to fall, and even now the dreadful carts were rolling through the streets. Son esprit les poursuivait, le cherchant parmi les Condamnés ; puis elle se serrait davantage contre sa présence réelle et tremblait davantage. Her mind pursued them, looking for him among the Condemned; and then she clung closer to his real presence and trembled more.
Son père, l'encourageant, montrait une supériorité compatissante face à cette faiblesse de femme, ce qui était merveilleux à voir. Her father, cheering her, showed a compassionate superiority to this woman's weakness, which was wonderful to see. Plus de grenier, plus de cordonnerie, plus de Cent-Cinq, Tour Nord, à présent ! No garret, no shoemaking, no One Hundred and Five, North Tower, now! Il avait accompli la tâche qu'il s'était fixée, sa promesse était tenue, il avait sauvé Charles. He had accomplished the task he had set himself, his promise was redeemed, he had saved Charles. Qu'ils s'appuient tous sur lui. Let them all lean upon him.
Leur gestion domestique était d'une économie très stricte : non seulement parce que c'était le mode de vie le plus sûr, n'offensant le moins possible au peuple, mais parce qu'ils n'étaient pas riches, et Charles, tout au long de son emprisonnement, avait dû payer chèrement sa mauvaise nourriture, sa garde, et pour l'entretien des prisonniers les plus pauvres. Their housekeeping was of a very frugal kind: not only because that was the safest way of life, involving the least offence to the people, but because they were not rich, and Charles, throughout his imprisonment, had had to pay heavily for his bad food, and for his guard, and towards the living of the poorer prisoners. Partly on this account, and partly to avoid a domestic spy, they kept no servant; the citizen and citizeness who acted as porters at the court-yard gate, rendered them occasional service; and Jerry (almost wholly transferred to them by Mr. Lorry) had become their daily retainer, and had his bed there every night. Partly on this account, and partly to avoid a domestic spy, they kept no servant; the citizen and citizeness who acted as porters at the court-yard gate, rendered them occasional service; and Jerry (almost wholly transferred to them by Mr. Lorry) had become their daily retainer, and had his bed there every night.