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"This is something new to me, Mr. Lorry. You deliberately advise

me not to go up to Soho and offer myself--myself, Stryver of the

King's Bench bar?"

"Do you ask me for my advice, Mr. Stryver?"

"Yes, I do."

"Very good. Then I give it, and you have repeated it correctly."

"And all I can say of it is," laughed Stryver with a vexed laugh,

"that this--ha, ha!--beats everything past, present, and to

come."

"Now understand me," pursued Mr. Lorry. "As a man of business, I

am not justified in saying anything about this matter, for, as a

man of business, I know nothing of it. But, as an old fellow, who

has carried Miss Manette in his arms, who is the trusted friend

of Miss Manette and of her father too, and who has a great

affection for them both, I have spoken. The confidence is not of

my seeking, recollect. Now, you think I may not be right?"