L'Abbé Prévost

“ He had noticed, however, for some days past, that this foreigner made a habit of coming regularly to the Bois de Boulogne, where, alighting from his carriage, he would roam about alone among the by-paths, apparently watching for an opportunity of catching a glimpse of Miss Manon or of meeting her. This had led him to strike up an acquaintance with the stranger's servants, in order to find out from them who their master was. They had given him to understand that he was an Italian Prince, and that they suspected him themselves of being engaged in some gallant adventure. ”

“ The true way in which to estimate our wealth is by the means we possess of gratifying our desires. I had not one that was unsatisfied. Even the future gave me little anxiety. I felt almost sure that my father would make no difficulty about giving me money enough to live comfortably at Paris, as, being then in my twentieth year, I would soon be entitled to claim my share of my mother's property. I did not hide from Manon the fact that one hundred pistoles formed the whole of my present capital. ”

“ A controlling sense of honor, as well as a lingering dread of the police, led me to defer from day to day the renewal of my relations with the fraternity of the Hôtel de Transilvanie, and I contented myself with playing in some assemblies of less unenviable notoriety, where Fortune so favored me as to spare me the humiliation of resorting to the tricks of the sharper. ”