L'Abbé Prévost

“ She was waited upon by the new servants whom he had hired especially for her, and whom he now ordered to consider her as their mistress for the future. After that he had shown her the carriage, the horses, and all his other presents; and had finally proposed that they should have a game of cards to pass the time until supper was ready.
"I frankly own," continued Manon, "that I was dazzled by this magnificence. It seemed to me that it would be a thousand pities to cheat ourselves of all this wealth by running away from it and taking nothing with me but the money and the jewelry. ”

“ Heaven only knows what were my emotions at that moment.
"Ah, Manon, Manon!" I sighed, "why give me tears now, at the eleventh hour, after you have robbed me of all that made life dear to me? You are feigning a grief you cannot feel. The greatest of your afflictions, I doubt not, is my presence, which has always been an irksome hindrance to your pleasures. Open your eyes ”

“ Here, thought I, is a fortune, all ready made and waiting for us both; and there is nothing to prevent our living in luxury and ease at G——— M———'s expense. Instead, therefore, of suggesting that he should take me to the Comédie, I determined to sound him as to the sentiments he entertained towards you, and thus to ascertain what opportunities you and I should have of seeing one another in future, supposing that my scheme were to be carried into effect. ”

“ I was compelled to resort to this subterfuge because I saw no hope of his leaving me at liberty for a single moment. Laughing at my proposal, he called his servant, and asked him whether he could find his former mistress immediately, and then sent him off to look for her in every direction. G——— M——— was under the impression that she would have to go to Chaillot to see you; but I told him that, on leaving you, I had promised to rejoin you at the Comédie or, in case anything should prevent my going there, that you were to wait for me in a coach, at the end of the Rue Saint-André. ”