Manon Lescaut

“ She was extremely pretty; and I could have wished that she were beautiful enough to make me forswear honor and constancy in my turn. But hers were not those bright and melting eyes, that divinely moulded form, that complexion of love's own coloring—in a word, that inexhaustible wealth of charms which Nature had lavished upon the faithless Manon. ”

“ The unwearied object of my solicitude was to save Manon from every inconvenience. She felt this, and her gratitude, together with a lively sense of the singular position in which I had placed myself solely for her sake, rendered the dear creature so tender and impassioned, so attentive also to my most trifling wants, that it was between us a continual emulation of attentions and of love. I felt no regret at quitting Europe; on the contrary, the nearer we approached America, the more did I feel my heart expand and become tranquil. ”

“ Deeply enamored as I was of Manon, she succeeded in persuading me that she felt no less tenderly toward me. So little restraint did we place upon our caresses, that we had not even patience to wait until we were alone to indulge in them. Our postilions and the inn-keepers along the road stole wondering glances at us; and their surprise at seeing such passionate love-making between two children of our age was very apparent. ”

“ She covered my hands with kisses, but did not change her attitude.
"Inconstant Manon!" continued I, "faithless and ungrateful girl! What of your promises and of your vows? What of the love you swore to me this very day, thrice fickle and cruel one? Just Heaven! Is a perfidious woman to call you thus solemnly to witness, and then to mock at you like this? Is perjury then, to be rewarded, while faith and constancy are left in despair?" ”

“ My death would have been a gain to me alone; but Manon required that I should live to rescue, to help, and to avenge her. To that task I inwardly vowed that I would devote the whole strength of my being.
The Warder tended me with as much solicitude as though he had been my dearest friend. I accepted his kindly assistance with the deepest gratitude.
"Alas!" I sighed, "my sorrows do, then, move you to compassion! I am abandoned by every one else. My own father, it seems, is one of the most relentless of my persecutors. Not a soul is there who pities me, except yourself. ”

“ I exclaimed, as my heart sank within me: "and what may those views be, your reverence?"
"As you are well aware," he replied, "the Governor is master here, and, Manon having been sent out from France for the benefit of the colony, it is for him to dispose of her as he thinks fit. He has not done so as yet, because he believed her to be married; but now that he has learned from your own lips that she is not, he has decided to give her to M. Synnelet, who is in love with her." ”

“ After long and anxious reflection, I at last resolved to go to the Governor and make an effort to move him by appealing to his sense of honor, and to the remembrance of my unvarying respect for him and of the friendship he had hitherto professed for me.
Manon tried her best to dissuade me from my purpose.
"You are rushing to certain death," she said, with tears in her eyes; "they will murder you, and I shall never see you again. If you must die, I will die first!" ”

“ I am only too well satisfied and happy as long as my dearest Manon does not cast me out of her heart. But," added I, forgetting for the moment the actual state of affairs, "all-powerful Manon—you who can at pleasure mete out to me joy or sorrow—now that I have propitiated you by my submission and by these evidences of my repentance, may I not be suffered to tell you of the misery and anguish to which I am a prey? May I not learn from your lips what my doom is to be to-day, and whether my sentence of death is to be irrevocably pronounced by your passing this night in my rival's arms?" ”

“ Look where I would, I saw no hope of safety for either of us.
"Manon, what is to be done?" I asked her, as soon as her strength had somewhat revived. "Alas! what is to become of us? For me there is nothing left but flight. You, if you will, can remain at New Orleans. Yes, it is better so! Remain here, where happiness may yet await you; while I go far away from you to court death amid savage tribes or in the jaws of some ferocious beast!" ”

“ On the other hand, I considered that she had scarcely been out of my sight since we had come to Paris. In all our occupations, our walks, and our amusements, we were invariably together. Great Heavens! a moment's separation would have been an intolerable affliction for us. It had become a necessity of our lives to be constantly interchanging assurances of our mutual love; to forego that sweet privilege would have been torture to us. I could thus conceive of scarcely a moment during which any one but myself could have been in Manon's thoughts. ”

“ I was the first to propose this change to Manon, knowing, as I did, the principles which ruled in her breast. She was upright and sincere in all her sentiments; and these are qualities which invariably predispose their possessor towards virtue. I explained to her that there was one thing lacking to make our happiness complete, "and that," said I, "is the approval of Heaven. We are both of us too high-minded and pure-hearted to be content to live on in the voluntary violation of our plain duty. ”

“ Although I was still undecided as to where we should seek refuge, I cherished two hopes, without which, indeed, I should have preferred death to my dreadful uncertainty as to what might be Manon's fate. I had gained sufficient knowledge of the country, during the ten months or so that I had passed in America, to understand the best methods of dealing with the savages. It was by no means certain death to trust one's self in their hands. ”

“ Now at length I learn your wretched disposition. Adieu, base creature,' said I, rising from my seat; 'I would prefer death a thousand times rather than continue to hold the slightest communication with you. May Heaven punish me, if I ever again waste upon you the smallest regard! Live on with your new lover—renounce all feelings of honour—detest me—your love is now a matter to me of utter insignificance!'
"Manon was so terrified by the violence of my anger, that, remaining on her knees by the chair from which I had just before risen, breathless and trembling, she fixed her eyes upon me. ”

“ On our way home I confided my newly conceived plan to Lescaut.
"I may fairly assume," said I, "that this M. de T———'s son, who is rich and well-connected, has, in common with most young fellows of his age, more or less taste for pleasure. He is hardly likely to be a woman-hater, or such a milksop as to refuse his aid in a love affair. It is my design to enlist his interest in Manon's release. If he be a man of honor and feeling, he will lend us his assistance out of pure generosity. ”

“ G—— M——, although a good deal embarrassed by the whole scene, soon recognised me; and Manon still more easily. 'Is this a dream?' said he, in the most serious tone—'do I not see before me the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut?' I was so overcome with shame and disappointment, that I could make him no reply. He appeared for some minutes revolving different thoughts in his mind; and as if they had suddenly excited his anger, he exclaimed, addressing himself to me: 'Wretch! ”

“ Virtue had for a moment the ascendancy in my heart, and made me sensible of my shame and degradation. But this was soon over. For Manon I could have given up my hopes of heaven, and when I again found myself at her side, I wondered how I could for an instant have considered myself degraded by my passion for this enchanting girl.
"Manon was a creature of most extraordinary disposition. Never had mortal a greater contempt for money, and yet she was haunted by perpetual dread of wanting it. Her only desire was for pleasure and amusement. ”

“ He told me, that although he had never seen Manon, he had heard of her; at least, if the person I was talking of was the same who had been the mistress of old G—— M——. I conjectured that he must have heard of the part I had acted in that transaction, and in order to conciliate him more and more by treating him with confidence, I told him everything that had occurred to Manon and myself. 'You see, sir,' said I, 'that all that can interest me in life, all that can command my affections, is in your hands. ”

“ The sight of Manon would have made me fling myself down from heaven itself; and I was amazed to think, when I found myself once more at her side, that I had been capable for one moment of regarding as shameful so justifiable an affection for so lovely an object.
Manon's character was a singular one. Never had a girl less attachment to money than she ”

“ She replied with such pathetic expressions of her penitence, and pledged herself to constancy by such earnest vows and protestations, that I was moved beyond all words.
"Dearest Manon," I said to her, with a profane mingling of the phrases of love and of theology, "you are a divinity; no created being could inspire such adoration as I feel for you! My heart is swelling with triumph and beatitude. Let them talk of free-will as they please at St. Sulpice, 'tis but a chimera! I am going to sacrifice fortune and reputation for your sake ”

“ We have been endowed with intelligence, with taste, and with fine feeling—and all, alas! to what end? While, on the other hand, how many ignoble souls, worthy of no better fate than ours, are to be seen in the enjoyment of every favor that fortune has to bestow!"
Bitter as were these reflections, they were cheerful in comparison with the fears that were agitating my mind with regard to the future. My heart was sick with dread of what might befall Manon. ”

“ You love me, Manon, do you not? What happiness beyond this have I ever longed for? Let us leave to Providence the direction of our destiny; it by no means appears to me so desperate. The governor is civil and obliging; he has already given us marks of his consideration; he will not allow us to want for necessaries. As to our rude hut and the squalidness of our furniture, you might have noticed that there are few persons in the colony better lodged or more comfortably furnished than we are: and then you are an admirable chemist,' added I, embracing her ”

“ Manon was devoted to pleasure: I was devoted to her. Fresh occasions for extravagance were incessantly arising; and—so far from grudging the money which she spent, often with lavish prodigality—I was the first to procure her everything which I thought likely to afford her gratification.
Even our residence at Chaillot soon began to grow irksome to her. Winter was drawing near; every one was returning to town, and the country was commencing to look deserted. She suggested that we should take a house in Paris. ”

“ I was almost penniless, having barely more than half a pistole in my purse. Manon was so overcome with terror and fatigue that she was nearly swooning beside me. My imagination, moreover, was filled with the murder of Lescaut, and I was not yet free from apprehension regarding the Watch. What was to be done?
By a happy inspiration I thought of the inn at Chaillot, at which I had spent some days with Manon when we first went to make our home in that village. There I hoped we might not only find a safe retreat, but be able to live for some time without being pressed for payment. ”

“ The remainder of the day seemed to me intolerably long; but night came at last, and we took a coach and drove to within a short distance of the gates of the Hôpital. We had not waited there many minutes before Manon and her escort made their appearance. The door of our coach was open; they hurriedly leaped in, and I clasped my beloved mistress to my heart. She was trembling like a leaf.
"Where shall I drive?" asked the coachman.
"Drive to the uttermost ends of the earth!" cried I, "and carry me to some spot where I can never again be separated from Manon!" ”

“ Weak as she was, Manon rose and, taking me by the hand, led me to the door.
"Let us flee together!" said she: "We have not a moment to lose! If Synnelet's body should chance to be found, there would not be time for us to make good our escape."
"But, dearest Manon," I asked in dismay, "where can we go? Do you know of any place of refuge? ”

“ We walked on until Manon's strength gave way, in spite of the fortitude and resolution by which she was sustained. We had then travelled a distance of about two leagues. In her matchless devotion she had steadily refused to stop any sooner, but at last, overcome with fatigue, she acknowledged that she could go no further. Night had already overtaken us when we threw ourselves upon the ground, in the midst of a vast plain, where not even a tree was to be seen under which to shelter ourselves. ”

“ I immediately returned to my lodgings, and embraced Manon as tenderly as ever. She received me as usual. At first I was tempted to mention my conjectures, which I now, more than ever, looked upon as certain; but I restrained myself in the hope that she might render it unnecessary by informing me of all that had passed.
"Supper was served. Assuming an air of gaiety, I took my seat at table; but by the light of the candles which were between us, I fancied I perceived an air of melancholy about the eyes and countenance of my beloved mistress. The very thought soon damped my gaiety. ”