Manon Lescaut
annum. He left orders with his steward to look out for a house, and to
have it in readiness by the time he returned. You will soon,
therefore, again see Manon, who begged of me to give you a thousand
tender messages, and to assure you that she loves you more dearly than
ever.'"
V
Infected with that leprosy of lust,
Which taints the hoariest years of vicious men
Making them ransack to the very last
The dregs of pleasure for their vanished joys.
BYRON.
"On sitting down to reflect upon this strange turn of fate, I found
myself so perplexed, and consequently so incapable of arriving at any
rational conclusion, that I allowed Lescaut to put repeated questions
to me without in the slightest degree attending to their purport. It
was then that honour and virtue made me feel the most poignant remorse,
and that I recalled with bitterness Amiens, my father's house, St.
Sulpice, and every spot where I had ever lived in happy innocence. By
what a terrific interval was I now separated from that blessed state!
I beheld it no longer but as a dim shadow in the distance, still
attracting my regrets and desires, but without the power of rousing me
to exertion. 'By what fatality,' said I, 'have I become thus degraded?
Love is not a guilty passion! why then has it been to me the source of
profligacy and distress? Who prevented me from leading a virtuous and
tranquil life with Manon? Why did I not marry her before I obtained
any concession from her love? Would not my father, who had the
tenderest regard for me, have given his consent, if I had taken the
fair and candid course of soliciting him? Yes, my father would himself
have cherished her as one far too good to be his son's wife! I should
have been happy in the love of Manon, in the affection of my father, in
the esteem of the world, with a moderate portion of the good things of
life, and above all with the consciousness of virtue. Disastrous
change! Into what an infamous character is it here proposed that I
should sink? To share---- But can I hesitate, if Manon herself
suggests it, and if I am to lose her except upon such conditions?
'Lescaut,' said I, putting my hands to my eyes as if to shut out such a
horrifying vision, 'if your intention was to render me a service, I
give you thanks. You might perhaps have struck out a more reputable
course, but it is so settled, is it not? Let us then only think of
profiting by your labour, and fulfilling your engagements.'
"Lescaut, who had been considerably embarrassed, not only by my fury,
but by the long silence which followed it, was too happy to see me now
take a course so different from what he had anticipated. He had not a
particle of courage, of which indeed I have, in the sequel of my story,
abundant proof. 'Yes, yes,' he quickly answered, 'it is good service I
have rendered you, and you will find that we shall derive infinitely
more advantage from it than you now expect.' We consulted then as to
the best mode of preventing the suspicions which G---- M---- might
entertain of our relationship, when he found me older and of riper
manhood than he probably imagined. The only plan we could hit upon was
to assume in his presence an innocent and provincial air, and to
persuade him that it was my intention to enter the Church, and that
with that view I was obliged to go every day to the college. We also
determined that I should appear as awkward as I possibly could the
first time I was admitted to the honour of an introduction.
"He returned to town three or four days after, and at once conducted
Manon to the house which his steward had in the meantime prepared. She
immediately apprised Lescaut of her return, and he having informed me,
we went together to her new abode. The old lover had already gone out.
"In spite of the submission with which I had resigned myself to her
wishes, I could not, at our meeting, repress the compunctious visitings
of my conscience. I appeared before her grieved and dejected. The joy
I felt at seeing her once more could not altogether dispel my sorrow
for her infidelity: she, on the contrary, appeared transported with the
pleasure of seeing me. She accused me of coldness. I could not help
muttering the words perfidious and unfaithful, though they were
profusely mixed with sighs.
"At first she laughed at me for my simplicity; but when she found that
I continued to look at her with an unchanging expression of melancholy,
and that I could not bring myself to enter with alacrity into a scene
so repugnant to all my feelings, she went alone into her boudoir. I
very soon followed her, and then I found her in a flood of tears. I
asked the cause of her sorrow. 'You can easily understand it,' said
she; 'how can you wish me to live, if my presence can no longer have
any other effect than to give you an air of sadness and chagrin? Not
one kiss have you given me during the long hour you have been in the
house, while you have received my caresses with the dignified
indifference of a Grand Turk, receiving the forced homage of the
Sultanas of his harem.'
"'Hearken to me, Manon,' said I, embracing her; 'I cannot conceal from
you that my heart is bitterly afflicted. I do not now allude to the
uneasiness your sudden flight caused me, nor to the unkindness of
quitting me without a word of consolation, after having passed the
night away from me. The pleasure of seeing you again would more than
compensate for all; but do you imagine that I can reflect without sighs
and tears upon the degrading and unhappy life which you now wish me to
lead in this house? Say nothing of my birth, or of my feelings of
honour; love like mine derives no aid from arguments of that feeble
nature; but do you imagine that I can without emotion see my love so
badly recompensed, or rather so cruelly treated, by an ungrateful and
unfeeling mistress?'
"She interrupted me. 'Stop, chevalier,' said she, 'it is useless to
torture me with reproaches, which, coming from you, always pierce my
heart. I see what annoys you. I had hoped that you would have agreed
to the project which I had devised for mending our shattered fortunes,
and it was from a feeling of delicacy to you that I began the execution
of it without your assistance; but I give it up since it does not meet
your approbation.' She added that she would now merely request a
little patient forbearance during the remainder of the day; that she
had already received five hundred crowns from the old gentleman, and
that he had promised to bring her that evening a magnificent pearl
necklace with other jewels, and, in advance, half of the yearly pension
he had engaged to allow her. 'Leave me only time enough,' said she to
me, to get possession of these presents; I promise you that he will
have little to boast of from his connection with me, for in the country
I repulsed all his advances, putting him off till our return to town.
It is true that he has kissed my hand a thousand times over, and it is
but just that he should pay for even this amusement: I am sure that,
considering his riches as well as his age, five or six thousand francs
is not an unreasonable price!'
"Her determination was of more value in my eyes than twenty thousand
crowns. I could feel that I was not yet bereft of every sentiment of
honour, by the satisfaction I experienced at escaping thus from infamy.
But I was born for brief joys, and miseries of long duration. Fate
never rescued me from one precipice, but to lead me to another. When I
had expressed my delight to Manon at this change in her intentions, I
told her she had better inform Lescaut of it, in order that we might
take our measures in concert. At first he murmured, but the money in
hand induced him to enter into our views. It was then determined that
we should all meet at G---- M----'s supper table, and that, for two
reasons: first, for the amusement of passing me off as a schoolboy, and
brother to Manon; and secondly, to prevent the old profligate from
taking any liberties with his mistress, on the strength of his liberal
payments in advance. Lescaut and I were to retire, when he went to the
room where he expected to pass the night; and Manon, instead of
following him, promised to come out, and join us. Lescaut undertook to
have a coach waiting at the door.
"The supper hour having arrived, M. G---- M---- made his appearance.
Already Lescaut was with his sister in the supper room. The moment the
lover entered, he presented his fair one with a complete set of pearls,
necklaces, ear-rings, and bracelets, which must have cost at least a
thousand crowns. He then placed on the table before her, in louis
d'or, two thousand four hundred francs, the half of her year's
allowance. He seasoned his present with many pretty speeches in the
true style of the old court. Manon could not refuse him a few kisses:
it was sealing her right to the money which he had just handed to her.
I was at the door, and waiting for Lescaut's signal to enter the room.
"He approached to take me by the hand, while Manon was securing the
money and jewels, and leading me towards M. G---- M----, he desired me
to make my bow. I made two or three most profound ones. 'Pray excuse
him, sir,' said Lescaut, 'he is a mere child. He has not yet acquired
much of the ton of Paris; but no doubt with a little trouble we shall
improve him. You will often have the honour of seeing that gentleman,
here,' said he, turning towards me: 'take advantage of it, and
endeavour to imitate so good a model.'
"The old libertine appeared to be pleased with me. He patted me on the
cheek, saying that I was a fine boy, but that I should be on my guard
in Paris, where young men were easily debauched. Lescaut assured him
that I was naturally of so grave a character that I thought of nothing
but becoming a clergyman, and that, even as a child, my favourite
amusement was building little chapels. 'I fancy a likeness to Manon,'
said the old gentleman, putting his hand under my chin. I answered
him, with the most simple air-- 'Sir, the fact is, that we are very
closely connected, and I love my sister as another portion of myself.'
'Do you hear that,' said he to Lescaut; 'he is indeed a clever boy! It
is a pity he should not see something of the world.' 'Oh, sir,' I
replied, 'I have seen a great deal of it at home, attending church, and
I believe I might find in Paris some greater fools than myself.'
'Listen,' said he; 'it is positively wonderful in a boy from the
country.'
"The whole conversation during supper was of the same kind. Manon, with
her usual gaiety, was several times on the point of spoiling the joke
by her bursts of laughter. I contrived, while eating, to recount his
own identical history, and to paint even the fate that awaited him.
Lescaut and Manon were in an agony of fear during my recital,
especially while I was drawing his portrait to the life: but his own
vanity prevented him from recognising it, and I did it so well that he
was the first to pronounce it extremely laughable. You will allow that
I had reason for dwelling on this ridiculous scene.
"At length it was time to retire. He hinted at the impatience of love.
Lescaut and I took our departure. G---- M---- went to his room, and
Manon, making some excuse for her absence, came to join us at the gate.
The coach, that was waiting for us a few doors off, drove up towards
us, and we were out of the street in an instant.
"Although I must confess that this proceeding appeared to me little
short of actual robbery, it was not the most dishonest one with which I
thought I had to reproach myself. I had more scruples about the money
which I had won at play. However, we derived as little advantage from
one as from the other; and Heaven sometimes ordains that the lightest