Manon Lescaut
a man of his description. 'Be assured, my friend,' said I to him,
'that there is nothing I will not be ready to do for you, and that your
fortune is just as certain as my own.' I enquired what means he
intended to employ. 'None other,' said he, 'than merely to open the
door of her cell for her at night, and to conduct her to the street
door, where you, of course, will be to receive her.' I asked whether
there was no danger of her being recognised as she traversed the long
galleries and the courts. He admitted that there was danger, but that
nothing could be done without some slight risk.
"Although I was delighted to find him so determined, I called M. de
T----, and informed him of the project, and of the only difficulty in
the way. He thought it not so easy of execution. He allowed the
possibility of escaping thus: 'But if she be recognised,' continued
he, 'if she be stopped in the attempt, all hope will be over with her,
perhaps for ever. Besides, you would be obliged to quit Paris
instantly, for you could never evade the search that would be made for
you: they would redouble their efforts as much on your own account as
hers. A single man may easily escape detection, but in company with a
handsome woman, it would be utterly impossible to remain undiscovered.'
"However sound this reasoning, it could not, in my mind, outweigh the
immediate prospect of restoring Manon to liberty. I said as much to M.
de T----, and trusted that he would excuse my imprudence and rashness,
on the ground of love. I added that it was already my intention to
quit Paris for some neighbouring village, as I had once before done.
We then settled with the servant that he should carry his project into
execution the following day, and to render our success as certain as he
could, we resolved to carry into the prison men's clothes, in order to
facilitate her escape."
"There was a difficulty to be surmounted in carrying them in, but I had
ingenuity enough to meet it. I begged of M. de T---- only to put on
two light waistcoats the next morning, and I undertook to arrange the
rest.
"We returned the following day to the Hospital. I took with me linen,
stockings, etc., for Manon, and over my body-coat a surtout, which
concealed the bulk I carried in my pockets. We remained but a moment
in her room. M. de T---- left her one of his waistcoats; I gave her my
short coat, the surtout being sufficient for me. She found nothing
wanting for her complete equipment but a pair of pantaloons, which in
my hurry I had forgotten.
"The want of so necessary an article might have amused us, if the
embarrassment it caused had been of a less serious kind. I was in
despair at having our whole scheme foiled by a trifling omission of
this nature. However, I soon hit on a remedy, and determined to make
my own exit sans-culotte, leaving that portion of my dress with Manon.
My surtout was long, and I contrived by the help of a few pins to put
myself in a decent condition for passing the gate.
"The remainder of the day appeared to me of endless length. When at
last night came, we went in a coach to within a few yards of the
Hospital. We were not long waiting, when we saw Manon make her
appearance with her guide. The door of the coach being opened, they
both stepped in without delay. I opened my arms to receive my adored
mistress; she trembled like an aspen leaf. The coachman asked where he
was to drive? 'To the end of the world!' I exclaimed; 'to some place
where I can never again be separated from Manon.'
"This burst, which I could not control, was near bringing me into fresh
trouble. The coachman reflected upon what I said, and when I
afterwards told him the name of the street to which I wished him to
drive, he answered that he feared I was about to implicate him in some
bad business; that he saw plainly enough that the good-looking young
man whom I called Manon was a girl eloping from the Hospital, and that
he was little disposed indeed to ruin himself for love of me.
"Extortion was the source of this scoundrel's delicacy. We were still
too near the Hospital to make any noise. 'Silence!' said I to him,
'you shall have a louis d'or for the job': for less than that he would
have helped me to burn the Hospital.
"We arrived at Lescaut's house. As it was late, M. de T---- left us on
the way, promising to visit us the next morning. The servant alone
remained.
"I held Manon in such close embrace in my arms, that we occupied but
one place in the coach. She cried for joy, and I could feel her tears
trickling down my cheeks.
"When we were about getting out at Lescaut's, I had a new difficulty
with the coachman, which was attended with the most unfortunate
results. I repented of having promised the fellow a louis d'or, not
only because it was extravagant folly, but for another stronger reason,
that it was at the moment out of my power to pay him. I called for
Lescaut, and he came down to the door. I whispered to him the cause of
my present embarrassment. Being naturally rough, and not at all in the
habit of treating hackney-coachmen with respect, he answered that I
could not be serious. 'A louis!' said he; 'twenty blows of a cane
would be the right payment for that rascal!' I entreated him not to
destroy us; when he snatched my cane from my hand, and was about to lay
it on the coachman. The fellow had probably before experienced the
weight of a guardsman's arm, and instantly drove off, crying out, that
I had cheated him, and should hear of him again. I in vain endeavoured
to stop him.
"His flight caused me, of course, the greatest alarm. I had no doubt
that he would immediately give information to the police. 'You have
ruined me,' said I to Lescaut; 'I shall be no longer safe at your
house; we must go hence at once.' I gave Manon my arm, and as quickly
as possible got out of the dangerous neighbourhood. Lescaut
accompanied us."
The Chevalier des Grieux having occupied more than an hour with his
story, I begged him to give himself a little rest, and meanwhile to
share our supper. He saw, by the attention we paid him, that we were
amused, and promised that we should hear something of perhaps greater
interest in the sequel. When we had finished supper, he continued in
the following words.
[1] A favourite tenet of the Mystics, advocated by Madame de Guyon, and
adopted by the amiable and eloquent Fenelon, was, that the love of the
Supreme Being must be pure and disinterested; that is, exempt from all
views of interest, and all hope of reward. See the controversy between
Bossuet and Fenelon.
[2] The first proposition of the Jansenists was, that there are divine
precepts which good men, notwithstanding their desire to observe them,
are nevertheless absolutely unable to obey: God not having given them
such a measure of grace as is essentially necessary to render them
capable of obedience.--Mosheim's Eccles. Hist., ii. 397.
VII
. . . How chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration
With divers liquors.
SHAKESPEARE.
"How inscrutably does Providence connect events! We had hardly
proceeded for five minutes on our way, when a man, whose face I could
not see, recognised Lescaut. He had no doubt been watching for him
near his home, with the horrible intention which he now unhappily
executed. 'It IS Lescaut!' said he, snapping a pistol at his head; 'he
shall sup tonight with the angels!' He then instantly disappeared.
Lescaut fell, without the least sign of life. I pressed Manon to fly,
for we could be of no use to a dead man, and I feared being arrested by
the police, who would certainly be soon upon the spot. I turned down
the first narrow street with her and the servant: she was so
overpowered by the scene she had just witnessed, that I could hardly
support her. At last, at the end of the street, I perceived a
hackney-coach; we got into it, but when the coachman asked whither he
should drive, I was scarcely able to answer him. I had no certain
asylum--no confidential friend to whom I could have recourse. I was
almost destitute of money, having but one dollar left in my purse.
Fright and fatigue had so unnerved Manon, that she was almost fainting
at my side. My imagination too was full of the murder of Lescaut, and
I was not without strong apprehensions of the patrol. What was to be
done? I luckily remembered the inn at Chaillot, where we first went to
reside in that village. I hoped to be not only secure, but to continue
there for some time without being pressed for payment. 'Take us to
Chaillot,' said I to the coachman. He refused to drive us so far at
that late hour for less than twelve francs. A new embarrassment! At
last we agreed for half that sum--all that my purse contained.
"I tried to console Manon as we went along, but despair was rankling in
my own heart. I should have destroyed myself a thousand times over, if
I had not felt that I held in my arms all that could attach me to life:
this reflection reconciled me. 'I possess her at least,' said I; 'she
loves me! she is mine! Vainly does Tiberge call this a mere phantom of
happiness.' I could, without feeling interest or emotion, see the
whole world besides perish around me. Why? Because I have in it no
object of affection beyond her.
"This sentiment was true; however, while I so lightly esteemed the good
things of the world, I felt that there was no doing without some little
portion of them, were it only to inspire a more thorough contempt for
the remainder. Love is more powerful than wealth--more attractive than
grandeur or fame; but, alas! it cannot exist without certain artificial
aids; and there is nothing more humiliating to the feelings, of a
sensitive lover, than to find himself, by want of means, reduced to the
level of the most vulgar minds.
"It was eleven o'clock when we arrived at Chaillot. They received us
at the inn as old acquaintances, and expressed no sort of surprise at
seeing Manon in male attire, for it was the custom in Paris and the
environs to adopt all disguises. I took care to have her served with
as much attention as if I had been in prosperous circumstances. She
was ignorant of my poverty, and I carefully kept her so, being resolved
to return alone the following day to Paris, to seek some cure for this
vexatious kind of malady.
"At supper she appeared pale and thin; I had not observed this at the
Hospital, as the room in which I saw her was badly lighted. I asked
her if the excessive paleness were not caused by the shock of
witnessing her brother's death? She assured me that, horrified as she
naturally was at the event, her paleness was purely the effect of a
three months' absence from me. 'You do love me then devotedly?' I
exclaimed.
"'A thousand times more than I can tell!' was her reply.
"'You will never leave me again?' I added.
"'No! never, never!' answered she.
"This assurance was confirmed by so many caresses and vows, that it
appeared impossible she could, to the end of time, forget them. I have
never doubted that she was at that moment sincere. What motive could
she have had for dissembling to such a degree? But she became
afterwards still more volatile than ever, or rather she was no longer
anything, and entirely forgot herself, when, in poverty and want, she
saw other women living in abundance. I was now on the point of
receiving a new proof of her inconstancy, which threw all that had
passed into the shade, and which led to the strangest adventure that
ever happened to a man of my birth and prospects.
"As I knew her disposition, I hastened the next day to Paris. The death
of her brother, and the necessity of getting linen and clothes for her,
were such good reasons, that I had no occasion for any further pretext.