Manon Lescaut
spare no pains or expense to ensure success. 'We must be mounted,' he
said, 'and each man must have his carbine and pistols; I will take care
to prepare everything requisite by tomorrow. We shall also want three
new suits of regimentals for the soldiers, who dare not appear in an
affray of this kind in the uniform of their regiment. I handed him the
hundred pistoles which I had got from M. de T----; it was all expended
the next morning, to the very last sou. I inspected the three
soldiers; I animated them with the most liberal promises; and to
confirm their confidence in me, I began by making each man a present of
ten pistoles.
"The momentous day having arrived, I sent one of them at an early hour
to the Hospital, to ascertain the exact time when the police were to
start with their prisoners. Although I merely took this precaution
from my excessive anxiety, it turned out to have been a prudent step.
I had formed my plans upon false information, which I had received as
to their destination; and believing that it was at Rochelle this
unhappy group was to embark, all my trouble would have been thrown away
in waiting for them on the Orleans road. However, I learned, by the
soldier's report, that they would go out towards Rouen, and that it was
from Havre-de-Grace they were to sail for America.
"We at once went to the gate of St. Honore, taking care to go by
different streets. We assembled at the end of the faubourg. Our
horses were fresh. In a little time we observed before us the six
archers and the two wretched caravans, which you saw at Passy two years
ago. The sight alone almost deprived me of my strength and senses.
'Oh fate!' said I to myself, 'cruel fate! grant me now either death or
victory.'
"We hastily consulted as to the mode of making the attack. The
cavalcade was only four hundred paces in advance, and we might
intercept them by cutting across a small field, round which the high
road led. The guardsman was for this course, in order to fall suddenly
upon them while unprepared. I approved of the plan, and was the first
to spur my horse forward--but fate once again relentlessly blasted all
my hopes.
"The escort, seeing five horsemen riding towards them, inferred that it
was for the purpose of attacking them. They put themselves in a
position of defence, preparing their bayonets and guns with an air of
resolution.
"This demonstration, which in the guardsman and myself only inspired
fresh courage, had a very different effect upon our three cowardly
companions. They stopped simultaneously, and having muttered to each
other some words which I could not hear, they turned their horses'
heads, threw the bridles on their necks, and galloped back towards
Paris.
"'Good heavens!' said the guardsman, who appeared as much annoyed as I
was by this infamous desertion, 'what is to be done? we are but two
now.'
"From rage and consternation I had lost all power of speech. I doubted
whether my first revenge should not be in pursuing the cowards who had
abandoned me. I saw them flying, and looked in the other direction at
the escort: if it had been possible to divide myself, I should at once
have fallen upon both these objects of my fury; I should have destroyed
all at the same moment.
"The guardsman, who saw my irresolution by my wandering gaze, begged of
me to hear his advice. 'Being but two,' he said, 'it would be madness
to attack six men as well armed as ourselves, and who seem determined
to receive us firmly. Let us return to Paris, and endeavour to succeed
better in the choice of our comrades. The police cannot make very
rapid progress with two heavy vans; we may overtake them tomorrow
without difficulty.'
"I reflected a moment on this suggestion; but seeing nothing around me
but despair, I took a final and indeed desperate resolution: this was
to thank my companion for his services, and, far from attacking the
police, to go up with submission and implore them to receive me among
them, that I might accompany Manon to Havre-de-Grace, and afterwards,
if possible, cross the Atlantic with her. 'The whole world is either
persecuting or betraying me,' said I to the guardsman; 'I have no
longer the power of interesting anyone in my favour; I expect nothing
more either from fortune or the friendship of man; my misery is at its
height; it only remains for me to submit, so that I close my eyes
henceforward against every gleam of hope. May Heaven,' I continued,
'reward you for your generosity! Adieu! I shall go and aid my
wretched destiny in filling up the full measure of my ruin!' He, in
vain, endeavoured to persuade me to return with him to Paris. I
entreated him to leave me at once, lest the police should still suspect
us of an intention to attack them."
XII
The pauses and intermissions of pain become positive pleasures; and
have thus a power of shedding a satisfaction over the intervals of
ease, which few enjoyments exceed.--PALEY.
"Riding towards the cortege at a slow pace, and with a sorrowful
countenance, the guards could hardly see anything very terrific in my
approach. They seemed, however, to expect an attack. 'Be persuaded,
gentlemen,' said I to them, 'that I come not to wage war, but rather to
ask favours.' I then begged of them to continue their progress without
any distrust, and as we went along I made my solicitations. They
consulted together to ascertain in what way they should entertain my
request. The chief of them spoke for the rest. He said that the
orders they had received to watch the prisoners vigilantly were of the
strictest kind; that, however, I seemed so interesting a young man,
that they might be induced to relax a little in their duty; but that I
must know, of course, that this would cost me something. I had about
sixteen pistoles left, and candidly told them what my purse contained.
'Well,' said the gendarme, 'we will act generously. It shall only cost
you a crown an hour for conversing with any of our girls that you may
prefer-- that is the ordinary price in Paris.'
"I said not a word of Manon, because I did not wish to let them know of
my passion. They at first supposed it was merely a boyish whim, that
made me think of amusing myself with these creatures: but when they
discovered that I was in love, they increased their demands in such a
way, that my purse was completely empty on leaving Mantes, where we had
slept the night before our arrival at Passy.
"Shall I describe to you my heart-rending interviews with Manon during
this journey, and what my sensations were when I obtained from the
guards permission to approach her caravan? Oh! language never can
adequately express the sentiments of the heart; but picture to yourself
my poor mistress, with a chain round her waist, seated upon a handful
of straw, her head resting languidly against the panel of the carriage,
her face pale and bathed with tears, which forced a passage between her
eyelids, although she kept them continually closed. She had not even
the curiosity to open her eyes on hearing the bustle of the guards when
they expected our attack. Her clothes were soiled, and in disorder;
her delicate hands exposed to the rough air; in fine, her whole angelic
form, that face, lovely enough to carry back the world to idolatry,
presented a spectacle of distress and anguish utterly indescribable.
"I spent some moments gazing at her as I rode alongside the carriage.
I had so lost my self-possession, that I was several times on the point
of falling from my horse. My sighs and frequent exclamations at length
attracted her attention. She looked at and recognised me, and I
remarked that on the first impulse, she unconsciously tried to leap
from the carriage towards me, but being checked by her chain, she fell
into her former attitude.
"I begged of the guards to stop one moment for the sake of mercy; they
consented for the sake of avarice. I dismounted to go and sit near
her. She was so languid and feeble, that she was for some time without
the power of speech, and could not raise her hands: I bathed them with
my tears; and being myself unable to utter a word, we formed together
as deplorable a picture of distress as could well be seen. When at
length we were able to speak, our conversation was not less sorrowful.
Manon said little: shame and grief appeared to have altered the
character of her voice; its tone was feeble and tremulous.
"She thanked me for not having forgotten her, and for the comfort I
gave her in allowing her to see me once more, and she then bade me a
long and last farewell. But when I assured her that no power on earth
could ever separate me from her, and that I was resolved to follow her
to the extremity of the world--to watch over her--to guard her--to love
her--and inseparably to unite my wretched destiny with hers, the poor
girl gave way to such feelings of tenderness and grief, that I almost
dreaded danger to her life from the violence of her emotion: the
agitation of her whole soul seemed intensely concentrated in her eyes;
she fixed them steadfastly upon me. She more than once opened her lips
without the power of giving utterance to her thoughts. I could,
however, catch some expressions that dropped from her, of admiration
and wonder at my excessive love--of doubt that she could have been
fortunate enough to inspire me with a passion so perfect--of earnest
entreaty that I would abandon my intention of following her, and seek
elsewhere a lot more worthy of me, and which, she said, I could never
hope to find with her.
"In spite of the cruellest inflictions of Fate, I derived comfort from
her looks, and from the conviction that I now possessed her undivided
affection. I had in truth lost all that other men value; but I was the
master of Manon's heart, the only possession that I prized. Whether in
Europe or in America, of what moment to me was the place of my abode,
provided I might live happy in the society of my mistress? Is not the
universe the residence of two fond and faithful lovers? Does not each
find in the other, father, mother, friends, relations, riches, felicity?
"If anything caused me uneasiness, it was the fear of seeing Manon
exposed to want. I fancied myself already with her in a barbarous
country, inhabited by savages. 'I am quite certain,' said I, 'there
will be none there more cruel than G---- M---- and my father. They
will, at least, allow us to live in peace. If the accounts we read of
savages be true, they obey the laws of nature: they neither know the
mean rapacity of avarice, nor the false and fantastic notions of
dignity, which have raised me up an enemy in my own father. They will
not harass and persecute two lovers, when they see us adopt their own
simple habits.' I was therefore at ease upon that point.
"But my romantic ideas were not formed with a proper view to the
ordinary wants of life. I had too often found that there were
necessaries which could not be dispensed with, particularly by a young
and delicate woman, accustomed to comfort and abundance. I was in
despair at having so fruitlessly emptied my purse, and the little money
that now remained was about being forced from me by the rascally
imposition of the gendarmes. I imagined that a very trifling sum would
suffice for our support for some time in America, where money was
scarce, and might also enable me to form some undertaking there for our
permanent establishment.
"This idea made me resolve on writing to Tiberge, whom I had ever found
ready to hold out the generous hand of friendship. I wrote from the
first town we passed through. I only alluded to the destitute
condition in which I foresaw that I should find myself on arriving at
Havre-de-Grace, to which place I acknowledged that I was accompanying