Page:Madame Rolland (Blind 1886).djvu/67

57

all sorts and conditions of men were thus courting the hand of the magnificent Marie Phlipon, was her life so sweet a one as to make her averse to exchange it for a home of her own? On the contrary; the serenity of her studious days became more and more clouded by anxieties, cares, and fears for the future. Her father, the vain-glorious, fickle Parisian, had loved his daughter as long as their interests seemed identical; but they no sooner began to clash than he was ready to sacrifice her future to his caprice. In spite of Manon's efforts to make the house pleasant to him, and to while away his evenings by taking a hand at cards, he found these pleasures tame to those that awaited him abroad. He began absenting himself more and more, formed connections at coffee-houses, lost his business habits, contracted a passion for gaming, and began by spending not only his own savings, but the money which, according to French law, belonged of right to his daughter. Manon, with her shrewd common-sense, saw that, as her father's custom fell off, he tried to retrieve himself by gambling; she suspected, besides, that he was squandering his