Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/16

20 band being also in the room, I drew aside the one who was in command, and asked him to give me some account of how this lovely girl had met with such a fate. He could do so only in a very general way.

"We took her from the Hôpital," said he, "by order of the Lieutenant-General of Police. She was not shut up there as a reward for good conduct, that is certain. I have questioned her several times on our way here, but she obstinately refuses to reply. I received no orders to treat her more kindly than the others; but for all that I have shown her some consideration, because she appears to me a trifle better than her companions. Yonder is a young man," added the archer, "who may be able to tell you more than I can concerning the cause of her disgrace. He has followed her all the way from Paris, and has scarcely stopped weeping for a moment. He must be her brother, or her lover."

I turned toward the corner of the room where the young man was sitting. He appeared to be buried in deep thought. I never beheld a more striking picture of grief. He was very simply dressed; but it did not require a second glance to perceive that he was a man of birth and education. He rose as I approached him, and his features, his expression, and his every movement bore the mark of such refinement and nobility that I felt myself instinctively drawn towards him.

"Do not let me disturb you," I said, seating myself beside him. "Will you be kind enough to gratify the curiosity which I feel to learn something of the history of that fair creature, who seems to me little fitted for the sad condition in which I now see her?"

He replied frankly that he could not let me know who she was, without disclosing his own name, which he had strong reasons for desiring to keep a secret.