Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/180

184 When I awoke, Manon declared that though the day was to be passed in our lodgings, she by no means intended that I should make that an excuse for a careless toilet; and she added that she meant to dress my hair with her own hands. I boasted a fine head of hair; and this was an amusement in which she had more than once indulged. On this occasion, however, she devoted more care to the task than I had ever seen her take before.

To gratify her I was obliged to seat myself before her dressing-table and to submit to all the little embellishments which her fancy devised for my adornment. During the progress of her work, she would every now and again make me turn my face towards her, and, resting her hands upon my shoulders, subject me to an eager scrutiny. Then—expressing her satisfaction by one or two kisses—she would make me resume my former position, and would proceed with her task. This diversion kept us pleasantly engaged until dinner-time. Her delight in it seemed so unaffected, and her gayety so free from simulation, that, unable to reconcile such appearances of constancy with the project of a base betrayal on her part, I was more than once tempted to unbosom myself to her, and relieve my mind of a burden which was beginning to weigh very heavily upon it. But I indulged the hope, as