Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/230

234 see before me the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut?"

I was so overcome with rage, mortification, and grief that I attempted no reply. For some moments he appeared to be following out his own thoughts, and then, as though they had suddenly inflamed his wrath, he cried, addressing me:

"Scoundrel! You have murdered my son! I am convinced of it!"

This insult cut me to the quick, and I replied haughtily: "Had I thought it worth while to kill any of your family, you old villain, I should have begun with you!"

"Hold him fast!" he said to the Archers, and then to me: "What has become of my son? I insist upon your telling me! As I live, I will have you hanged to-morrow, unless you let me know at once what you have done with him!"

"You will have me hanged, forsooth!" I retorted; "nay, the gallows is meant for you, and ruffians of your kidney! Let me tell you, sir, that a nobler and a purer blood than yours runs in my veins. Yes," I went on, "I do know what has happened to your son; if you provoke me much further, I will have him strangled before morning, and I promise you the same fate after him!"

I could scarcely have been guilty of a greater piece of imprudence than in thus confessing that I knew the whereabouts of his son; but I forgot all discretion in the heat of my indignation. He immediately summoned five or six other Archers who were waiting at the door, and ordered them to place all the servants in the house under arrest.

"Ah ha! my noble Chevalier!" he then resumed, in a mocking tone: "So you know where my son is, and you