Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/231

Rh will have him strangled, say you! We shall have something to say about that, you may depend upon it!"

I realized at once the fatal mistake that I had made.

Advancing towards Manon, who was sitting upon the bed, weeping bitterly, he complimented her ironically upon the sway she wielded over both father and son alike, and upon the good account to which she succeeded in turning it. The lecherous old monster would then have attempted to take some liberties with her, had I not checked him by hotly exclaiming:

"Dare to lay hands upon her, and nothing under heaven shall protect you from my vengeance!"

Thereupon he went out, leaving three Archers in the room, with orders to see that we dressed ourselves without delay.

What his intentions regarding us may then have been, I cannot say. Possibly we might have obtained our release by consenting to tell him where his son was to be found. I reflected, as I drew on my clothes, whether this might not be the wisest course to adopt. But if such had been his inclination on leaving our room, it had undergone a complete change when he returned.

He had been questioning Manon's servants, whom the Archers had arrested, and had failed to get any informa-