Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/25

Rh the court-yard, while an elderly man, who appeared to be acting as her escort, busied himself in getting her baggage taken out of the boot.

Her beauty struck me as being so remarkable that I—who had never given a thought to the difference between the sexes, nor bestowed even the most passing attention upon a woman—I, be it repeated, whose virtue and propriety were the subjects of general eulogy, felt myself suddenly and madly enamoured of her. One of the defects of my character had always been that I was excessively timid and easily disconcerted; but now, so far from being restrained by that weakness, I advanced boldly towards her who was already the mistress of my heart.

Although she was even younger than myself, she received my polite advances without any signs of embarrassment. I asked her what brought her to Amiens, and whether she had any acquaintances in the town. She replied ingenuously that she had been sent there by her parents to enter a convent. Love, though it had been enthroned in my heart only a few short moments, had already so quickened my perception that I saw in this intention a mortal blow to all my hopes. From the manner in which I talked to her, she soon guessed what was passing in my mind; for she was by no means so unsophisticated as