Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/251

Rh would have been a gain to me alone; but Manon required that I should live to rescue, to help, and to avenge her. To that task I inwardly vowed that I would devote the whole strength of my being.

The Warder tended me with as much solicitude as though he had been my dearest friend. I accepted his kindly assistance with the deepest gratitude.

"Alas!" I sighed, "my sorrows do, then, move you to compassion! I am abandoned by every one else. My own father, it seems, is one of the most relentless of my persecutors. Not a soul is there who pities me, except yourself. Yes, you—whose lot is cast in this abode of harshness and inhumanity—you alone show any sympathy for a poor wretch who is the unhappiest of living men!"

He advised me not to venture out into the street until I had recovered a little from the agitation under which I was laboring.

"Nay, nay, let me go!" I answered, as I rose to leave. "You will see me again sooner than you expect. Prepare the darkest of your cells for my reception. I am going to do my best to earn the right to occupy it!"

And, in fact, my first resolve was nothing more nor less than to kill the two G Ms and the Lieutenant-