Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/277



set sail, and were fortunate enough to have favorable winds throughout the entire passage. I succeeded in pursuading the Captain to assign a separate cabin to Manon and myself. He was good enough to make a distinction between us and the common herd of our wretched associates. Before a day had passed, I took him aside and confided part of my unhappy story to him, in the hope of securing considerate treatment at his hands. I did not feel that I was guilty of any very atrocious falsehood in telling him that I was married to Manon. He pretended to believe it, and took me under his special protection, evi-