Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/284

288 ing can shake my happiness: it is firmly established from this day forward!"

"It is, indeed," she responded, "if it depends upon me; and well do I know where my own happiness is always to be found."

I retired to rest with my mind filled with these delightful thoughts, which transformed my humble cabin into a palace fit for the proudest monarch on earth. Thenceforth America was, in my eyes, an abode of perfect bliss.

"Whoever would taste the true delights of love," I would often say to Manon, "should come to New Orleans. Here it is that the tender passion holds its sway, unruffled by self-interest, by jealousy, or by inconstancy. Our fellow-countrymen come to these shores in quest of gold: little do they dream of the far more precious treasures which we have discovered here!"

We carefully cultivated the Governor's friendship; and a few weeks after our arrival he was kind enough to appoint me to an unimportant post which had recently become vacant in the fort. Humble as it was, I accepted it as a godsend; for it enabled me to earn an independent livelihood. I hired a man-servant for myself, and a maid for Manon, and set about regulating our affairs in keeping