Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/303

306 After all that you have just heard, the conclusion of my story is of so little interest or importance, that it will scarcely repay your trouble in listening to it.

Synnelet was carried back to the town; and when his injuries were carefully examined it was found that, so far from being dead, he had not even received a dangerous wound. He acquainted his uncle with all that had passed between us, and his natural generosity made him hasten to acknowledge the honorable and magnanimous manner in which I had behaved. I was sent for, and my absence, coupled with that of Manon, led to the conjecture that we had taken refuge in flight. The night was too far advanced to allow of my then being traced; but the next day and the day after that were devoted to my pursuit.

I was found, in an apparently lifeless condition, upon Manon's grave; and the men who discovered me in this plight, seeing me stripped of nearly all my clothes, and bleeding from my wound, came to the conclusion that I had been robbed and assassinated. They carried me into the town. The motion restored me to consciousness. I opened my eyes, only to bemoan the fact that I was still among the living; and the sighs to which I gave utterance showed them that I was not yet beyond the reach of medical aid. It was at once procured for me, with results that were only too successful.

In spite of my weakness, I was placed under close con-