Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/44



soon reached St. Denis. My brother, surprised at my silence, and supposing it to be due to fear on my part, endeavored to console me by assuring me that I had nothing to apprehend from my father's severity, provided that I was disposed to return submissively to the path of duty and to show myself worthy of his affection for me. He made me pass the night at St. Denis, taking the precaution of having the three lackeys sleep in the same room with me.

One thing was a cause of no slight distress to me; and this was to find myself in the same hostelry at which I had stopped with Manon on our way from Amiens to Paris. The landlord and servants recognized me, and at once divined the truth of my story. I overheard the landlord saying:

"Ah! That is the fine young gentleman who passed this way, some six weeks hence, with the lass whom he loved so dearly—as well he might, for a pretty lass she was! Poor youngsters. How they fondled one another! Egad! 'Tis a pity to have separated them!"

I pretended to hear nothing, and showed myself as little as possible.

My brother had a double chaise ready at St. Denis, and