Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/54

58 ceived any proofs of his regard for me that could lead me to think of it as anything more than an ordinary college friendship, such as naturally grows up between young fellows of about the same age. He had changed so greatly, and become so matured during the five or six months since I had last seen him, that his whole bearing and tone of conversation inspired me with respect. He talked to me more like a grave and prudent adviser than a companion of my school-days—deploring the follies into which I had strayed, and congratulating me upon my reformation, which he supposed to be almost complete. Finally he exhorted me to profit by this youthful error of mine by letting it open my eyes to the vanity of pleasure.

I gazed at him in amazement. Observing this, he said to me:

"My dear Chevalier, what I am now saying is simply the absolute truth, of which I have become firmly convinced after the most earnest examination. I had as great a leaning as yourself towards the pleasures of the senses; but Heaven vouchsafed me at the same time a love of virtue. I employed my reason in a comparison of the fruits of the one with those of the other, and I was not long in discovering the contrast between them. Religion brought