Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and of the Chevalier des Grieux.pdf/67

Rh of my examination at the Sorbonne. So great had been her agritation, she assured me, during the disputation of my thesis, that she had found it difficult not merely to refrain from tears, but from giving vent to the moans and cries which had more than once been on the point of breaking from her lips. Finally, she told me that in order to hide her emotion she had been the last to leave the hall; and that then, consulting only the impulse of her heart, she had yielded to her impetuous longing, and had come straight to the Seminary, with the resolution of there putting an end to her life unless she found me willing to forgive her. Where is the barbarian who would not have been moved by a penitence so deep and touching as this? As for myself, I felt at that moment that I would have sacrificed all the bishoprics in Christendom for Manon's sake. I asked her what new arrangement of our affairs she proposed that we should adopt. She replied that our first concern must be to escape from the Seminary, and that we must postpone all deliberation as to our further movements until we had reached a place of greater safety. I yielded without demur to all her wishes. She stepped into her coach and drove off to await me at the corner of the street. I slipped out a few moments after, successfully eluding