Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier Des Grieux.djvu/28



seventeen years of age, and was completing my studies in philosophy at Amiens, where 1 had lKM»n sent by ray parents, wlio belonged to one of the best families in P. The life 1 led was so blameless and correct that my masters held me up as an example to the whole col- lege ; not that I made any extraordinaiy etfoi*ts to niei»it this commendation, but I was naturally of a sedate and gentle temperament. 1 applied myself to study as a raatt^er of inclination ; and the evidences which I gave of an instinctive aversion from vice were put to my credit as positive virtues. My rank, my rapid progress in my studies, and a certain comeliness of penson, had secured me the acquaintance and esteem of all the leading people of the town. I acquittt^d myself so much to the general appix)bation at my final public examinations, that his lordship, the Bishop of the Diocese, who was present on the occasion in question, proposed that I should enter upon an ecclesias- tical career, in which I could not fail, he told me, to attain greater distinction than in the Order of Maltii, for which my parents had destined me. By their wish 1 was al- ready wearing the cross of that Order, with the title of the Chevalier des Gneux.