Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier Des Grieux.djvu/48

Rh 1 leflected thai he did not know where 1 had been livin^^, and that consequently they could not have obtained the information from him. As for accusing: Manon, my heart refused to be guilty of such a suspicion. The unaccountable sadness under w^hich I had seen her laboring, her teai*s, the tender kiss which she had given me as she withdrew, all these, in- deed, were enigmas which I found it hard to unriddle; but my impulse was to interpret them as arising from a presentiment of our common misfortune; and, in the midst of my despair at the untow^ard event which had torn me from her side, I had the credulity to imagine that she was even more to be pitied than myself. The result of my meditations was the conviction that I had been seen in the streets of Paris by some acquaintance w^ho had informed my fatlu»r of the fact. This thought consoled me. I reckoned upon escaping with no worse consequences than a severe upbraiding, or, possibly, some disagreeable punishment for my rebellion against the pa- ternal authority. I resolved to endure them patiently, Rnd to promise whatever might be required of me, in order to facilitate my speedy return to Paris, so that I could restore life and happiness to my beloved Manon.