Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier Des Grieux.djvu/60

Rh its aid to my own reflectious, and 1 conceived for this world a deep and unspetilvable cont<*nipt. Can you di- vine/' he added, *' what it is that still keeps nie in it, and prevents my seeking: a life of solitude? It is solely my warm attachment to you. I know your* excellent ([ual- ities of heart and mind. There is no goodness of which you might not make youi'self capable. The fatal fascina- tions of pleasure have led you asti^ay. How grievous a loss to the cause of virtue ! Your flight from Amiens dis- tressed me so deeply that I have not since enjoyed a mo- ment's happiness. You may judge of this by the steps it led me to take." He then told me how, on realizing that I had deceived him and fled with my mistress, he had set out on horse- back in my pursuit ; but, as I had the start of him by some four or five hour's, it had been impossible for him to over- take me. He had reached St. Denis, however, only half an hour after I had left it. Being sure that I would remain in Paris, he had spent six weeks there in a vain endeavor to find me. He had gone to every place where he thought it likely that he might meet me, and, at last, had recog- nized my mistress one evening at the theatre, where the splendor of her toilet convinced him that she presented this