Manon Lescaut

  X

  What lost a world, and bade a hero fly? The timid tear in Cleopatra's eye. Yet be the soft triumvir's fault forgiven, By this, how many lose--not earth--but heaven! Consign their souls to man's eternal foe, And seal their own, to spare some wanton's, woe! BYRON.

  I soon returned to Manon; and to prevent the servants from having anysuspicion, I told her in their hearing, that she need not expect M.G---- M---- to supper; that he was most reluctantly occupied withbusiness which detained him, and that he had commissioned me to comeand make his excuses, and to fill his place at the supper table; which,in the company of so beautiful a lady, I could not but consider a veryhigh honour. She seconded me with her usual adroitness. We sat downto supper. I put on the most serious air I could assume, while theservants were in the room, and at length having got rid of them, wepassed, beyond all comparison, the most agreeable evening of my life.I gave Marcel orders to find a hackney-coach, and engage it to be atthe gate on the following morning a little before six o'clock. Ipretended to take leave of Manon about midnight, but easily gainingadmission again, through Marcel, I proceeded to occupy G---- M----'sbed, as I had filled his place at the supper table.

  "In the meantime our evil genius was at work for our destruction. Wewere like children enjoying the success of our silly scheme, while thesword hung suspended over our heads. The thread which upheld it wasjust about to break; but the better to understand all the circumstancesof our ruin, it is necessary to know the immediate cause.

  "G---- M---- was followed by a servant, when he was stopped by myfriend the guardsman. Alarmed by what he saw, this fellow retraced hissteps, and the first thing he did was to go and inform old G---- M----of what had just happened.

  "Such a piece of news, of course, excited him greatly. This was hisonly son; and considering the old gentleman's advanced age, he wasextremely active and ardent. He first enquired of the servant what hisson had been doing that afternoon; whether he had had any quarrel onhis own account, or interfered in any other; whether he had been in anysuspicious house. The lackey, who fancied his master in imminentdanger, and thought he ought not to have any reserve in such anemergency, disclosed at once all that he knew of his connection withManon, and of the expense he had gone to on her account; the manner inwhich he had passed the afternoon with her until about nine o'clock,the circumstance of his leaving her, and the outrage he encountered onhis return. This was enough to convince him that his son's affair was alove quarrel. Although it was then at least half-past ten at night, hedetermined at once to call on the lieutenant of police. He begged ofhim to issue immediate orders to all the detachments that were out onduty, and he himself, taking some men with him, hastened to the streetwhere his son had been stopped: he visited every place where he thoughthe might have a chance of finding him; and not being able to discoverthe slightest trace of him, he went off to the house of his mistress,to which he thought he probably might by this time have returned.

  "I was stepping into bed when he arrived. The door of the chamberbeing closed, I did not hear the knock at the gate, but he rushed intothe house, accompanied by two archers of the guard, and after fruitlessenquiries of the servants about his son, he resolved to try whether hecould get any information from their mistress. He came up to theapartment, still accompanied by the guard. We were just on the pointof lying down when he burst open the door, and electrified us by hisappearance. 'Heavens!' said I to Manon, 'it is old G---- M----.' Iattempted to get possession of my sword; but it was fortunatelyentangled in my belt. The archers, who saw my object, advanced to layhold of me. Stript to my shirt, I could, of course, offer noresistance, and they speedily deprived me of all means of defence.

  "G---- M----, although a good deal embarrassed by the whole scene, soonrecognised me; and Manon still more easily. 'Is this a dream?' saidhe, in the most serious tone--'do I not see before me the Chevalier desGrieux and Manon Lescaut?' I was so overcome with shame anddisappointment, that I could make him no reply. He appeared for someminutes revolving different thoughts in his mind; and as if they hadsuddenly excited his anger, he exclaimed, addressing himself to me:'Wretch! I am confident that you have murdered my son!'

  "I felt indignant at so insulting a charge. 'You hoary and lecherousvillain!' I exclaimed, 'if I had been inclined to kill any of yourworthless family, it is with you I should most assuredly havecommenced.'

  "'Hold him fast,' cried he to the archers; 'he must give me sometidings of my son; I shall have him hanged tomorrow, if he does notpresently let me know how he has disposed of him.'

  "'You will have me hanged,' said I, 'will you? Infamous scoundrel! itis for such as you that the gibbet is erected. Know that the bloodwhich flows in my veins is noble, and purer in every sense than yours.Yes,' I added, 'I do know what has happened to your son; and if youirritate me further, I will have him strangled before morning; and Ipromise you the consolation of meeting in your own person the samefate, after he is disposed of.'

  "I was imprudent in acknowledging that I knew where his son was, butexcess of anger made me commit this indiscretion. He immediatelycalled in five or six other archers, who were waiting at the gate, andordered them to take all the servants into custody. 'Ah! ah!Chevalier,' said he, in a tone of sardonic raillery,--'so you do knowwhere my son is, and you will have him strangled, you say? We will tryto set that matter to rights.'

  "I now saw the folly I had committed.

  "He approached Manon, who was sitting upon the bed, bathed in a floodof tears. He said something, with the most cruel irony, of thedespotic power she wielded over old and young, father and son--heredifying dominion over her empire. This superannuated monster ofincontinence actually attempted to take liberties with her.

  "'Take care,' exclaimed I, 'how you lay a finger upon her!--neitherdivine nor human law will be able, should your folly arouse it, toshield you from my vengeance!'

  "He quitted the room, desiring the archers to make us dress as quicklyas possible.

  "I know not what were his intentions at that moment with regard to us;we might perhaps have regained our liberty if we had told him where hisson was. As I dressed, I considered whether this would not be thewisest course. But if, on quitting the room, such had been thedisposition of his mind, it was very different when he returned. Hehad first gone to question Manon's servants, who were in the custody ofthe guard. From those who had been expressly hired for her service byhis son, he could learn nothing; but when he found that Marcel had beenpreviously our servant, he determined to extract some information fromhim, by means of intimidation, threats, or bribes.

  "This lad was faithful, but weak and unsophisticated. The remembranceof what he had done at the penitentiary for Manon's release, joined tothe terror with which G---- M---- now inspired him, so subdued hismind, that he thought they were about leading him to the gallows, orthe rack. He promised that, if they would spare his life, he woulddisclose everything he knew. This speech made G---- M---- imagine thatthere was something more serious in the affair than he had beforesupposed; he not only gave Marcel a promise of his life, but a handsomereward in hand for his intended confession.

  "The booby then told him the leading features of our plot, of which wehad made no secret before him, as he was himself to have borne a partin it. True, he knew nothing of the alterations we had made at Parisin our original design; but he had been informed, before quittingChaillot, of our projected adventure, and of the part he was toperform. He therefore told him that the object was to make a dupe ofhis son; and that Manon was to receive, if she had not alreadyreceived, ten thousand francs, which, according to our project, wouldbe effectually lost to G---- M----, his heirs and assigns for ever.

  "Having acquired this information, the old gentleman hastened back in arage to the apartment. Without uttering a word, he passed into theboudoir, where he easily put his hand upon the money and the jewels.He then accosted us, bursting with rage; and holding up what he waspleased to call our plunder, he loaded us wit
h the most indignantreproaches. He placed close to Manon's eye the pearl necklace andbracelets. 'Do you recognise them?' said he, in a tone of mockery; 'itis not, perhaps, the first time you may have seen them. The identicalpearls, by my faith! They were selected by your own exquisite taste!The poor innocents!' added he; 'they really are most amiable creatures,both one and the other; but they are perhaps a little too much inclinedto roguery.'

  "I could hardly contain my indignation at this speech. I would havegiven for one moment's liberty--Heavens! what would I not have given?At length, I suppressed my feelings sufficiently to say in a tone ofmoderation, which was but the refinement of rage: 'Put an end, sir, tothis insolent mockery! What is your object? What do you purpose doingwith us?'

  "'M. Chevalier,' he answered, 'my object is to see you quietly lodgedin the prison of Le Chatelet. Tomorrow will bring daylight with it,and we shall then be able to take a clearer view of matters; and I hopeyou will at last do me the favour to let me know where my son is.'

  "It did not require much consideration to feel convinced that ourincarceration in Le Chatelet would be a serious calamity. I foresawall the dangers that would ensue. In spite of my pride, I plainly sawthe necessity of bending before my fate, and conciliating my mostimplacable enemy by submission. I begged of him, in the quietestmanner, to listen to me. 'I wish to do myself but common justice,sir,' said I to him; 'I admit that my youth has led me into egregiousfollies; and that you have had fair reason to complain: but if you haveever felt the resistless power of love, if you can enter into thesufferings of an unhappy young man, from whom all that he most lovedwas ravished, you may think me perhaps not so culpable in seeking thegratification of an innocent revenge; or at least, you may consider mesufficiently punished, by the exposure and degradation I have just nowendured. Neither pains nor imprisonment will be requisite to make metell you where your son now is. He is in perfect safety. It was nevermy intention to injure him, nor to give you just cause for offence. Iam ready to let you know the place where he is safely passing thenight, if, in return, you will set us at liberty.'

  "The old tiger, far from being softened by my prayer, turned his backupon me and laughed. A few words escaped him, which showed that heperfectly well knew our whole plan from the commencement. As for hisson, the brute said that he would easily find him, since I had notassassinated him. 'Conduct them to the Petit-Chatelet,' said he to thearchers; 'and take especial care that the chevalier does not escapeyou: he is a scamp that once before escaped from St. Lazare.'

  "He went out, and left me in a condition that you may picture toyourself. 'O Heavens!' cried I to myself, 'I receive with humblesubmission all your visitations; but that a wretched scoundrel shouldthus have the power to tyrannise over me! this it is that plunges meinto the depths of despair!' The archers begged that we would notdetain them any longer. They had a coach at the door. 'Come, my dearangel,' said I to Manon, as we went down, 'come, let us submit to ourdestiny in all its rigour: it may one day please Heaven to render usmore happy.'

  "We went in the same coach. I supported her in my arms. I had notheard her utter a single word since G---- M----'s first appearance: butnow, finding herself alone with me, she addressed me in the tenderestmanner, and accused herself of being the cause of all my troubles. Iassured her that I never could complain, while she continued to loveme. 'It is not I that have reason to complain,' I added; 'imprisonmentfor a few months has no terrors for me, and I would infinitely preferLe Chatelet to St. Lazare; but it is for you, my dearest soul, that myheart bleeds. What a lot for such an angel! How can you, graciousHeaven! subject to such rigour the most perfect work of your own hands?Why are we not both of us born with qualities conformable to ourwretched condition? We are endowed with spirit, with taste, withfeeling; while the vilest of God's creatures--brutes, alone worthy ofour unhappy fate, are revelling in all the favours of fortune.'

  "These feelings filled me with grief; but it was bliss compared with myprospects for the future. My fear, on account of Manon, knew nobounds. She had already been an inmate of the Magdalen; and even ifshe had left it by fair means, I knew that a relapse of this naturewould be attended with disastrous consequences. I wished to let herknow my fears: I was apprehensive of exciting hers. I trembled forher, without daring to put her on her guard against the danger; and Iembraced her tenderly, to satisfy her, at least, of my love, which wasalmost the only sentiment to which I dared to give expression.'Manon,' said I, 'tell me sincerely, will you ever cease to love me?'

  "She answered, that it made her unhappy to think that I could doubt it.

  "'Very well,' replied I, 'I do so no longer; and with this conviction,I may well defy all my enemies. Through the influence of my family, Ican ensure my own liberation from the Chatelet; and my life will be oflittle use, and of short duration, if I do not succeed in rescuing you.'

  "We arrived at the prison, where they put us into separate cells. Thisblow was the less severe, because I was prepared for it. I recommendedManon to the attention of the porter, telling him that I was a personof some distinction, and promising him a considerable recompense. Iembraced my dearest mistress before we parted; I implored her not todistress herself too much, and to fear nothing while I lived. I hadmoney with me: I gave her some; and I paid the porter, out of whatremained, the amount of a month's expenses for both of us in, advance.This had an excellent effect, for I found myself placed in an apartmentcomfortably furnished, and they assured me that Manon was in oneequally good.

  "I immediately set about devising the means of procuring my liberty.There certainly had been nothing actually criminal in my conduct; andsupposing even that our felonious intention was established by theevidence of Marcel, I knew that criminal intentions alone were notpunishable. I resolved to write immediately to my father, and beg ofhim to come himself to Paris. I felt much less humiliation, as I havealready said, in being in Le Chatelet than in St. Lazare. Besides,although I preserved all proper respect for the paternal authority,age and experience had considerably lessened my timidity. I wrote, andthey made no difficulty in the prison about forwarding my letter; butit was a trouble I should have spared myself, had I known that myfather was about to arrive on the following day in Paris. He hadreceived the letter I had written to him a week before; it gave himextreme delight; but, notwithstanding the flattering hopes I had heldout of my conversion, he could not implicitly rely on my statements.He determined therefore to satisfy himself of my reformation by theevidence of his own senses, and to regulate his conduct towards meaccording to his conviction of my sincerity. He arrived the day aftermy imprisonment.

  "His first visit was to Tiberge, to whose care I begged that he wouldaddress his answer. He could not learn from him either my presentabode or condition: Tiberge merely told him of my principal adventuressince I had escaped from St. Lazare. Tiberge spoke warmly of thedisposition to virtue which I had evinced at our last interview. Headded, that he considered me as having quite got rid of Manon; but thathe was nevertheless surprised at my not having given him anyintelligence about myself for a week. My father was not to be duped.He fully comprehended that there was something in the silence of whichTiberge complained, which had escaped my poor friend's penetration; andhe took such pains to find me out, that in two days after his arrivalhe learned that I was in Le Chatelet.

  "Before I received this visit, which I little expected so soon, I hadthe honour of one from the lieutenant-general of police, or, to callthings by their right names, I was subjected to an officialexamination. He upbraided me certainly, but not in any harsh orannoying manner. He told me, in the kindest tone, that he bitterlylamented my bad conduct; that I had committed a gross indiscretion inmaking an enemy of such a man as M. G---- M----; that in truth it waseasy to see that there was, in the affair, more of imprudence and follythan of malice; but that still it was the second time I had beenbrought as a culprit under his cognisance; and that he had hoped Ishould have become more sedate, after the experience of two or threemo
nths in St. Lazare.

  "Delighted at finding that I had a rational judge to deal with, Iexplained the affair to him in a manner at once so respectful and somoderate, that he seemed exceedingly satisfied with my answers to allthe queries he put. He desired me not to abandon myself to grief, andassured me that he felt every disposition to serve me, as well onaccount of my birth as my inexperience. I ventured to bespeak hisattentions in favour of Manon, and I dwelt upon her gentle andexcellent disposition. He replied, with a smile, that he had not yetseen her, but that she had been represented to him as a most dangerousperson. This expression so excited my sympathy, that I urged athousand anxious arguments in favour of my poor mistress, and I couldnot restrain even from shedding tears.

  "He desired them to conduct me back to my chamber. 'Love! love!' criedthis grave magistrate as I went out, 'thou art never to be reconciledwith discretion!'

  "I had been occupied with the most melancholy reflections, and wasthinking of the conversation I had had with the lieutenant-general ofpolice, when I heard my door open. It was my father. Although I oughtto have been half prepared for seeing him, and had reasons to expecthis arrival within a day or two, yet I was so thunderstruck, that Icould willingly have sunk into the earth, if it had been open at myfeet. I embraced him in the greatest possible state of confusion. Hetook a seat, without either one or other of us having uttered a word.

  "As I remained standing, with my head uncovered, and my eyes cast onthe ground, 'Be seated, sir,' said he in a solemn voice; 'be seated. Ihave to thank the notoriety of your debaucheries for learning the placeof your abode. It is the privilege of such fame as yours, that itcannot lie concealed. You are acquiring celebrity by an unerring path.Doubtless it will lead you to the Greve,[1] and you will then have theunfading glory of being held up to the admiration of the world.'

  "I made no reply. He continued: 'What an unhappy lot is that of afather, who having tenderly loved a child, and strained every nerve tobring him up a virtuous and respectable man, finds him turn out in theend a worthless profligate, who dishonours him. To an ordinary reverseof fortune one may be reconciled; time softens the affliction, and eventhe indulgence of sorrow itself is not unavailing; but what remedy isthere for an evil that is perpetually augmenting, such as theprofligacy of a vicious son, who has deserted every principle ofhonour, and is ever plunging from deep into deeper vice? You aresilent,' added he: 'look at this counterfeit modesty, this hypocriticalair of gentleness!-- might he not pass for the most respectable memberof his family?'

  "Although I could not but feel that I deserved, in some degree, thesereproaches, yet he appeared to me to carry them beyond all reason. Ithought I might be permitted to explain my feelings.

  "'I assure you, sir,' said I to him, 'that the modesty which youridicule is by no means affected; it is the natural feeling of a sonwho entertains sincere respect for his father, and above all, a fatherirritated as you justly are by his faults. Neither have I, sir, theslightest wish to pass for the most respectable member of my family. Iknow that I have merited your reproaches, but I conjure you to temperthem with mercy, and not to look upon me as the most infamous ofmankind. I do not deserve such harsh names. It is love, you know it,that has caused all my errors. Fatal passion! Have you yourself neverfelt its force? Is it possible that you, with the same blood in yourveins that flows in mine, should have passed through life unscathed bythe same excitements? Love has rendered me perhaps foolishlytender--too easily excited--too impassioned--too faithful, andprobably too indulgent to the desires and caprices, or, if you will,the faults of an adored mistress. These are my crimes; are they suchas to reflect dishonour upon you? Come, my dear father,' said Itenderly, 'show some pity for a son, who has never ceased to feelrespect and affection for you--who has not renounced, as you say, allfeelings of honour and of duty, and who is himself a thousand timesmore an object of pity than you imagine.' I could not help shedding atear as I concluded this appeal.

  "A father's heart is a chef-d'oeuvre of creation. There nature rulesin undisturbed dominion, and regulates at will its most secret springs.He was a man of high feeling and good taste, and was so sensiblyaffected by the turn I had given to my defence, that he could no longerhide from me the change I had wrought.

  "'Come to me, my poor chevalier,' said he; 'come and embrace me. I dopity you!'

  "I embraced him: he pressed me to him in such a manner, that I guessedwhat was passing in his heart.

  "'But how are we,' said he, 'to extricate you from this place? Explainto me the real situation of your affairs.'

  "As there really was not anything in my conduct so grossly improper asto reflect dishonour upon me; at least, in comparison with the conductof other young men of a certain station in the world; and as a mistressis not considered a disgrace, any more than a little dexterity indrawing some advantage from play, I gave my father a candid detail ofthe life I had been leading. As I recounted each transgression, I tookcare to cite some illustrious example in my justification, in order topalliate my own faults.

  "'I lived,' said I, 'with a mistress without the solemnity of marriage.The Duke of ---- keeps two before the eyes of all Paris. M---- D----has had one now for ten years, and loves her with a fidelity which hehas never shown to his wife. Two-thirds of the men of fashion in Pariskeep mistresses.

  "'I certainly have on one or two occasions cheated at play. Well, theMarquis of ---- and the Count ---- have no other source of revenue.The Prince of ---- and the Duke of ---- are at the head of a gang ofthe same industrious order.' As for the designs I had upon the pocketsof the two G---- M----s, I might just as easily have proved that I hadabundant models for that also; but I had too much pride to plead guiltyto this charge, and rest on the justification of example; so that Ibegged of my father to ascribe my weakness on this occasion to theviolence of the two passions which agitated me--Revenge and Love.

  "He asked me whether I could suggest any means of obtaining my liberty,and in such a way as to avoid publicity as much as possible. I toldhim of the kind feelings which the lieutenant-general of police hadexpressed towards me. 'If you encounter any obstacles,' said I, 'theywill be offered only by the two G---- M----s; so that I think it wouldbe advisable to call upon them.'

  "He promised to do so.

  "I did not dare ask him to solicit Manon's liberation; this was notfrom want of courage, but from the apprehension of exasperating him bysuch a proposition, and perhaps driving him to form some design fatalto the future happiness of us both. It remains to this hour a problemwhether this fear on my part was not the immediate cause of all my mostterrible misfortunes, by preventing me from ascertaining my father'sdisposition, and endeavouring to inspire him with favourable feelingstowards my poor mistress: I might have perhaps once more succeeded inexciting his commiseration; I might have put him on his guard againstthe impression which he was sure of receiving from a visit to old G----M----. But how can I tell what the consequences would have been! Myunhappy fate would have most probably counteracted all my efforts; butit would have been a consolation to have had nothing else but that, andthe cruelty of my enemies, to blame for my afflictions.

  "On quitting me, my father went to pay a visit to M. G---- M----. Hefound him with his son, whom the guardsman had safely restored toliberty. I never learned the particulars of their conversation; but Icould easily infer them from the disastrous results. They wenttogether (the two old gentlemen) to the lieutenant-general of police,from whom they requested one favour each: the first was to have me atonce liberated from Le Chatelet; the second to condemn Manon toperpetual imprisonment, or to transport her for life to America. Theyhappened, at that very period, to be sending out a number of convictsto the Mississippi. The lieutenant-general promised to have herembarked on board the first vessel that sailed.

  "M. G---- M---- and my father came together to bring me the news of myliberation. M. G---- M---- said something civil with reference to whathad passed; and having congratulated me upon my happiness in havings
uch a father, he exhorted me to profit henceforward by his instructionand example. My father desired me to express my sorrow for theinjustice I had even contemplated against his family, and my gratitudefor his having assisted in procuring my liberation.

  "We all left the prison together, without the mention of Manon's name.I dared not in their presence speak of her to the turnkeys. Alas! allmy entreaties in her favour would have been useless. The cruelsentence upon Manon had arrived at the same time as the warrant for mydischarge. The unfortunate girl was conducted in an hour after to theHospital, to be there classed with some other wretched women, who hadbeen condemned to the same punishment.

  "My father having forced me to accompany him to the house where he wasresiding, it was near six o'clock before I had an opportunity ofescaping his vigilance. In returning to Le Chatelet, my only wish wasto convey some refreshments to Manon, and to recommend her to theattention of the porter; for I had no hope of being permitted to seeher; nor had I, as yet, had time to reflect on the best means ofrescuing her.

  "I asked for the porter. I had won his heart, as much by my liberalityto him, as by the mildness of my manner; so that, having a dispositionto serve me, he spoke of Manon's sentence as a calamity which hesincerely regretted, since it was calculated to mortify me. I was atfirst unable to comprehend his meaning. We conversed for some minuteswithout my understanding him. At length perceiving that an explanationwas necessary, he gave me such a one, as on a former occasion I wantedcourage to relate to you, and which, even now, makes my blood curdle inmy veins to remember."

  [1] Who has e'er been at Paris must needs know the Greve, The fatal retreat of th' unfortunate brave, Where honour and justice most oddly contribute, To ease heroes' pains by the halter and gibbet.--PRIOR.