rds not having told me where it was that they had been ordered
to conduct me, it was only on my arrival at St. Lazare that I learned
my destination. I would have preferred death, at that moment, to the
state into which I believed myself about to be thrown. I had the
utmost terror of this place. My misery was increased by the guards on
my entrance, examining once more my pockets, to ascertain whether I had
about me any arms or weapons of defence.

"The governor appeared. He had been informed of my apprehension. He
saluted me with great mildness. 'Do not, my good sir,' said I to him,
'allow me to be treated with indignity. I would suffer a hundred deaths
rather than quietly submit to degrading treatment.' 'No, no,' he
replied, 'you will act quietly and prudently, and we shall be mutually
content with each other.' He begged of me to ascend to one of the
highest rooms; I followed him without a murmur. The archers
accompanied us to the door, and the governor, entering the room, made a
sign for them to depart. 'I am your prisoner, I suppose?' said I;
'well, what do you intend to do with me?' He said, he was delighted to
see me adopt so reasonable a tone; that it would be his duty to
endeavour to inspire me with a taste for virtue and religion, and mine
to profit by his exhortations and advice: that lightly as I might be
disposed to rate his attentions to me, I should find nothing but
enjoyment in my solitude. 'Ah, enjoyment, indeed!' replied I; 'you do
not know, my good sir, the only thing on earth that could afford me
enjoyment.' 'I know it,' said he, 'but I trust your inclinations will
change.' His answer showed that he had heard of my adventures, and
perhaps of my name. I begged to know if such were the fact. He told
me candidly that they had informed him of every particular.

"This blow was the severest of any I had yet experienced. I literally
shed a torrent of tears, in all the bitterness of unmixed despair; I
could not reconcile myself to the humiliation which would make me a
proverb to all my acquaintances, and the disgrace of my family. I
passed a week in the most profound dejection, without being capable of
gaining any information, or of occupying myself with anything but my
own degradation. The remembrance even of Manon added nothing to my
grief; it only occurred to me as a circumstance that had preceded my
new sorrow; and the sense of shame and confusion was at present the
all-absorbing passion