t now
related it; he had of course known that I led a dissolute life, but he
had imagined that M. G---- M----'s interest about me was the result of
his esteem and friendship for my family; that it was in this sense he
had explained the matter to him; that what I had now told him should
assuredly produce a change in my treatment, and that he had no doubt
but the accurate detail which he should immediately transmit to the
lieutenant-general of police would bring about my liberation.

"He then enquired why I had never thought of informing my family of
what had taken place, since they had not been instrumental to my
incarceration. I satisfactorily answered this by stating my
unwillingness to cause my father pain, or to bring upon myself the
humiliation of such an exposure. In the end, he promised to go
directly to the lieutenant-general of police if it were only, said he,
to be beforehand with M. G---- M----, who went off in such a rage, and
who had sufficient influence to make himself formidable.

"I looked for the good Father's return with all the suspense of a man
expecting sentence of death. It was torture to me to think of Manon at
the Magdalen. Besides the infamy of such a prison, I knew not how she
might be treated there; and the recollection of some particulars I had
formerly heard of this horrible place, incessantly renewed my misery.
Cost what it might, I was so bent upon relieving her by some means or
other, that I should assuredly have set fire to St. Lazare, if no other
mode of escape had presented itself.

"I considered what chances would remain to me if the lieutenant-general
still kept me in confinement. I taxed my ingenuity: I scanned every
imaginable gleam of hope--I could discover nothing that gave me any
prospect of escape, and I feared that I should experience only more
rigid confinement, if I made an unsuccessful attempt. I thought of
some friends from whom I might hope for aid, but then, how was I to
make them aware of my situation? At length I fancied that I had hit
upon a plan so ingenious, as to offer a fair probability of success. I
postponed the details of its arrangement until after the Superior's
return, in case of his having failed in the object of his visit.

"He soon arrived: I did not observe upon his countenance any of those
marks of joy that indicate good news. 'I have spoken,' said he, 'to
the lieutenant-general of police, but I was too late, M. G---- M----
went straight to