ed me in my bedroom, where I
remained patiently until night.

"I employed great part of the time in devising schemes for relieving
Manon. I felt persuaded that her prison was even more inaccessible
than mine had been. Force was out of the question. Artifice was the
only resource; but the goddess of invention herself could not have told
me how to begin. I felt the impossibility of working in the dark, and
therefore postponed the further consideration of my schemes until I
could acquire some knowledge of the internal arrangements of the
Hospital, in which she was confined.

"As soon as night restored to me my liberty, I begged of Lescaut to
accompany me. We were not long in drawing one of the porters into
conversation; he appeared a reasonable man. I passed for a stranger
who had often with admiration heard talk of the Hospital, and of the
order that reigned within it. I enquired into the most minute details;
and, proceeding from one subject to another, we at length spoke of the
managers, and of these I begged to know the names and the respective
characters. He gave me such information upon the latter point as at
once suggested an idea which flattered my hopes, and I immediately set
about carrying it into execution.

"I asked him (this being a matter essential to my plan) whether any of
the gentlemen had children. He said he could not answer me with
certainty as to all, but as for M. de T----, one of the principal
directors, he knew that he had a son old enough to be married, and who
had come several times to the Hospital with his father. This was
enough for my purpose.

"I immediately put an end to our interview, and, in returning, I told
Lescaut of the plan I had formed. 'I have taken it,' said I, 'into my
head, that M. de T----, the son, who is rich and of good family, must
have the same taste for pleasure that other young men of his age
generally have. He could hardly be so bad a friend to the fair sex,
nor so absurd as to refuse his services in an affair of love. I have
arranged a plan for interesting him in favour of Manon. If he is a man
of feeling and of right mind, he will give us his assistance from
generosity. If he is not to be touched by a motive of this kind, he
will at least do something for a handsome girl, if it were only with
the hope of hereafter sharing her favours. I will not defer seeing
him,' added I, 'beyond tomorrow. I really feel so elated by this
project, that I derive from