woman; and that they both charged her to deliver the letter into my
hands, after telling her that she would find me in a hackney-coach at
the bottom of the street of St. Andre. I asked if they had said
nothing more. She blushed while she replied, that they had certainly
made her believe that I should be glad of her society. 'They have
deceived you too,' said I, 'my poor girl--they have deceived you; you
are a woman, and probably wish for a lover; but you must find one who
is rich and happy, and it is not here you will find him. Return,
return to M. G---- M----; he possesses everything requisite to make a
man beloved. He has furnished houses and equipages to bestow, while I,
who have nothing but constancy of love to offer, am despised for my
poverty, and laughed at for my simplicity.'

"I continued in a tone of sorrow or violence, as these feelings
alternately took possession of my mind. However, by the very excess of
my agitation, I became gradually so subdued as to be able calmly to
reflect upon the situation of affairs. I compared this new misfortune
with those which I had already experienced of the same kind, and I
could not perceive that there was any more reason for despair now, than
upon former occasions. I knew Manon: why then distress myself on
account of a calamity which I could not but have plainly foreseen? Why
not rather think of seeking a remedy? there was yet time; I at least
ought not to spare my own exertions, if I wished to avoid the bitter
reproach of having contributed, by my own indolence, to my misery. I
thereupon set about considering every means of raising a gleam of hope.

"To attempt to take her by main force from the hands of G----M---- was
too desperate a project, calculated only to ruin me, and without the
slightest probability of succeeding. But it seemed to me that if I
could ensure a moment's interview with her, I could not fail to regain
my influence over her affections. I so well knew how to excite her
sensibilities! I was so confident of her love for me! The very whim
even of sending me a pretty woman by way of consoling me, I would stake
my existence, was her idea, and that it was the suggestion of her own
sincere sympathy for my sufferings.

"I resolved to exert every nerve to procure an interview. After a
multitude of plans which I canvassed one after another, I fixed upon
the following: M. de T---- had shown so much sincerity in the services
he had rendered me, that