“I consider it a blessing to have thought so apropos of Tiberge, and resolved to take measures to find him before evening.  I returned at once to my lodgings to write him a line, and fix a convenient place for our meeting.  I requested secrecy and discretion, as the most important service he could render me under present circumstances.

“The pleasure I derived from the prospect of seeing Tiberge dissipated every trace of melancholy, which Manon would not have failed otherwise to detect in my countenance.  I described our misfortune at Chaillot as a trifle which ought not to annoy her; and Paris being the spot she liked best in the world, she was not sorry to hear me say that it would be necessary for us to remain there entirely, until the little damage was repaired which had been caused by the fire at Chaillot.

“In an hour I received an answer from Tiberge, who promised to be at the appointed rendezvous.  I went there punctually.  I certainly felt some shame at encountering a friend whose presence alone ought to be a reproach to my iniquities; but I was supported by the opinion I had of the goodness of his heart, as well as by my anxiety about Manon.

“I had begged of him to meet me in the garden of the Palais Royal.  He was there before me.  He hastened towards me, the moment he saw me approach and shook me warmly by both hands.  I said that I could not help feeling perfectly ashamed to meet him, and that I was weighed down by a sense of my ingratitude; that the first thing I implored of him was to tell me whether I might still consider him my friend, after having so justly incurred the loss of his esteem and affection.  He replied, in the kindest possible manner, that it was not in the nature of things to destroy his regard for me; that my misfortunes even, or, if he might so call them, my faults and transgressions, had but increased the interest he felt for me; but that he must confess his affection was not unalloyed by a sentiment of the liveliest sorrow, such as a person may be supposed to feel at seeing a beloved object on the brink of ruin, and beyond the reach of his assistance.

“We sat down upon a bench. `Alas!’ said I with a deep sigh, `your compassion must be indeed great, my dear Tiberge, if you assure me it is equal to my sufferings.  I am almost ashamed to recount them, for I confess they have been brought on by no very creditable course of conduct:  the results, however, are so truly melancholy, that a friend even less attached than you would be affected by the recital.’

“He then begged of me, in proof of friendship, to let him know, without any disguise, all that had occurred to me since my departure from St. Sulpice.  I gratified him; and so far from concealing anything, or attempting to extenuate my faults, I spoke of my passion with all the ardour with which it still inspired me.  I represented it to him as one of those especial visitations of fate, which draw on the devoted victim