“`Tiberge,’ said I, `kind Tiberge, will he refuse me what he has it in his power to grant?  No, he will assuredly sympathise in my misery; but he will also torture me with his lectures!  One must endure his reproaches, his exhortations, his threats:  I shall have to purchase his assistance so dearly, that I would rather make any sacrifice than encounter this distressing scene, which cannot fail to leave me full of sorrow and remorse.  Well,’ thought I again, `all hope must be relinquished, since no other course presents itself:  so far am I from adopting either of these, that I would sooner shed half my blood than face one of these evils, or the last drop rather than encounter both.  Yes, the very last drop,’ I repeated after a moment’s reflection, `I would sacrifice willingly rather than submit to such base supplication!

“`But it is not in reality a question of my existence!  Manon’s life and maintenance, her love and her fidelity, are at stake!  What consideration can outweigh that?  In her are centred all my glory, happiness, and future fortune!  There are doubtless many things that I would gladly give up my life to obtain, or to avoid; but to estimate a thing merely beyond the value of my own life, is not putting it on a par with that of Manon.’  This idea soon decided me:  I went on my way, resolved to go first to Tiberge, and afterwards to M. de T——.

“On entering Paris I took a hackney-coach, though I had not wherewithal to pay for it; I calculated on the loan I was going to solicit.  I drove to the Luxembourg, whence I sent word to Tiberge that I was waiting for him.  I had not to stay many minutes.  I told him without hesitation the extremity of my wants.  He asked if the fifty pounds which I had returned to him would suffice, and he at once went to fetch it with that generous air, that pleasure in bestowing which `blesseth him that gives, and him that takes,’ and which can only be known to love or to true friendship.

“Although I had never entertained a doubt of Tiberge’s readiness to grant my request, yet I was surprised at having obtained it on such easy terms, that is to say, without a word of reprimand for my impenitence; but I was premature in fancying myself safe from his reproaches, for when he had counted out the money, and I was on the point of going away, he begged of me to take a walk with him in the garden.  I had not mentioned Manon’s name; he knew nothing of her escape; so that his lecture was merely upon my own rash flight from St. Lazare, and upon his apprehensions lest, instead of profiting by the lessons of morality which I had received there, I should again relapse into dissipation.