“`There is indeed a son,’ said I, `very different from his father!  But tell me truly, now, does not such an offer tempt you?’ `Me!’ she replied, adapting to the idea two verses from Racine—­

Moi! vous me soupconnez de cette perfidie? 
Moi! je pourrais souffrir un visage odieux,
Qui rappelle toujours l’Hopital a mes yeux?

`No I’ replied I, continuing the parody—­

J’aurais peine a penser que l’Hopital, madame,
Fut un trait dont l’amour l’eut grave dans votre ame.

`But it assuredly is a temptation—­a furnished house, a lady’s maid, a cook, a carriage, and three servants—­gallantry can offer but few more seductive temptations.’

“She protested that her heart was entirely mine, and that it was for the future only open to the impressions I chose to make upon it. `I look upon his promises,’ said she, `as an instrument for revenge, rather than as a mark of love.’  I asked her if she thought of accepting the hotel and the carriage.  She replied that his money was all she wanted.

The difficulty was, how to obtain the one without the other; we resolved to wait for a detailed explanation of the whole project in a letter which G——­ M——­ promised to write to her, and which in fact she received next morning by a servant out of livery, who, very cleverly, contrived an opportunity of speaking to her alone.

She told him to wait for an answer, and immediately brought the letter to me:  we opened it together.

“Passing over the usual commonplace expressions of tenderness, it gave a particular detail of my rival’s promises.  There were no limits to the expense.  He engaged to pay her down ten thousand francs on her taking possession of the hotel, and to supply her expenditure in such a way as that she should never have less than that sum at her command.  The appointed day for her entering into possession was close at hand.  He only required two days for all his preparations, and he mentioned the name of the street and the hotel, where he promised to be in waiting for her in the afternoon of the second day, if she could manage to escape my vigilance.  That was the only point upon which he begged of her to relieve his uneasiness; he seemed to be quite satisfied upon every other:  but he added that, if she apprehended any difficulty in escaping from me, he could find sure means for facilitating her flight.

“G——­ M——­ the younger was more cunning than the old gentleman.  He wanted to secure his prey before he counted out the cash.  We considered what course Manon should adopt.  I made another effort to induce her to give up the scheme, and strongly represented all its dangers; nothing, however, could shake her determination.

“Her answer to G——­ M——­ was brief, merely assuring him that she could be, without the least difficulty, in Paris on the appointed day and that he might expect her with certainty.