Page:The Story of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier Des Grieux.djvu/30

court-yard, while an elderh' man, who appeared to be acting as her escort, busied himself in getting hei* baggage taken out of the boot. Her beauty struck me as being so lemarkable that I — who had never given a thought to the ditfeience between the sexes, nor bestowed even the most passing attention upon a woman— 1, be it repeated, whose vii-tue and pro- priety were the subjects of genei^al eulog>% felt myself suddenly and madly enamoured of her. One of the defects of my character had. always been that I was excessively timid and easily disconcerted ; but now, so far from being restrained by that weakness, I advanced boldly towards her who was already the mistress of my heart. Although she was even younger than myself, she re- ceived my polite advances without any signs of embarrass- ment. I asked her what brought her to Amiens, and wheth- er she had any acquaintances in the town. She replied ingenuously that she had been sent there by her parents to enter a convent. Love, though it had been enthroned in my heart onl}'^ a few short moments, had ah^eady so quickened my perception that I saw in this intention a mortal blow to all my hopes. From the manner in which I talked to her, she soon guessed what was passing in my mind ; for she was by no means so unsophisticated as