first and paramount object.

"I had very little money left; money, however, was an indispensable
basis for all my operations. I only knew three persons from whom I had
any right to ask pecuniary assistance--M. de T----, Tiberge, and my
father. There appeared little chance of obtaining any from the two
latter, and I was really ashamed again to importune M. de T----. But
it is not in desperate emergencies that one stands upon points of
ceremony. I went first to the seminary of St. Sulpice, without
considering whether I should be recognised. I asked for Tiberge. His
first words showed me that he knew nothing of my latest adventure: this
made me change the design I had originally formed of appealing at once
to his compassion. I spoke generally of the pleasure it had given me
to see my father again; and I then begged of him to lend me some money,
under the pretext of being anxious before I left Paris to pay a few
little debts, which I wished to keep secret. He handed me his purse,
without a single remark. I took twenty or twenty-five pounds, which it
contained. I offered him my note of hand, but he was too generous to
accept it.

"I then went to M. de T----: I had no reserve with him. I plainly told
him my misfortunes and distress: he already knew everything, and had
informed himself even of the most trifling circumstance, on account of
the interest he naturally took in young G---- M----'s adventure. He,
however, listened to me, and seemed sincerely to lament what had
occurred. When I consulted him as to the best means of rescuing Manon,
he answered that he saw such little ground for hope, that, without some
extraordinary interposition of Providence, it would be folly to expect
relief; that he had paid a visit expressly to the Hospital since Manon
had been transferred from the Chatelet, but that he could not even
obtain permission to see her, as the lieutenant-general of police had
given the strictest orders to the contrary; and that, to complete the
catastrophe, the unfortunate train of convicts, in which she was to be
included, was to take its departure from Paris the day but one after.

"I was so confounded by what he said, that if he had gone on speaking
for another hour, I should not have interrupted him. He continued to
tell me, that the reason of his not calling to see me at the Chatelet
was, that he hoped to be of more use by appearing to be unknown to me;
that for the last few hours, since I had been