ide-gate of the garden of the
Tuileries.

"She returned an hour after, in a hired carriage, with a servant-maid,
and several trunks, which contained her dresses, and everything she had
of value.

"We were not long on our way to Chaillot. We lodged the first night at
the inn, in order to have time to find a suitable house, or at least a
commodious lodging. We found one to our taste the next morning.

"My happiness now appeared to be secured beyond the reach of fate.
Manon was everything most sweet and amiable. She was so delicate and
so unceasing in her attentions to me, that I deemed myself but too
bountifully rewarded for all my past troubles. As we had both, by this
time, acquired some experience, we discussed rationally the state of
our finances. Sixty thousand francs (the amount of our wealth) was not
a sum that could be expected to last our whole life; besides, we were
neither of us much disposed to control our expenses. Manon's chief
virtue assuredly was not economy, any more than it was mine. This was
my proposition. 'Sixty thousand francs,' said I, 'may support us for
ten years. Two thousand crowns a year will suffice, if we continue to
live at Chaillot. We shall keep up appearances, but live frugally. Our
only expense will be occasionally a carriage, and the theatres. We
shall do everything in moderation. You like the opera; we shall go
twice a week, in the season. As for play, we shall limit ourselves; so
that our losses must never exceed three crowns. It is impossible but
that in the space of ten years some change must occur in my family: my
father is even now of an advanced age; he may die; in which event I
must inherit a fortune, and we shall then be above all other fears.'

"This arrangement would not have been by any means the most silly act
of my life, if we had only been prudent enough to persevere in its
execution; but our resolutions hardly lasted longer than a month.
Manon's passion was for amusement; she was the only object of mine.
New temptations to expense constantly presented themselves, and far
from regretting the money which she sometimes prodigally lavished, I
was the first to procure for her everything likely to afford her
pleasure. Our residence at Chaillot began even to appear tiresome.

"Winter was approaching, and the whole world returning to town; the
country had a deserted look. She proposed to me to take a house in
Paris. I did not approve of this; but, in order pa