would have been a gain to me alone; but Manon required that I should live to rescue, to help, and to avenge her. To that task I inwardly vowed that I would devote the whole strength of my being.
The Warder tended me with as much solicitude as though he had been my dearest friend. I accepted his kindly assistance with the deepest gratitude.
"Alas!" I sighed, "my sorrows do, then, move you to compassion! I am abandoned by every one else. My own father, it seems, is one of the most relentless of my
persecutors. Not a soul is there who pities me, except yourself. Yes, you—whose lot is cast in this abode of harshness and inhumanity—you alone show any sympathy for a poor wretch who is the unhappiest of living men!"
He advised me not to venture out into the street until I had recovered a little from the agitation under which I was laboring.
"Nay, nay, let me go!" I answered, as I rose to leave. "You will see me again sooner than you expect. Prepare the darkest of your cells for my reception. I am going to do my best to earn the right to occupy it!"
And, in fact, my first resolve was nothing more nor less than to kill the two G——— M———s and the Lieutenant-
