[[Listen]]
With her too it is love at first sight. When she rejoins him, as she had promised to, they have a love duet. "Vedete! Io son fedele alla parola mia" (Behold me! I have been faithful to my promise), she sings. Edmund, who has overheard Geronte's plot to abduct Manon, informs Des Grieux, who has little trouble in inducing the girl to elope with him. They drive off in the carriage Geronte had ordered. Lescaut, who has been carousing with the students, hints that, as Des Grieux is not wealthy and Manon loves luxury, he will soon be able to persuade her to desert her lover for the rich Treasurer-General.
Such, indeed, is the case, and in Act II, she is found ensconced in luxurious apartments in Geronte's house in Paris. But to Lescaut, who prides himself on having brought the business with her wealthy admirer to a successful conclusion, she complains that "in quelle trine morbide"—in those silken curtains—there's a chill that freezes her. "O mia dimora umile, tu mi ritorni innanzi" (My little humble dwelling, I see you there before me). She left Des Grieux for wealth and the luxuries it can bring—"Tell me, does not this gown suit me to perfection?" she asks Lescaut—and yet she longs for her handsome young lover.
Geronte sends singers to entertain her. They sing a madrigal, "Sulla vetta tu del monte erri, O Clori" (Speed o'er the summit of the mountain, gentle Chloe).
[[Listen]]
Then a dancing master enters. Manon, Lescaut, Geronte, and old beaus and abbés, who have come in with Geronte, form for the dance, and a lesson in the minuet begins.
