Part 8 (1/2)
added our adventurer, ”I will strive to appease the knight, who, I hope, will be induced by et the unlucky accident, which hath so disagreeably interrupted your mutual friendshi+p” The Gerard, which yielded him more satisfaction on account of the chevalier than of himself ”For, by the tombs of my fathers,” cried he, ”I have so little concern for my personal safety, that, if ly to the whole ban of the eive him the rendezvous in the forest of Senlis, either on horseback or on foot, where this contest may be terminated with the life of one or both of us”
Count Fathom, with a view to chastise the Westphalian for this rhodo air of indifference, that if they were both bent upon taking the field, he would save hi farther in the affair; and desired to know the hour at which it would suit him to take the air with the baronet The other, not a little eue, he should be proud to obey the chevalier's orders; but, at the same time, owned he should be much better pleased if our hero would execute the pacific proposal he had ly promised to exert hiht, hoe of an incensed barbarian, as now disposed to a reconciliation upon equal terms
The baronet overwhelmed him with caresses and compliments upon his friendshi+p and address; the parties met that same forenoon, as if by accident, in Fathom's aparted apologies, and renewed their forood reason to congratulate himself upon the part he had acted in this pacification He was treated by both with signal marks of particular affection and esteem The count pressed him to accept, as a token of his attachment, a sword of very curious workmanshi+p, which he had received in a present froht forced upon his finger a very splendid diaratitude and esteem But there was still another person to be appeased, before the peace of the whole company could be established This was no other than the abbe, from whom each of the reconciled friends received at dinner a billet couched in these words:--
”I have the honour to larin and mortification that compels me to address myself in this manner to a person of your rank and e upon in person, were I not prevented by the ht ed, by a violent contusion I had the honour to receive, in atte to compose that unhappy fracas, at the house of Mada stroke tothree or four assignations with ladies of fashi+on, by whom I have the honour to be particularly esteeuration of one, with the discomposure of brain which it produced, I could bear as a philosopher; but the disappointlory will not permit me to overlook And as you know the injury was sustained in your service, I have the pleasure to hope you will not refuse to grant such reparation as will be acceptable to a gentleman, who has the honour to be with inviolable attachment,-- Sir, your most devoted slave, PEPIN CLOTHAIRE CHARLE HENRI LOOUIS BARNABE DE FUMIER”
This epistle was so equivocal, that the persons to whoht to interpret the contents into a challenge; when our hero observed, that the auity of his expressions plainly proved there was a door left open for accommodation; and proposed that they should forthwith visit the writer at his own apartly followed his advice, and found the abbe in his htcaps on his head, and a crape hat-band tied over the e to his nose He received his visitors with the er to the purport of their errand; but soon as the Westphalian declared they were come in consequence of his billet, in order to ask pardon for the undesigned offence they had given, his features retrieved their natural vivacity, and he professed hiht of his nose, and seeing so concern, if he had lost any blood in the fray? To this interrogation he replied, that he had still a sufficient quantity left for the occasions of his friends; and that he should deelory to expend the last drop of it in their service
Matters being thus amicably adjusted, they prevailed upon hie he had suffered; and the amusements of the day were concerted It was in consequence of this plan, that, after the cos, where quadrille was proposed by the abbe, as the most innocent pastime, and the proposal was immediately embraced by all present, and by none withforth a ain
Though, far froreatly superior to the rest of the party, in the artifices of play, he justly suspected that they had concealed their skill, with a view of stripping him on some other occasion; for he could not suppose that persons of their figure and character should be, in reality, such novices as they affected to appear
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HE OVERLOOKS THE ADVANCES OF HIS FRIENDS, AND SMARTS SEVERELY FOR HIS NEGLECT
Steeled with this cautious uarded himself from their united endeavours, in sundry subsequent attacks, by which his first conjecture was confirmed, and still came off conqueror, by virtue of his unparalleled finesse and discretion; till at length they seean to drop so him more closely united to the views and interest of their triuether selfish, and quite solitary in his prospects, discouraged all those advances, being resolved to trade upon his own bottom only, and to avoid all such connexions with any person or society whatever; much more, with a set of raw adventurers whose talents he despised With these sentinity and reserve of his first appearance a them, and rather enhanced than diminished that idea of i; because, besides his other qualifications, they gave him credit for the address hich he kept hins
While he thus enjoyed his pre-eether with the fruits of his success at play, which he ed so discreetly as never to incur the reputation of an adventurer, he one day chanced to be at the ordinary, when the coure as had never appeared before in that place This was no other than a person habited in the exact uniforlish jockey His leathern cap, cut bob, fustian frock, flannel waistcoat, buff breeches, hunting-boots and whip, were sufficient of themselves to furnish out a phenomenon for the admiration of all Paris But these peculiarities were rendered still more conspicuous by the behaviour of the man ned them When he crossed the threshold of the outward door, he produced such a sound from the smack of his whip, as equalled the explosion of an ordinary cohorn; and then broke forth into the halloo of a foxhunter, which he uttered with all its variations, in a strain of vociferation that seemed to astonish and confound the whole assembly, to who, in a tone so less melodious than the cry of entlevolks, I hope there's no offence, in an honest plain English with asee and ragooze”
This declaration was reatest part of the coeup fro such a ainst hi, ”Waunds! a believe the people are all bewitched What, do they take me for a beast of prey? is there nobody here that knows Sir Stentor Stile, or can speak to o?” He had no sooner pronounced these words, than the baronet, with , ”Good Heaven!
Sir Stentor, who expected tohihbour, Sir Giles Squirrel, as I aer, kissed hi, and disordered the whole economy of his dress, to the no sh stifled his countryman with embraces, and besmeared himself with pulville from head to foot, he proceeded in this raphied, and bedaubed, and bedizened, that thou ht rob thy own mother without fear of information Look ye here noill be trussed, if the very bitch that was brought up in thy own bosoain Hey, Sweetlips, here hussy, d--n the tuoad, dos't n't know thy old measter? Ey, ey, thou ht, if the creature's nose an't foundered by the d----d stinking perfu passed, the two knights sat down by one another, and Sir Stentor being asked by his neighbour, upon what errand he had crossed the sea, gave him to understand, that he had coer with Squire Snaffle, who had laid a thousand pounds, that he, Sir Stentor, would not travel to Paris by himself, and for a whole month appear every day at a certain hour in the public walks, without wearing any other dress than that in which he saw hiot no er, ”than a jackass, to think I could not find o Ecod! the people of this country are sharp enough to find out yourthem; and, as for the e to live in the midst of them, and show lishman needs not be ashamed to show his face, nor his backside neither, with the best Frenchlishold and silver, I believe as hoe have our pockets better lined than hbours; and for all my bit of a fustian frock, that cost s, I believe, between you and ht, I have ether But the worst of the matter is this; here is no solid belly-timber in this country One can't have a slice of delicate sirloin, or nice buttock of beef, for love nor et no eatables upon the ruoad, but what they called bully, which looks like the flesh of Pharaoh's lean kine stewed into rags and tatters; and then their peajohn, peajohn, rabbet theeons from her own body”
It is not to be supposed that such an original sat unobserved The French and other foreigners, who had never been in England, were struck duht's appearance and deportuests were overwhelmed with shame and confusion, and kept a nised by their countryman As for our adventurer, he was inwardly transported with joy at sight of this curiosity He considered hirowth, fresh as imported; and his heart throbbed with rapture, when he heard Sir Stentor value hi of his pockets He foresaw, indeed, that the other knight would endeavour to reserve hiame; but he was too conscious of his own accoreat difficulty in superseding the influence of Sir Giles
Meanwhile, the new-coout, which pleased his palate so well, that he declared he should now make a hearty meal, for the first tiood-humour prevailed, he drank to every individual around the table
Ferdinand seized this opportunity of insinuating hilad to find there was anything in France that was agreeable to Sir Stentor To this coht replied with an air of surprise: ”Waunds! I find here's another countryman of mine in this here company Sir, I a, he thrust out his right hand across the table, and shook our hero by the fist, with such violence of civility, as proved very grievous to a Frenchhimself to soup, was jostled in such a -spoon in his own boso the mischief he had produced, cried, ”No offence, I hope,” in a tone of vociferation, which the an to model his features into a very subliy, and at the sah he hilishman, he had always entertained a most particular veneration for the country, and learned the language in consequence of that esteeht, ”I think ed to you for your kind opinion, than if you was ood earnest For there be abundance of we English--no offence, Sir Giles--that seem to be ashamed of their own nation, and leave their ho a parcel of--you understandis”--Here he was interrupted by an article of the second course, that seereat disturbance This was a roasted leveret, very strong of the fumet, which happened to be placed directly under his nose His sense of s was no sooner encountered by the effluvia of this delicious fare, than he started up fro, ”Odd's my liver! here's a piece of carrion, that I would not offer to e'er a hound in ut and gall;” and indeed by the wry faces he made while he ran to the door, his stomach seemed ready to justify this last assertion
The abbe, who concluded, froust, that the leveret was not sufficiently stale, began to exhibit ht to the other end of the table for his exareedy appetite, feasting his nostrils with the steath declared that the hly perfect, had it been kept another week Nevertheless,to discuss it, insipid as it was; for in three e to be seen of that which had offended the organs of Sir Stentor, who now resumed his place, and did justice to the dessert But what he seemed to relish better than any other part of the entertainment, was the conversation of our adventurer, who with a dish of coffee, to the seeht, over which Fathom exulted in his own heart
In short, our hero, by his affability and engaging deportraces, insomuch, that he desired to crack a bottle with hie, whither his fellow-knight accons of reluctance There the stranger gave a loose to jollity; though at first he d---ed the burgundy as a poor thin liquor, that ran through hi, cooled his heart and bowels However, it insensibly seeive the lie to his imputation; for his spirits rose to a , or rather roared, the Early Horn, so as to alaran to slabber his companions with a oal of ebriety, he was distanced by his brother baronet, who fro of the party had lass, and now sunk down upon the floor, in a state of temporary annihilation
He was immediately carried to bed by the direction of Ferdinand, who no himself in a er and artful advances That he ht, therefore, carry on the approaches in the saradually shook off the traave a loose to that spirit of freedoood liquor commonly inspires, and, in the familiarity of drunkenness, owned himself head of a noble faed to absent himself on account of an affair of honour, not yet co injunctions of secrecy upon Sir Stentor, his countenance seelass a new symptom of intoxication They renewed their embraces, swore eternal friendshi+p fro in all appearance quite overpowered, they began to yawn in concert, and even nod in their chairs The knight seemed to resent the attacks of slumber, as so many impertinent attempts to interrupt their entertain it to the d---ed French clie in some pastime that would keep them awake ”Odd's flesh!+” cried the Briton, ”when I'm at hoether, if so be as I'm otherwise inclined For there's mother and sister Nan, and brother Nu, cribbage, tetotu, and, thof I say it, that should n't say it, I won't turn land, at any of these pastimes And so, Count, if you are so disposed, I am your man, that is, in the way of friendshi+p, at which of these you shall please to pitch upon”