Part 12 (1/2)

As the chevalier's character and story were not unknown, this application raised an universal laugh at his expense, which provoked hi up, he swore Fathom could not have mentioned any object in nature that he himself resembled so much as a drum, which was exactly typified by his emptiness and sound, with this difference, however, that a drum was never noisy till beaten, whereas the Count would never be quiet, until he should have undergone the sa, he laid his hand upon his sith afollowed by our adventurer, who suffered himself to be detained by the coonist would not be ill pleased at their interposition Perhaps he would not have comported himself with such ease and deliberation, had not he made such remarks upon the disposition of the chevalier, as convinced him of his own safety He had perceived a perplexity and perturbation in the countenance of the Swiss, when he first entered the coffee-roo him seemed to denote confusion and compulsion; and, in the midst of his ferocity, this accurate observer discerned the trepidation of fear By the help of these signs, his sagacity soon coly for a for by a visit froranted that Fathom would not face an adversary in the field, because he had not followed hireat confidence, and demanded to see the Count upon an affair that would ad to his instructions, told hione out, but desired he would have the goodness to repose himself in the parlour, till the Count's return, which he expected every moment Ferdinand, who had taken post in a proper place for observation, seeing his antagonist fairly ad before hi Spanish cloak, desired to knohat had procured hi his voice to conceal his agitation, explained his errand, in de reparation for the injury his honour had sustained the preceding day, in that odious allusion to a scandalous report which had been raised by the malice of his enemies; and insisted, in a very i him forthwith to the nursery in Hyde Park ”Have a little patience,” said our adventurer with great composure, ”and I will do myself the pleasure to wait upon you in a fewthe bell, and, calling for a bason of water, laid aside his cloak, and displayed hiht hand, which was all over besmeared with recent blood, as if he had just cohter of a foe This phenomenon made such an impression upon the astonished chevalier, already discomposed by the resolute behaviour of the Count, that he became jaundiced with terror and dismay, and, while his teeth chattered in his head, told our hero he had hoped, froe an injury which er or ht have been co to those extre men of honour, are always accounted the last resource To this representation Ferdinand answered, that the affair had been of the chevalier's own seeking, inasmuch as he had intruded himself into his company, and treated him with the most insolent and unprovoked abuse, which plainly flowed froainst his honour and reputation; he, therefore, far fro, would not even accept of a public acknowledgressor, whom he looked upon as an infaly

Here the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a person as brought to the door in a chair, and conducted into another apart, that the stranger desired to speak with hi chid the servant for ad people without his order, desired the Swiss to excuse hier, and went in to the next rooue was overheard by this challenger:--”Count,” said the stranger, ”you are not ignorant oflady, at whose house I met you yesterday; therefore you cannot be surprised when I declare myself displeased with your visits and behaviour to my mistress, and demand that you will instantly promise to drop the correspondence” ”Else what follows?” answered Ferdinand, with a cool and temperate voice ”My resentment and immediate defiance,” replied the other; ”for the only alternative I propose is, to forego your design upon that lady, or to decide our pretension by the sword”

Our hero, having expressed a regard for this visitant as the son of a gentleman whom he honoured, was at the pains to represent the unreasonableness of his demand, and the folly of his presumption; and earnestly exhorted him to put the issue of his cause upon aBut this ad the wrath, seemed to inflame the resentment of the opponent, ore he would not leave him until he should have accomplished the purport of his errand

In vain our adventurer requested half an hour for the despatch of soentleman in the other parlour This impetuous rival rejected all the tered him to decide the controversy upon the spot; an expedient to which the other having assented with reluctance, the door was secured, the swords unsheathed, and a hot engagement ensued, to the inexpressible pleasure of the Swiss, who did not doubt that he hier by the event of this rencontre

Nevertheless, his hope was disappointed in the defeat of the stranger, as quickly disarh the sword-arm; upon which occasion Fathom was heard to say, that, in consideration of his youth and family, he had spared his life; but he would not act with the saonist He then bound up the limb he had disabled, conducted the vanquished party to his chair, rejoined the chevalier with a serene countenance, and, asking pardon for having detained hi, proposed they should instantly set out in a hackney-coach for the place of appointem thus conducted, had all the success the inventor could desire The fear of the Swiss had risen almost to an ecstasy before the Count quitted the room; but after this sham battle, which had been preconcerted betwixt our adventurer and his friend Ratchcali, the chevalier's terrors were unspeakable He considered Fathom as a devil incarnate, and went into the coach as a ladly co or arleams of hope, that he should escape for half a dozen flesh-wounds, which he would have willingly received as the price of his presumption; but these hopes were banished by the remembrance of that dreadful declaration which he had heard the Countovercome his last adversary; and he continued under the power of the e halted at Hyde Park Corner, where he crawled forth in a most piteous and lamentable condition; so that, when they reached the spot, he was scarce able to stand

Here he made an effort to speak, and propose an accommodation upon a new plan, by which he proentlemen ere present at the rupture, and to ask pardon of the Count, provided he should be found guilty of a trespass upon good manners; but this proposal would not satisfy the iony of the Swiss, resolved tohim to understand he was not a man to be trifled with, desired him to draithout further preaa himself in a posture, to use the words of Nym, ”winked, and held out his cold iron”

Our adventurer, far froes he possessed, fiercely attacked hi at a fleshy part, ran hih the arm and outside of the shoulder at the very first pass The chevalier, already stupefied with the horror of expectation, no sooner felt his adversary's point in his body than he fell to the ground, and, concluding he was no longer a reat devotion; while Fathom walked home deliberately, and in his way sent a couple of chairht

This achievee of the public, not only furnished the character of Fathom with fresh wreaths of admiration and applause, but likewise effectually secured him from any future attempts of his enemies, to whom the Swiss, for his own sake, had communicated such terrible ideas of his valour, as overawed the whole community

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

HE PERFORMS ANOTHER EXPLOIT, THAT CONVEYS A TRUE IDEA OF HIS GRAtitUDE AND HONOUR

It was not long after this celebrated victory, that he was invited to spend part of the suentleman, who lived about one hundred reatest part of which was expended in acts of old English hospitality He had reat man, and was so struck with his manner and conversation, as to desire his acquaintance, and cultivate his friendshi+p; and he thought hi prevailed upon hi his other observations, perceived that there was a do creature about the age of fifteen, who resided in the house under the title of the gentlehter, born before his e This circumstance was not unknown to his lady, by whose express approbation he had bestowed particular attention upon the education of the child, e shall distinguish by the name of Celinda

Their liberality in this particular had not been ave rew up, became more and more a school, possessed of every accoe and opportunities These qualifications, which endeared her to every other person, excited the jealousy and displeasure of her supposed aunt, who could not bear to see her own children eclipsed by this illegitihter, whom she therefore discountenanced upon all occasions, and exposed to such mortifications as would in all appearance drive her froreeable to the husband, who loved Celinda with a truly paternal affection, and produced abundance of fa disposition, he could not long maintain the resolution he had taken in her favour, and therefore he ceased opposing the malevolence of his wife

In this unfortunate predicament stood the fair bastard, at the arrival of our adventurer, who, being allured by her charenerous resolution to underht banquet his vicious appetite with the spoils of her beauty Perhaps such a brutal design ination, if he had not observed, in the disposition of this hapless maiden, certain peculiarities froes of success Besides a total want of experience, that left her open and unguarded against the attacks of the other sex, she discovered a remarkable spirit of credulity and superstitious fear, which had been cherished by the conversation of her school-fellows She was particularly fond of ress; but so delicate was the texture of her nerves, that one day, while Fathom entertained the company with a favourite air, she actually swooned with pleasure

Such sensibility, our projector well knew, h all the passions of her heart; he congratulated hiained over her in this particular; and forthwith began to execute the plan he had erected for her destruction That he ilance of her father's wife, he threw such a dash of affectation in his complaisance towards Celinda, as could not escape the notice of that prying e the young lady herself, who could not so well distinguish between overstrained courtesy and real good breeding This behaviour screened him from the suspicion of the family, who considered it as an effort of politeness, to cover his indifference and disgust for the daughter of his friend, who had by this tiiven some reason to believe she looked upon him with the eyes of affection; so that the opportunities he enjoyed of conversing with her in private, were less liable to intrusion or inquiry Indeed, fro the senti n, would have rejoiced at the execution of it, and, had she been inforht have fallen upon some method to facilitate the enterprise; but, as he solely depended upon his own talents, he never drea such an auxiliary

Under cover of instructing and acco her in the exercise ofhis ai, even to a degree of ravish, that he was surely so supernatural! he never failed to whisper some insidious compliment or tale of love, exquisitely suited to the emotions of her soul Thus was her heart insensibly subdued; though more than half his as still undone; for, at all times, she disclosed such purity of sentiion and virtue, and seemed so averse to all sorts of infla he had gained in her affection, to explain the baseness of his desire; he therefore applied to another of her passions, that proved the bane of her virtue This was her ti constitutional, was afterwards increased by the circuravated by the artful conversation of Fathom, which he chequered with dismal stories of omens, portents, prophecies, and apparitions, delivered upon such unquestionable testimony, and with such marks of conviction, as captivated the belief of the devoted Celinda, and filled her i terrors

In vain she strove to dispel those frightful ideas, and avoid such topics of discourse for the future The more she endeavoured to banish them, the more troublesome they became; and such was her infatuation, that as her terrors increased, her thirst after that sort of knowledge was aughts did she pass a at every noise, and sweating with dreary apprehension, yet ashamed to own her fears, or solicit the comfort of a bedfellow, lest she should incur the ridicule and censure of her father's wife; and what rendered this disposition the more irksome, was the solitary situation of her chaallery scarce within hearing of any other inhabited part of the house

All these circu prepared Celinda for his purpose, stole at ht fro her door, there uttered a piteous groan; then softly retired to his bed, in full confidence of seeing next day the effect of this operation Nor did his arrow ave such indications ofthe cause of her disquiet, and she, at his earnest request, was prevailed upon to coht, which she considered as an omen of death to some person of the faroan seemed to issue froainst this supposition, as contradictory to the cos which are not usually imparted to the person who is doomed to die, but to some faithful friend, or trusty servant, particularly interested in the event He therefore supposed, that the groans foreboded the death ofstate of health, and were, by her genius, conveyed to the organs of Celinda, as the chief sufferer by her jealous and barbarous disposition; he likewise expressed an earnest desire to be an ear-witness of such solehly is to expose herself alone to such another disht in her cha ih no person ever stood uard, and her heart throbbed with transports of disht, she rejected his proposal with due acknowledgment, and resolved to trust solely to the protection of Heaven Not that she thought her innocence or reputation could suffer by her compliance with his request; for, hitherto, her heart was a stranger to those young desires which haunt the fancy, and warer, she saw not the necessity of avoiding temptation; but she refused to admit a ether opposite to the fored by this repulse, he knew her fears would multiply and reduce that reluctance, which, in order to weaken, he had recourse to another piece of n

Soed instruenious musician, by whom it was aptly entitled the ”Harp of Aeolus,”

because, being properly applied to a streaular variety of harmonious sounds, that seem to be the effect of enchantment, and wonderfully dispose the mind for the most romantic situations Fathoht one of those new-fashi+oned guitars into the country, and as the effect of it was still unknown in the faht converted it to the purposes of his a to the gallery, exposed to the ind, which then blew in a gentle breeze The strings no sooner felt the ian to pour forth a strea of Philo brook, and all the concert of the wood The soft and tender notes of peace and love were swelled up with the most delicate and insensible transition into a loud hyan, and a full choir of voices, which gradually decayed upon the ear, until it died away in distant sound, as if a flight of angels had raised the song in their ascent to heaven Yet the chords hardly ceased to vibrate after the expiration of this overture, which ushered in a coain was succeeded by a third, almost without pause or interable, and the theme never to be exhausted