Part 15 (2/2)
AN UNEXPECTED RENCONTRE, AND A HAPPY REVOLUTION IN THE AFFAIRS OF OUR ADVENTURER
As she did not lodge within the precincts of this garrison, she was one day, after tea, conducted to the gate by the captain and the Count, and just as they approached the turnkey's lodge, our hero's eyes were struck with the apparition of his old companion Renaldo, son of his benefactor and patron, the Count de Melvil What were the eentle spoke to the jailor! He never doubted that, being informed of his confineratitude, and he in vain endeavoured to recollect hiuilty confusion which his appearance had inspired; when the stranger, lifting up his eyes, started back with signs of extreme amazement, and, after a considerable pause, exclaimed, ”Heaven and earth!
Sure my eyes do not deceive me! is not your name Fathom? It is, it must beregretted!” With these words he ran towards our adventurer, and, while he clasped hierness of affection, protested that this was one of the happiest days he had ever seen
Ferdinand, who, from this salutation, concluded hiood opinion, was not deficient in expressions of tenderness and joy; he returned his embraces with equal ardour, the tears trickled down his cheeks, and that perturbation which proceeded fro Hungarian for the sheer effects of love, gratitude, and surprise These first transports having subsided, they adjourned to the lodgings of Fathom, who soon recollected his spirits and invention so well as to a been taken by the French, sent prisoner into Chane, from whence he had written many letters to Count Melvil and his son, of who contracted an inti noble, in token of his friendshi+p, bequeathed to hiacy; by this he had been enabled to visit the land of his forefathers in the character of a gentleure, until he was betrayed into a misfortune that exhausted his funds, and drove him to the spot where he was now found And he soleation he owed to Count Melvil, or renouncing the friendshi+p of Renaldo, he had actually resolved to set out for Ger of the week posterior to that in which he had been arrested
Young Melvil, whose own heart had never known the instigations of fraud, implicitly believed the story and protestations of Fathoh he would not justify that part of his conduct by which the ter an indiscretion into which he had been hurried by the precipitancy of youth, and the allurements of an artful woman Nay, with the utmost warmth of friendshi+p, he undertook to wait upon Trapwell, and endeavour to soften him into some reasonable terms of composition
Fathom seeoodness, and affected the er impatience to know the particulars of Renaldo's fate, since their unhappy separation, more especially his errand to this uncomfortable place, which he should henceforth revere as the providential scene of their reunion Nor did he forget to inquire, in the most affectionate and dutiful manner, about the situation of his noble parents and amiable sister
At h, ”Alas! ravates my affliction for the loss of such a father, it was my misfortune to be under his displeasure at the time of his death Had I been present on that enerosity and paternal tenderness, that, sure I aiven an only son, whose life had been a continual effort to render himself worthy of such a parent, and whose crime was no other than an honourable passion for the most meritorious of her sex But I was removed at a fatal distance from him, and doubtless my conduct must have been invidiously iven her hand in wedlock to Count Trebasi; by whom I have the mortification to be informed that I am totally excluded from my father's succession; and I learn from other quarters, that my sister is barbarously treated by this inhuman father-in-law Grant, Heaven, Iwith the tyrant upon that subject”
So saying, his cheeks glowed, and his eyes lightened with resent hither to-day ith a view to visit a poor female relation, fro hermy assistance; but the turnkey affirms that there is no such person in the jail, and I was on reeably surprised with the sight ofwiped from his eyes the tears which were produced by the news of his worthy patron's death, desired to know the name of that afflicted prisoner, in whose behalf he interested himself so much, and Renaldo produced the letter, subscribed, ”Your unfortunate cousin, Helen Melvil” This pretended relation, after having explained the degree of consanguinity which she and the Count stood in to each other, and occasionally ave him to understand that she had married a merchant of London, who, by repeated losses in trade, had been reduced to indigence, and afterwards confined to prison, where he then lay a breathless corpse, having left her in the ut children in the smallpox, and an incurable cancer in one of her own breasts Indeed, the picture she dreas so , and her expressions so sensibly pathetic, that no person, whose heart was not altogether callous, could peruse it without eer, whom she had represented as a trusty servant, whose fidelity had been proof against all the distress of her mistress; and he was now arrived in order to reinforce his bounty
Fathom, in the consciousness of his own practices, immediately comprehended the scheme of this letter, and confidently assured him that no such person resided in the prison or in any other place And when his friend applied for information to the keeper, these assurances were confirmed; and that stern janitor told him he had been imposed upon by a stale trick, which was often practised upon strangers by a set of sharpers, who ence relating to private families, upon which they build such superstructures of fraud and iht be to find himself duped in this manner, he rejoiced at the occasion which had thrown Fatho made him a tender of his purse, took his leave, on purpose to wait upon Trapwell, as not quite so untractable as an enraged cuckold commonly is; for, by this time, he had accomplished the best part of his aim, which was to be divorced from his wife, and was fully convinced that the defendant was no more than a needy adventurer, who, in all probability, would be released by an act of parliament for the benefit of insolvent debtors; in which case, he, the plaintiff, would reap no solid advantage from his imprisonment
He, therefore, listened to the rereed to discharge the defendant, in consideration of two hundred pounds, which were immediately paid by Count Melvil, who, by this deduction, was reduced to sogared himself in behalf of his friend, for whose release he forthwith obtained an order; and, next day, our adventurer, having bid a formal adieu to his fellows in distress, and, in particular, to his majesty, for whose restoration his prayers were preferred, he quitted the jail, and accompanied his deliverer, with all the outward ratitude and esteem
Surely, if his heart had been made of penetrable stuff, it would have been touched by the circumstances of this redemption; but had not his soul been invincible to all such attacks, these ht
When they arrived at Renaldo's lodgings, that young gentleman honoured hiiving him a circumstantial detail of all the adventures in which he had been engaged after Fathom's desertion from the imperial camp He told him, that, immediately after the as finished, his father had pressed hieous h his heart was not at all concerned, had not he been infla the world before he could take any step towards a settlenified his sentiments on this head to the Count, who opposed theht be fatal to his proposal; for which reason he had retired incognito froh sundry states and countries, in a disguise by which he eluded the inquiries of his parents
That, in the course of these peregrinations, he was captivated by the irresistible charood fortune to make a tender impression That their ers and difficulties, during which they suffered a cruel separation; after the torland, where she now lived entirely cut off from her native country and connexions, and destitute of every other resource but his honour, love, and protection And, finally, that he was deterht be, until he should have made some suitable provision for the consequences of a stricter union with the ht not, by a precipitate e, ruin the person whom he adored
This end he proposed to attain, by an application to the court of Vienna, which he did not doubt would have soard to his own service, and that of his father; and thither he resolved to repair, with the first opportunity, now that he had found a friend hom he could intrust the inestiave our hero to understand, that he had been eight al ht not unnecessarily exhaust the money he had been able to raise upon his own credit; that, hitherto, he had been obliged to defer his departure for Germany on account of his attendance upon the rin; and that, since he resided in London, he had often heard of the celebrated Count Fathoined that his friend Ferdinand could be distinguished by that appellation
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
FATHOM JUSTIFIES THE PROVERB, ”WHAT'S BRED IN THE BONE WILL NEVER COME OUT OF THE FLESH”
Some circumstances of this conversation made a deep impression upon the mind of our adventurer, who nevertheless concealed his ee of his friend, and was next day introduced to that hidden treasure of which Renaldo had spoken with such rapture and adoration It was not without reason he had expatiated upon the personal attractions of this young lady, whom, for the present, we shall call Monimia, a name that implies her orphan situation When she entered the room, even Fathom, whose eyes had been sated with beauty, was struck dumb with admiration, and could scarce recollect himself so far as to perform the ceree of eighteen Her stature was tall; her raceful A knot of artificial flowers restrained the luxuriancy of her fine black hair, that flowed in shi+ning ringlets adown her snowy neck The contour of her face was oval; her forehead reh not florid; and her eyes were so piercing, as to strike the soul of every beholder Yet, upon this occasion, one half of their vivacity was eclipsed by a languishi+ng air of melancholy concern; which, while it in asweetness to her looks In short, every feature was elegantly perfect; and the harhtful
It was easy to perceive the , by the pleasure that sensibly diffused itself in the countenances of both Fathom was received by her as the intimate friend of her admirer, whom she had often heard of in terms of the most sincere affection; and the conversation was carried on in the Italian language, because she was a foreigner who had not as yet ue Her understanding was such as, instead of di, reinforced the prepossession which was inspired by her appearance; and if the sum-total of her charms could not melt the heart, it at least excited the appetite of Fathoazed upon her with such violence of desire, as had never transported hihts, not only destructive to the peace of his generous patron, but also to the prudential maxims he had adopted on his first entrance into life