Part 23 (1/2)
HE IS THE MESSENGER OF HAPPINESS TO HIS SISTER, WHO REMOVES THE FILM WHICH HAD LONG OBSTRUCTED HIS PENETRATION, WITH REGARD TO COUNT FATHOM
As theaffection had always subsisted between Renaldo and his sister, he would not oneto her eer of her deliverance
Soon, therefore, as he understood the place of her retreat, and had obtained a proper order to the abbess, signed by Count Trebasi, he set out post for Vienna, still acco at the convent, found the abbess and the whole house so engrossed inthe veil next day to a young woman who had fulfilled the term of her probation, that he could not possibly see his sister with that leisure and satisfaction which he had flattered hi; and therefore he was fain to bridle his impatience for two days, and keep his credentials until the hurry should be over, that Madeood fortune, except from his own mouth
In order to fill up this tedious interval, he visited his friends at court, ere rejoiced to hear the happy issue of his excursion to Presburg; the prince, as his particular patron, desired he would ard to the death of Count Trebasi, for he would take care to represent hiht to the eer or prosecution on that account His highness,the proust princess, and in the meantime prepossessed her so much in his favour, that when he approached her presence, and was announced by his noble introductor, she eyed hilad to see you returned to allant officer, who served our house with equal courage and fidelity; and as I understand you tread in his footsteps, you may depend upon my favour and protection”
He was so racious reception, that, while he bowed in silence, the drops of gratitude trickled from his eyes; and her imperial majesty was so well pleased with this ave directions for pro him to the co, and indeed eager to discharge the debt she owed hione And as he looked upon the generous Hebrew to be the sole source of his success, he did not fail to make him acquainted with the happy effects of his recommendation and friendshi+p, and to express, in the warmest terms, the deep sense he had of his uncoreater, with regard to Renaldo, than the reader as yet iines; for he not only furnished hiave him an unlimited credit on a banker in Vienna, to whom one of his letters was directed
The cere now performed, and the convent restored to its fors of brotherly affection, and presented his letter to the abbess, who having perused the contents, by which she learned that the faer subsisted, and that the bearer was the brother of Maderatulated hi he would excuse her staying with hi, she would i lady ould console him for her absence
In a fewless than to see Renaldo, no sooner distinguished his features, than she shrieked aloud with surprise, and would have sunk upon the floor, had not he supported her in his embrace
Such a sudden apparition of her brother at any ti separation, would have strongly affected this sensible young lady; but to find hiht herself buried froe of all her relations, occasioned such coered her reason For it was not till after a considerable pause, that she could talk to him with connexion or coherence However, as those transports subsided, they entered into a reeable conversation; in the course of which, he gradually informed her of what had passed at the castle; and inexpressible was the pleasure she felt in learning that her mother was released from captivity, herself restored to freedom, and her brother to the possession of his inheritance, by the only ht be owing
As she had been treated with uncommon humanity by the abbess, she would not consent to leave the convent until he should be ready to set out for Presburg; so that they dined together with that good lady, and passed the afternoon in that mutual communication hich a brother and sister may be supposed to entertain theave him a detail of the insults and mortifications she had suffered from the brutality of her father-in-law, and told hi to Trebasi having intercepted a letter to her fro his intention to return to the erievances Then turning the discourse upon the incidents of his peregrinations, she in a particular manner inquired about that exquisite beauty who had been the innocent source of all his distresses, and upon whose perfections he had often, in his letters to his sister, expatiated with indications of rapture and delight
This inquiry in a h stifled by other necessary avocations His eyes glearew pale alternately, and his whole fra perceived by Mademoiselle, she concluded that some new cala to rip up a wound which she saas so ineffectually closed, she for the present suppressed her curiosity and concern, and industriously endeavoured to introduce so subject of conversation He saw her ai her endeavours, expressed his surprise at her having onify the least remeland
He had no sooner pronounced this name, than she suffered so herself, ”Brother,” said she, ”you ether unworthy of retaining the sard”
Astonished, and indeed angry, at this expression, which he considered as the effect of ently chid her for her credulity in believing the envious aspersion of some person, who repined at the superior virtue of Fathom, whom he affir islady, ”than to iuile, suspects no deceit You have been a dupe, dear brother, not to the finesse of Fathom, but to the sincerity of your own heart For my own part, I assu comprehended the villany of that impostor, which was discovered, in more than one instance, by accidents I could not possibly foresee
”You must know, that Teresa, who attended me from my childhood, and in whose honesty I reposed such confidence, having disobliged some of the inferior servants, was so narroatched in all her transactions, as to be at last detected in the very act of conveying a piece of plate, which was actually found concealed auess how much I was astonished when I understood this circumstance I could not trust to the evidence of my own senses, and should have still believed her innocent, in spite of ocular de tried for felony, promised to make a very material discovery to the Countess, provided she would take suchco scene of iniquity, baseness, and ingratitude, which had been acted by her and Fathom, in order to defraud the family to which they were so much indebted, that I could not have believed the hueneracy, or that traitor endoith such pernicious cunning and dissiruous, consistent, and distinct, and fraught with circumstances that left no room to doubt the least article of her confession; on consideration of which she was pero into voluntary exile”
She then explained their combination in all the particulars, as we have already recounted them in their proper place, and finally observed, that the opinion she had hence conceived of Fathom's character, was confirmed by what she had since learned of his perfidious conduct towards that very nun who had lately taken the veil
Perceiving her brother struck duer attention, she proceeded to relate the incidents of his double intrigue with the jeweller's wife and daughter, as they were communicated to her by the nun, as no other than the individual Wilhelallant, their rin served to whet the attention and invention of each; so that in a little time the whole mystery stood disclosed to both
The hter's correspondence with Fathom, as we have formerly observed, by ly coe of the old beldame; and, as soon as she understood he ithout the reach of all solicitation or prosecution, iovernable, that he had almost sacrificed Wilhelmina with his own hands, especially when, terrified by his threats and imprecations, she owned that she had bestowed the chain on this perfidious lover However, this dreadful purpose was prevented, partly by the interposition of his wife, whose aihter, and partly by the tears and supplication of the young gentlewoh the ceremony of the church had not been performed, she was contracted to Fathom by the most solemn vows, to witness which he invoked all the saints in heaven
The jeweller, upon cooler consideration, was unwilling to lose the last spark of hope that glittered a the ruins of his despair, and resisted all the importunities of his wife, who pressed hihter's soul, in the fond expectation of finding some expedient to lure back the chain and its possessor In the meanti animadversions of her mamma, ith all the insolence of virtue, incessantly upbraided her with the backslidings of her vicious life, and exhorted her to reformation and repentance This continual triuth, a quarrel happening between the ive the rendezvous to her admirers, that incensed confidante, in the precipitation of her anger, pro the rest, her intervieith Fathoht
The first people who hear news of this sort are generally those to whom they are most unwelcome The German was soon apprised of his wife's frailty, and considered the two females of his house as a couple of devils incarnate, sent from hell to exercise his patience Yet, in the midst of his displeasure, he foundfurnished with a sufficient reason for parting with his helpmate, who had for many years kept his fa a personal conference, sent proposals to her by a friend, which she did not think proper to reject; and seeing himself restored to the dominion of his own house, exerted his sway so tyrannically, that Wilhelmina became weary of her life, and had recourse to the coion, of which she soon becaed her father's permission to dedicate the rest of her life to the duties of devotion
She was accordingly received in this convent, the regulations of which were so , that she performed the task of probation with pleasure, and voluntarily excluded herself from the vanities of this life It was here she had contracted an acquaintance with Mademoiselle de Melvil, to whom she communicated her complaints of Fathom, on the supposition that he was related to the Count, as he hi lady rehearsed the particulars of this detail, Renaldo sustained a strange vicissitude of different passions Surprise, sorrow, fear, hope, and indignation raised a most tuination in the character of innocence betrayed by the insinuations of treachery He with horror viewed her at the ratitude and honour
Affrighted at the prospect, he started fro, in the most unconnected strain of distraction and despair, ”Have I then nourished a serpent in my bosom! Have I listened to the voice of a traitor, who hath s asunder, and perhaps ruined the pattern of all earthly perfection It cannot be Heaven would not suffer such infernal artifice to take effect The thunder would be levelled against the head of the accursed projector”
Froitation when he ed that Fathom had been the occasion of a breach between the two lovers; and this conjecture being confirations upon the affair, she endeavoured to cal that he would soon have an opportunity of returning to England, where the ht be easily cleared up; and that, in theto fear on account of the person of his mistress, in a country where individuals were so well protected by the laws and constitution of the realth he suffered hi Moni that lost jewel, and of renewing that ravishi+ng intercourse and exalted expectation which had been so cruelly cut off He noished to find Fathom as black as he had been exhibited, that Moni the misrepresentations of his treachery and fraud
His love, which was alike generous and ardent, espoused the cause, and he no longer doubted her constancy and virtue But when he reflected how her tender heart uish at his unkindness and cruelty, in leaving her destitute in a foreign land; how her sensibility ether dependent upon a ruffian, who certainly harboured the ns upon her honour; how her life ered both by his barbarity and her own despair--I say, when he reflected on these circumstances, he shuddered with horror and disht despatched a letter to his friend the Jew, entreating hience in learning the situation of the fair orphan, that she ht be protected froland