THEY PROCEED TO LEVY CONTRIBUTIONS WITH GREAT SUCCESS, UNTIL OUR HERO
SETS OUT WITH THE YOUNG COUNT FOR VIENNA, WHERE HE ENTERS INTO LEAGUE
WITH ANOTHER ADVENTURER.
Under this secure cover, Teresa levied contributions upon her mistress
with great success. Some trinket was missing every day; the young lady's
patience began to fail; the faithful attendant was overwhelmed with
consternation, and, with the appearance of extreme chagrin, demanded her
dismission, affirming that these things were certainly effected by some
person in the family, with a view of murdering her precious reputation.
Miss Melvil, not without difficulty, quieted her vexation with assurances
of inviolable confidence and esteem, until a pair of diamond earrings
vanished, when Teresa could no longer keep her affliction within bounds.
Indeed, this was an event of more consequence than all the rest which had
happened, for the jewels were valued at five hundred florins.
Mademoiselle was accordingly alarmed to such a degree, that she made her
mother acquainted with her loss, and that good lady, who was an excellent
economist, did not fail to give indications of extraordinary concern.
She asked, if her daughter had reason to suspect any individual in the
family, and if she was perfectly confident of her own woman's integrity?
Upon which Mademoiselle, with many encomiums on the fidelity and
attachment of Teresa, recounted the adventure of the chambermaid, who
immediately underwent a strict inquiry, and was even committed to prison,
on the strength of her former misdemeanour. Our adventurer's mate
insisted upon undergoing the same trial with the rest of the domestics,
and, as usual, comprehended Fathom in her insinuations; while he seconded
the proposal, and privately counselled the old lady to introduce Teresa
to the magistrate of the place. By these preconcerted recriminations,
they escaped all suspicion of collusion. After a fruitless inquiry, the
prisoner was discharged from her confinement, and turned out of the
service of the Count, in whose private opinion the character of no person
suffered so much, as that of his own son, whom he suspected of having
embezzled the jewels, for the use of a certain inamorata, who, at that
time, was said to have captivated his affections.
The old gentleman felt upon this occasion all that internal anguish which
a man of honour may be supposed to suffer, on account of a son's
degeneracy; and, without divulging his sentiments, or even hinting his
suspicions to the youth himself, determined to detach him at once from
such dangerous connexions, by sending him forthwith to Vienna, on
pretence of finishing his exercises at the academy, and ushering him into
acquaintance with the great world. Though he would not be thought by the
young gentleman himself to harbour the least doubt of his morals, he did
not scruple to unbosom himself on that subject to Ferdinand, whose
sagacity and virtue he held in great veneration. This indulgent patron
expressed himself in the most pathetic terms, on the untoward disposition
of his son; he told Fathom, that he should accompany Renaldo (that was
the youth's name) not only as a companion, but a preceptor and pattern;
conjured him to assist his tutor in superintending his conduct, and to
reinforce the governor's precepts by his own example; to inculcate upon
him the most delicate punctilios of honour, and decoy him into
extravagance, rather than leave the least illiberal sentiment in his
heart.
Our crafty adventurer, with demonstrations of the utmost sensibility,
acknowledged the great goodness of the Count in reposing such confidence
in his integrity; which, as he observed, none but the worst of villains
could abuse; and fervently wished that he might no longer exist, than he
should continue to remember and resent the obligations he owed to his
kind benefactor. While preparations were making for their departure, our
hero held a council with his associate, whom he enriched with many sage
instructions touching her future operations; he at the same time
disburdened her of all or the greatest part of the spoils she had won,
and after having received divers marks of bounty from the Count and his
lady, together with a purse from his young mistress, he set out for
Vienna, in the eighteenth year of his age, with Renaldo and his governor,
who were provided with letters of recommendation to some of the Count's
friends belonging to the Imperial court.
Such a favourable introduction could not fail of being advantageous to a
youth of Ferdinand's specious accomplishments; for he was considered
as the young Count's companion, admitted into his parties, and included
in all the entertainments to which Renaldo was invited. He soon
distinguished himself by his activity and address, in the course of
those exercises that were taught at the academy of which he was pupil;
his manners were so engaging as to attract the acquaintance of his
fellow-students, and his conversation being sprightly and inoffensive,
grew into very great request; in a word, he and the young Count formed a
remarkable contrast, which, in the eye of the world, redounded to his
advantage.
They were certainly, in all respects, the reverse of each other.
Renaldo, under a total defect of exterior cultivation, possessed a most
excellent understanding, with every virtue that dignifies the human
heart; while the other, beneath a most agreeable outside, with an
inaptitude and aversion to letters, concealed an amazing fund of villany
and ingratitude. Hitherto his observation had been confined to a narrow
sphere, and his reflections, though surprisingly just and acute, had not
attained to that maturity which age and experience give; but now, his
perceptions began to be more distinct, and extended to a thousand objects
which had never before come under his cognisance.
He had formerly imagined, but was now fully persuaded, that the sons of
men preyed upon one another, and such was the end and condition of their
being. Among the principal figures of life, he observed few or no
characters that did not bear a strong analogy to the savage tyrants of
the wood. One resembled a tiger in fury and rapaciousness; a second
prowled about like an hungry wolf, seeking whom he might devour; a third
acted the part of a jackal, in beating the bush for game to his voracious
employer; and the fourth imitated the wily fox, in practising a thousand
crafty ambuscades for the destruction of the ignorant and unwary. This
last was the department of life for which he found himself best qualified
by nature and inclination; and he accordingly resolved that his talent
should not rust in his possession. He was already pretty well versed in
all the sciences of play; but he had every day occasion to see these arts
carried to such a surprising pitch of finesse and dexterity, as
discouraged him from building his schemes on that foundation.
He therefore determined to fascinate the judgment, rather than the eyes
of his fellow-creatures, by a continual exercise of that gift of
deceiving, with which he knew himself endued to an unrivalled degree; and
to acquire unbounded influence with those who might be subservient to his
interest, by an assiduous application to their prevailing passions. Not
that play was altogether left out in the projection of his economy.--
Though he engaged himself very little in the executive part of gaming, he
had not been long in Vienna, when he entered into league with a genius of
that kind, whom he distinguished among the pupils of the academy, and who
indeed had taken up his habitation in that place with a view to pillage
the provincials on their first arrival in town, before they could be
armed with proper circumspection to preserve their money, or have time to
dispose of it in any other shape.
Similar characters naturally attract each other, and people of our hero's
principles are, of all others, the most apt to distinguish their own
likeness wheresoever it occurs; because they always keep the faculty of
discerning in full exertion. It was in consequence of this mutual
alertness, that Ferdinand and the stranger, who was a native of Tyrol,
perceived themselves reflected in the dispositions of each other, and
immediately entered into an offensive and defensive alliance; our
adventurer undertaking for the articles of intelligence, countenance, and
counsel, and his associate charging himself with the risk of execution.