Thus connected, they began to hunt in couples; and Fathom, in order to
profit by the alliance with a good grace, contrived a small scheme that
succeeded to his wish. Renaldo being one night intoxicated in the course
of a merry-making with his fellow-pupils, from which Fathom had purposely
absented himself, was by the Tyrolese so artfully provoked to play, that
he could not resist the temptation, but engaged at passdice with that
fell adversary, who, in less than an hour, stripped him of a pretty round
sum. Next day, when the young gentleman recovered the use of his
reflection, he was sensibly chagrined at the folly and precipitation of
his own conduct, an account of which he communicated in confidence to our
hero, with demonstrations of infinite shame and concern.
Ferdinand, having moralised upon the subject with great sagacity, and
sharply inveighed against the Tyrolese, for the unfair advantage he had
taken, retired to his closet, and wrote the following billet, which was
immediately sent to his ally:--
"The obligations I owe, and the attachments I feel, to the Count de
Melvil, will not suffer me to be an idle spectator of the wrongs offered
to his son, in the dishonourable use, I understand, you made last night
of his unguarded hours. I therefore insist upon your making immediate
restitution of the booty which you so unjustly got; otherwise I expect
you will meet me upon the ramparts, near the bastion de la Port Neuve,
to-morrow morning at daybreak, in order to justify, with your sword, the
finesse you have practised upon the friend of FERDINAND DE FATHOM."
The gamester no sooner received this intimation, than, according to the
plan which had been preconcerted betwixt the author and him, he went to
the apartment of Renaldo, and presenting the sum of money which he had
defrauded him of the preceding night, told him, with a stern countenance,
that, though it was a just acquisition, he scorned to avail himself of
his good fortune against any person who entertained the smallest doubt of
his honour.
The young Count, surprised at this address, rejected his offer with
disdain, and desired to know the meaning of such an unexpected
declaration. Upon which, the other produced Ferdinand's billet, and
threatened, in very high terms, to meet the stripling according to his
invitation, and chastise him severely for his presumption. The
consequence of this explanation is obvious. Renaldo, imputing the
officiousness of Fathom to the zeal of his friendship, interposed in the
quarrel, which was amicably compromised, not a little to the honour of
our adventurer, who thus obtained an opportunity of displaying his
courage and integrity, without the least hazard to his person; while, at
the same time, his confederate recommended himself to the esteem of the
young Count, by his spirited behaviour on this occasion; so that Renaldo
being less shy of his company for the future, the Tyrolese had the fairer
opportunities to prosecute his designs upon the young gentleman's purse.
It would be almost superfluous to say, that these were not neglected.
The son of Count Melvil was not deficient in point of penetration; but
his whole study was at that time engrossed by the care of his education,
and he had sometimes recourse to play as an amusement by which he sought
to unbend the severity of his attention. No wonder then that he fell a
prey to an artful gamester, who had been regularly trained to the
profession, and made it the sole study of his life; especially as the
Hungarian was remarkable for a warmth of temper, which a knight of the
post always knows how to manage for his own advantage.
In the course of these operations, Fathom was a very useful
correspondent. He instructed the Tyrolese in the peculiarities of
Renaldo's disposition, and made him acquainted with the proper seasons
for profiting by his dexterity. Ferdinand, for example, who, by the
authority derived to him from the injunctions of the old Count, sometimes
took upon himself the office of an adviser, cunningly chose to counsel
the son at those conjunctures when he knew him least able to bear such
expostulation. Advice improperly administered generally acts in
diametrical opposition to the purpose for which it is supposed to be
given; at least this was the case with the young gentleman, who, inflamed
by the reproof of such a tutor, used to obey the dictates of his
resentment in an immediate repetition of that conduct which our
adventurer had taken the liberty to disapprove; and the gamester was
always at hand to minister unto his indignation. By these means he was
disencumbered of divers considerable remittances, with which his father
cheerfully supplied him, on the supposition that they were spent with
taste and liberality, under the direction of our adventurer.
But Ferdinand's views were not confined to the narrow field of this
alliance. He attempted divers enterprises in the world of gallantry,
conscious of his own personal qualifications, and never doubting that he
could insinuate himself into the good graces of some married lady about
court, or lay an opulent dowager under contribution. But he met with an
obstacle in his endeavours of this kind, which all his art was unable to
surmount. This was no other than the obscurity of his birth, and the
want of a title, without which no person in that country lays claim to
the privileges of a gentleman. Had he foreseen this inconvenience he
might have made shift to obviate the consequences, by obtaining
permission to appear in the character of the Count's kinsman; though, in
all probability, such an expedient would not have been extremely
agreeable to the old gentleman, who was very tenacious of the honour of
his family; nevertheless, his generosity might have been prevailed upon
to indulge Fathom with such a pretext, in consideration of the youth's
supposed attachment, and the obligations for which he deemed himself
indebted to his deceased mother.
True it is, Ferdinand, upon his first arrival at Vienna, had been
admitted into fashionable company, on the footing of Renaldo's companion,
because nobody suspected the defect of his pedigree; and even after a
report had been circulated to the prejudice of his extraction, by the
industry of a lacquey who attended the young Count, there were not
wanting many young people of distinction who still favoured him with
their countenance and correspondence; but he was no longer invited to
private families, in which only he could expect to profit by his address
among the ladies, and had the mortification of finding himself frequently
excepted from parties which were expressly calculated for the
entertainment of the young Count. Luckily, his spirit was so pliant as
to sustain these slights without being much dejected; instead of repining
at the loss of that respect which had been paid to him at first, he
endeavoured, with all his might, to preserve the little that still
remained, and resolved to translate into a humbler sphere that gallantry
which he had no longer opportunities of displaying in the world of rank
and fashion.