Of all the accidents that had befallen Horatio since his leaving
England, none ever so much surprized him as the prodigious impudence of
this lady: he had heard talk of such adventures, but never till now
believed there could be any such thing in nature, as a woman that
offered herself in this manner, without the least sollicitation from the
person on whom she wished to lavish what ought only to be the reward of
an approved, or at least a shew of the most violent passion.
The dilemma he was in how to behave, was also equal to his
astonishment:--had she been the most lovely of her sex, as she was very
much the reverse, the ever present idea of his dear Charlotta would have
defended his heart from the invasions of any other charms; but he needed
not that pre-engagement to make him look with detestation on a woman of
Mattakesa's principles:--when he reflected on what she had said
concerning Edella, he found her base, censorious, and unjust:--and when
he considered the manner in which she proceeded in regard to himself, he
saw a lewdness and audacity which rendered her doubly odious, to
him:--he doubted not but she was wicked and subtle enough to contrive
some means of revenging herself, in case she met with a disappointment
in her wishes, yet had too great an abhorrence to be able to entertain
one thought of gratifying them.
As he was young and unexperienced in the world, he would have been glad
of some advice how to act so as not to incur her resentment, yet avoid
her love; but the strict notions he had of honour remonstrated to him
that he ought not to betray a secret of that nature, tho' confided in
him by an ill woman.--Her baseness, cried he to himself, would be no
excuse for mine; and it is better for me to risque whatever her malice
may inflict, than forfeit my character, by exposing a woman who pretends
to love me.
These thoughts kept him waking the whole night; and his restlessness
being observed by an old Swedish officer who by with him, he was very
much importuned by him to discover to him the occasion.--Horatio
defended himself for a good while by the considerations before recited;
but at length reflecting; that the person who was so desirous of being
let into the secret, had a great deal of discretion, he at length
suffered himself to be prevailed upon, and told him what Mattakesa had
wrote to him, for he did not understand a word of French, so could not
read the letter.
This officer no sooner heard the story, than he laughed heartily at the
scruples of Horatio, in thinking himself bound to conceal an affair of
this nature with a woman of the character Mattakesa must needs be:--he
also rallied his delicacy, as he termed it, in hesitating one moment
whether he should gratify the lady's inclinations.--One would imagine,
said he, that so long a fall from love as we have had, should render our
appetites more keen:--what, tho' Mattakesa be neither handsome nor very
young, she is a woman, and amorous, and methinks there should need no
other excitements to a young man like you.
Horatio, tho' naturally gay, was not at present in a disposition to
continue this raillery, and told his friend, he looked on this
inclination of Mattakesa to be as great a misfortune as could happen to
them; for, said he, as it is wholly out of my power to make her any
returns, that violence of temper which has transported her to forget the
modesty of her sex, will probably, when she finds herself rejected, make
her as easily throw off all the softness of it; and you may all feel the
effects of that revenge she will endeavour to take on me.
The other was entirely of his opinion; and they both agreed that, some
way ought to thought on to avert the storm, her resentment might in all
probability occasion.
After many fruitless inventions, they at last hit upon one which had a
prospect of success: they had in their company a gentleman called
Mullern, nephew to chancellor Mullern, who had attended the king in all
his wars: he was handsome, well made, and his age, tho' much superior to
that of Horatio, yet was not so far advanced as to render him
disagreeable to the fair sex: he was of a more than ordinary sanguine
disposition, and had often said, of all the hardships their captivity
had inflicted on them, he felt none so severely as being deprived of a
free conversation with women.--In the ravages the king of Sweden's arms
had made in Lithuania, Saxony and Poland, he was sure to secure to
himself three or four of the finest women; and tho' he had been often
checked by his uncle, and even by the king himself, for giving too great
a loose to his amorous inclinations, yet all their admonitions were too
weak to restrain the impetuosity of his desires this way. To him,
therefore, they resolved to communicate the affair; and as he was in
other respects the most proper object among them to succeed in
supplanting Horatio, so he was also by being perfectly well versed in
the French language, which the rest were ignorant of.
Accordingly they told him what had happened, shewed him the letter, and
how willing Horatio would be to transfer all the interest he had in this
lady to him, if he could by any means ingratiate himself into her
favour. Mullern was transported at the idea; and the stratagem contrived
among them for this purpose was executed in the following manner:
Mattakesa was punctual to the promise she had made in her letter; and
when she came into the room, where she usually found the gentlemen
altogether, it being that where they dined, and saw not Horatio, she
doubted not but he had observed her directions, and pretended himself
indisposed, so asked for him, expecting to be told that he was ill; but
when they answered that he was gone with one of the keepers to the top
of the round tower, in order to satisfy his curiosity in taking a view
of the town, she was confounded beyond expression, and could not imagine
what had occasioned him to slight an assignation, she had flattered
herself he would receive with extacy.
As she was in a little resvery, endeavouring to comprehend, if possible,
the motive of so manifest a neglect, Mullern drew near to her, and
beginning to speak of the beauties of that fine city which the czar had
erected in the midst of war, he told her, that having a little skill in
drawing, he had ventured to make a little sketch of it in chalk on the
walls of the room where he lay, and entreated her in the most gallant
manner to look upon it, and give him her opinion how far he had done
justice to an edifice so much admired.
It cannot be supposed that Mattakesa had in her soul any curiosity to
see a work of this nature, yet, to hide as much as she could the
disorder she was in at her disappointment, gave him her hand, in order
to be concluded to the place where he pretended to have been exercising
his genius.
As soon as they were entered he threw the door, as if by incident, which
having a spring lock, immediately was made fast--She either did not, or
seemed not to regard what he had done; but casting her eyes round the
room, and seeing nothing of what he had mentioned,--Where is this
drawing? cried she. In my heart, adorable Mattakesa, answered he, falling
at her feet at the same time:--it is not the city of Petersburg, but the
charming image of its brightest ornament, that the god of love has
engraven on my heart in characters too indelible ever to be
erased:--from the first moment I beheld those eyes my soul has been on
fire, and I must have consumed with inward burnings had I not revealed
my flame:--pardon, continued he, the boldness of a passion which knows
no bounds; and tho' I may not be so worthy of your love as the too happy
Horatio, I am certainly not less deserving of your pity.
Surprize, and perhaps a mixture of secret satisfaction prevented her
from interrupting him during the first part of his discourse; but rage,
at the mention of Horatio, forced from her this exclamation:--has the
villain then betrayed me! cried she.--No, madam, replied he, justice
obliges me to acquit him, tho' my rival.--He had the misfortune, in
putting your billet into his pocket, to let it fall; I took it up unseen
by him,--opened it, read it, and must confess, that all my generosity to
my friend was wholly swallowed up in my passion for you.--I returned not
to him that kind declaration you were pleased to make him, and he is
ignorant of the blessing you intended for him:--if the crime I have been
guilty of seem unpardonable in your eyes, command my death, I will
instantly obey you, for life would be a torment under your displeasure;
and if, in my last moments, you vouchsafe some part of that softness to
the occasion of my fate, that you so lavishly bestowed on the fortunate
Horatio, I will bless the lovely mouth that dooms me to destruction!
He pronounced all this with an emphasis, which made her not doubt the
power of her charms; and surveying him while he was speaking, found
enough in his person to compensate for the disappointment she had met
with from Horatio: besides, she reflected, that if what he had told her
concerning the dropping her letter, was a fiction, it was however an
ingenious one, and shewed his wit, as well as love, in bringing both
himself and friend off in so handsome a manner. She was infatuated with
the praises he gave her;--the pathetic expressions he made use of,
assured her of the ardency of his desires, and as she could not be
certain of being able to inspire Horatio with the same, she wisely chose
to accept the present offer, rather than wait for what might perhaps at
last deceive her expectations. She made, however, no immediate answer;
but her eyes told him she was far from being displeased with what he had
said, and gave him courage to take up one of her hands and kiss it, with
an eagerness which confirmed his protestations.
At last,--Well, Mullern, said she, looking languishingly on him, since
chance has made you acquainted with my foible, I think I must bribe you
to secrecy, by forgiving the liberties you take with me:--and if I were
convinced you really love me as well as you pretend, might indulge you
yet farther.--An unaccountable caprice indeed swayed me in favour of
Horatio, but I am now half inclinable to believe you are more deserving
my regard;--but rise, continued she, I will hear nothing from you while
in that posture.
Mullern, who was no less bold in love than war, immediately obeyed her,
and testified his gratitude for her condescention, by giving a sudden
spring and snatching her to his breast, pressed her in so arduous a
manner, that she would have been incapable of resisting, even tho' she
had an inclination to do so: but she, no less transported than himself,
returned endearment for endearment, and not only permitted, but assisted
all his raptures,--absolutely forgot Horatio, as well as all sense of
her own shame, and yielded him a full enjoyment without even an
affectation of repugnance.
Both parties, in fine, were perfectly satisfied with each other, and
having mutually sworn a thousand oaths of fidelity which neither of
them, it is probable, had any intention to keep, Mullern took upon
himself the care of continuing to entertain her in private as often as
she came to the prison, and in return she made him a present of a purse
of gold, after which they passed into the outer room to prevent censures
on their staying too long together.
On their return they found Horatio with the other gentlemen. Abandoned
as Mattakesa was, she could not keep herself from blushing a little at
sight of him; but soon recovering herself by the help of her natural
audacity,--Well, Horatio, said she, what do you think of the little
French epigram I put into your hands yesterday;--has it not a very
agreeable point?
Horatio had such an aversion to all kind of deceit, that even here,
where it was so necessary, he could not, without some hesitation, answer
to what she said in these words.--Some accident or other, cried he,
deprived me of the pleasure you were so good to intend me; for when I
put my hand in my pocket thinking to read it, I perceived I was so
unhappy as to have lost, it:--I looked for it in vain:--it was
irrecoverably gone, and I am an utter stranger to the contents.
And ever shall be so, replied she tartly, only to punish your
carelessness of a lady's favour; know, that it was a piece of wit which
would have been highly agreeable to you:--but don't expect I shall take
the pains to write it over again, or even tell you the subject on which
it turned.
Horatio cooly said, he could not but confess he had been to blame, and
must therefore allow the justice of her proceeding. As none present
besides himself, his bedfellow, and Mullern, knew the truth of this
affair, what passed between them was taken by the others as literally
spoken, and little suspected to couch the mystery it really did.
Mullern, after this, by the assistance of Horatio and the old officer,
had frequent opportunities of gratifying his own and the amorous
Mattakesa's desires.--The testimonies she gave him how well she was
pleased with his conversation, were for the common good of his
companions.--Horatio was easy in finding himself out of all danger of
any solicitations he was determined never to acquiesce in; and those
three who were in the secret passed their time pleasantly enough,
whenever they had an opportunity of talking on this adventure, without
any of the others being witnesses of what they said.