Such aggravated misfortune could not fail to affect his temper and
deportment. The continual efforts he made to conceal his vexation
produced a manifest distraction in his behaviour and discourse. He began
to be seized with horror at the sight of poor Monimia, whom he therefore
shunned as much as the circumstances of their correspondence would allow;
and every evening he went forth alone to some solitary place, where he
could, unperceived, give a loose to the transports of his sorrow, and in
silence meditate some means to lighten the burden of his woe. His heart
was sometimes so savaged with despair, which represented mankind as his
inveterate enemies, that he entertained thoughts of denouncing war
against the whole community, and supplying his own wants with the spoils
he should win. At other times he was tempted with the desire of putting
an end to his miseries and life together. Yet these were but the
transitory suggestions of temporary madness, that soon yielded to the
dictates of reason. From the execution of the first he was restrained by
his own notions of honour and morality; and, from using the other
expedient, he was deterred by his love for Monimia, together with the
motives of philosophy and religion.
While in this manner he secretly nursed the worm of grief that preyed
upon his vitals, the alteration in his countenance and conduct did not
escape the eyes of that discerning young lady. She was alarmed at the
change, yet afraid to inquire into the source of it; for, being ignorant
of his distress, she could impute it to no cause in which her happiness
was not deeply interested. She had observed his strained complaisance
and extraordinary emotion. She had detected him in repeated attempts to
avoid her company, and taken notice of his regular excursions in the
dark. These were alarming symptoms to a lover of her delicacy and pride.
She strove in vain to put the most favourable construction on what she
saw; and, finally, imputed the effects of his despondence to the
alienation of his heart. Made miserable beyond expression by these
suspicions, she imparted them to Fathom, who, by this time, was in full
possession of her confidence and esteem, and implored his advice touching
her conduct in such a nice conjuncture.
This artful politician, who rejoiced at the effect of her penetration, no
sooner heard himself questioned on the subject, than he gave tokens of
surprise and confusion, signifying his concern to find she had discovered
what, for the honour of his friend, he wished had never come to light.
His behaviour on this occasion confirmed her fatal conjecture; and she
conjured him, in the most pathetic manner, to tell her if he thought
Renaldo's heart had contracted any new engagement. At this question, he
started with signs of extreme agitation, and stifling an artificial sigh,
"Sure, madam," said he, "you cannot doubt the Count's constancy--I am
confident--he is certainly--I protest, madam, I am so shocked."
Here he made a full pause, as if the conflict between his integrity and
his friendship would not allow him to proceed, and summoned the moisture
into either eye--"Then are my doubts removed," cried the afflicted
Monimia; "I see your candour in the midst of your attachment to Renaldo;
and will no longer torment you with impertinent interrogations and vain
complaints." With these words, a flood of tears gushed from her
enchanting eyes, and she instantly withdrew into her own apartment, where
she indulged her sorrow to excess. Nor was her grief unanimated with
resentment. She was by birth, nature, and education inspired with that
dignity of pride which ennobles the human heart; and this, by the
circumstance of her present dependence, was rendered extremely jealous
and susceptible; insomuch that she could not brook the least shadow of
indifference, much less an injury of such a nature, from the man whom she
had honoured with her affections, and for whom she had disobliged and
deserted her family and friends.
Though her love was so unalterably fixed on this unhappy youth, that,
without the continuation of reciprocal regard, her life would have become
an unsupportable burden, even amidst all the splendour of affluence and
pomp; and although she foresaw, that, when his protection should cease,
she must be left a wretched orphan in a foreign land, exposed to all the
miseries of want; yet, such was the loftiness of her displeasure, that
she disdained to complain, or even demand an explanation from the
supposed author of her wrongs.
While she continued undetermined in her purpose, and fluctuating on this
sea of torture, Fathom, believing that now was the season for working
upon her passions, while they were all in commotion, became, if possible,
more assiduous than ever about the fair mourner, modelled his features
into a melancholy cast, pretended to share her distress with the most
emphatic sympathy, and endeavoured to keep her resentment glowing by
cunning insinuations, which, though apparently designed to apologise for
his friend, served only to aggravate the guilt of his perfidy and
dishonour. This pretext of friendly concern is the most effectual
vehicle for the conveyance of malice and slander; and a man's reputation
is never so mortally stabbed, as when the assassin begins with the
preamble of, "For my own part, I can safely say that no man upon earth
has a greater regard for him than I have; and it is with the utmost
anguish and concern that I see him misbehave in such a manner." Then he
proceeds to mangle his character, and the good-natured hearers,
concluding he is even blacker than he is represented, on the supposition
that the most atrocious circumstances are softened or suppressed by the
tenderness or friendship of the accuser, exclaim, "Good lack! what a
wretch he must be, when his best friends will no longer attempt to defend
him!" Nay, sometimes these well-wishers undertake his defence, and
treacherously betray the cause they have espoused, by omitting the
reasons that may be urged in his vindication.
Both these methods were practised by the wily Ferdinand, according to the
predominant passion of Monimia. When her indignation prevailed, he
expatiated upon his love and sincere regard for Renaldo, which, he said,
had grown up from the cradle, to such a degree of fervour, that he would
willingly part with life for his advantage. He shed tears for his
apostasy; but every drop made an indelible stain upon his character; and,
in the bitterness of his grief, swore, notwithstanding his fondness for
Renaldo, which had become a part of his constitution, that the young
Hungarian deserved the most infamous destiny for having injured such
perfection. At other times, when he found her melted into silent sorrow,
he affected to excuse the conduct of his friend. He informed her, that
the young gentleman's temper had been uneven from his infancy; that
frailty was natural to man; that he might in time be reclaimed by
self-conviction; he even hinted, that she might have probably ascribed
to inconstancy, what was really the effect of some chagrin which he
industriously concealed from his participation. But, when he found her
disposed to listen to this last suggestion, he destroyed the force of it,
by recollecting the circumstances of his nocturnal rambles, which, he
owned, would admit of no favourable construction.
By these means he blew the coals of her jealousy, and enhanced the value
of his own character at the same time; for she looked upon him as a
mirror of faith and integrity, and the mind being overcharged with woe,
naturally seeks some confidant, upon whose sympathy it can repose itself.
Indeed, his great aim was to make himself necessary to her affliction,
and settle a gossiping correspondence, in the familiarity of which he
hoped his purpose would certainly be answered.
Yet the exertion of these talents was not limited to her alone. While he
laid these trains for the hapless young lady, he was preparing snares of
another kind for her unsuspecting lover, who, for the completion of his
misery, about this time began to perceive marks of disquiet and
displeasure in the countenance and deportment of his adored Monimia. For
that young lady, in the midst of her grief, remembered her origin, and
over her vexation affected to throw a veil of tranquillity, which served
only to give an air of disgust to her internal disturbance.
Renaldo, whose patience and philosophy were barely sufficient to bear the
load of his other evils, would have been quite overwhelmed with the
additional burden of Monimia's woe, if it had not assumed this appearance
of disesteem, which, as he knew he had not deserved it, brought his
resentment to his assistance. Yet this was but a wretched cordial to
support him against the baleful reflections that assaulted him from every
quarter; it operated like those desperate remedies, which, while they
stimulate exhausted nature, help to destroy the very fundamentals of the
constitution. He reviewed his own conduct with the utmost severity, and
could not recollect one circumstance which could justly offend the idol
of his soul. The more blameless he appeared to himself in this
examination, the less excusable did her behaviour appear. He tasked his
penetration to discover the cause of this alteration; he burned with
impatience to know it; his discernment failed him, and he was afraid,
though he knew not why, to demand an explanation. His thoughts were so
circumstanced, that he durst not even unbosom himself to Fathom, though
his own virtue and friendship resisted those sentiments that began to
intrude upon his mind, with suggestions to the prejudice of our
adventurer's fidelity.
Nevertheless, unable to endure the torments of such interesting suspense,
he at length made an effort to expostulate with the fair orphan; and in
an abrupt address, the effect of his fear and confusion, begged to know
if he had inadvertently done anything to incur her displeasure. Monimia,
hearing herself bluntly accosted in this unusual strain, after repeated
instances of his reserve and supposed inconstancy, considered the
question as a fresh insult, and, summoning her whole pride to her
assistance, replied, with affected tranquillity, or rather with an air of
scorn, that she had no title to judge, neither did she pretend to condemn
his conduct. This answer, so wide of that tenderness and concern which
had hitherto manifested itself in the disposition of his amiable
mistress, deprived him of all power to carry on the conversation, and he
retired with a low bow, fully convinced of his having irretrievably lost
the place he had possessed in her affection; for, to his imagination,
warped and blinded by his misfortunes, her demeanour seemed fraught, not
with a transient gleam of anger, which a respectful lover would soon have
appeased, but with that contempt and indifference which denote a total
absence of affection and esteem. She, on the other hand, misconstrued
his sudden retreat; and now they beheld the actions of each other through
the false medium of prejudice and resentment. To such fatal
misunderstandings the peace and happiness of whole families often fall a
sacrifice.