OUR ADVENTURER BECOMES ABSOLUTE IN HIS POWER OVER THE PASSIONS OF HIS
FRIEND, AND EFFECTS ONE HALF OF HIS AIM.
Influenced by this dire mistake, the breast of those unhappy lovers
began to be invaded with the horrors of jealousy. The tender-hearted
Monimia endeavoured to devour her griefs in silence; she in secret
bemoaned her forlorn fate without ceasing; her tears flowed without
intermission from night to morn, and from morn to night. She sought not
to know the object for which she was forsaken; she meant not to upbraid
her undoer; her aim was to find a sequestered corner, in which she could
indulge her sorrow; where she could brood over the melancholy remembrance
of her former felicity; where she could recollect those happy scenes she
had enjoyed under the wings of her indulgent parents, when her whole life
was a revolution of pleasures, and she was surrounded with affluence,
pomp, and admiration; where she could, unmolested, dwell upon the
wretched comparison between her past and present condition, and paint
every circumstance of her misery in the most aggravating colours, that
they might make the deeper impression upon her mind, and the more
speedily contribute to that dissolution for which she ardently wished, as
a total release from woe.
Amidst these pinings, she began to loathe all sustenance; her cheeks grew
wan, her bright eyes lost their splendour, the roses vanished from her
lips, and her delicate limbs could hardly support their burden; in a
word, her sole consolation was limited to the prospect of depositing her
sorrows in the grave; and her only wish was to procure a retreat in which
she might wait with resignation for that happy period. Yet this
melancholy comfort she could not obtain without the advice and mediation
of Fathom, whom she therefore still continued to see and consult. While
these consultations were held, Renaldo's bosom was ravaged with tempests
of rage and distraction. He believed himself superseded in the affection
of his mistress, by some favoured rival, whose success rankled at his
soul; and though he scarce durst communicate the suspicion to his own
heart, his observation continually whispered to him that he was
supplanted by his friend Fathom; for Monimia was totally detached from
the conversation of every other man, and he had of late noted their
intercourse with distempered eyes.
These considerations sometimes transported him to such a degree of
frenzy, that he was tempted to sacrifice them both as traitors to
gratitude, friendship, and love; but such deliriums soon vanished before
his honour and humanity. He would not allow himself to think amiss of
Ferdinand, until some undoubted mark of his guilt should appear; and this
was so far from being the case, that hitherto there was scarce a
presumption. "On the contrary," said he to himself, "I am hourly
receiving proofs of his sympathy and attachment. Not but that he may be
the innocent cause of my mishap. His superior qualifications may have
attracted the eye, and engaged the heart of that inconstant fair, without
his being sensible of the victory he has won; or, perhaps, shocked at the
conquest he hath unwillingly made, he discourages her advances, tries to
reason down her unjustifiable passion, and in the meantime conceals from
me the particulars, out of regard to my happiness and quiet."
Under cover of these favourable conjectures, our adventurer securely
prosecuted his scheme upon the unfortunate Monimia. He dedicated himself
wholly to her service and conversation, except at those times when his
company was requested by Renaldo, who now very seldom exacted his
attendance. In his ministry about the person of the beauteous orphan,
this cunning incendiary mingled such awful regard, such melting
compassion, as effectually screened him from the suspicion of treachery,
while he widened the fatal breach between her and her lover by the most
diabolical insinuations. He represented his friend as a voluptuary, who
gratified his own appetite without the least regard to honour or
conscience; and, with a show of infinite reluctance, imparted some
anecdotes of his sensuality, which he had feigned for the purpose; then
he would exclaim in an affected transport, "Gracious Heaven! is it
possible for any man who has the least title to perception or humanity to
injure such innocence and perfection! for my own part, had I been so
undeservedly happy--Heaven and earth! forgive my transports, madam, I
cannot help seeing and admiring such divine attractions. I cannot help
resenting your wrongs; it is the cause of virtue I espouse; it ought to
be the cause of every honest man."
He had often repeated such apostrophes as these, which she ascribed to
nothing else than sheer benevolence and virtuous indignation, and
actually began to think he had made some impression upon her heart, not
that he now entertained the hope of an immediate triumph over her
chastity. The more he contemplated her character, the more difficult the
conquest seemed to be: he therefore altered his plan, and resolved to
carry on his operations under the shelter of honourable proposals,
foreseeing that a wife of her qualifications, if properly managed, would
turn greatly to the account of the husband, or, if her virtue should
prove refractory, that he could at any time rid himself of the
encumbrance, by decamping without beat of drum, after he should be cloyed
with possession.
Elevated by these expectations, he one day, in the midst of a
preconcerted rhapsody, importing that he could no longer conceal the fire
that preyed upon his heart, threw himself on his knees before the lovely
mourner, and imprinted a kiss on her fair hand. Though he did not
presume to take this liberty till after such preparation as he thought
had altogether extinguished her regard for Melvil, and paved the way for
his own reception in room of that discarded lover, he had so far overshot
his mark, that Monimia, instead of favouring his declaration, started up,
and retired in silence, her cheeks glowing with shame, and her eyes
gleaming with indignation.
Ferdinand no sooner recovered from the confusion produced by this
unexpected repulse, than he saw the necessity of coming to a speedy
determination, lest the offended fair one should appeal to Renaldo, in
which case they might be mutually undeceived, to his utter shame and
confusion; he therefore resolved to deprecate her anger by humble
supplications, and by protesting, that, whatever tortures he might suffer
by suppressing his sentiments, she should never again be offended with a
declaration of his passion.
Having thus appeased the gentle Monimia, and discovered that, in spite of
her resentment, his friend still kept possession of her heart, he
determined to work an effectual separation, so as that the young lady,
being utterly deserted by Melvil, should be left altogether in his power.
With this Christian intention, he began to sadden his visage with a
double shade of pensive melancholy, in the presence of Renaldo, to stifle
a succession of involuntary sighs, to answer from the purpose, to be
incoherent in his discourse, and, in a word, to act the part of a person
wrapt up in sorrowful cogitation.
Count Melvil, soon as he perceived these symptoms, very kindly inquired
into the cause of them, and was not a little alarmed to hear the artful
and evasive answers of Ferdinand, who, without disclosing the source of
his disquiet, earnestly begged leave to retire into some other corner of
the world. Roused by this entreaty, the Hungarian's jealousy awoke, and
with violent agitation, he exclaimed, "Then are my fears too true, my
dear Fathom: I comprehend the meaning of your request. I have for some
time perceived an host of horrors approaching from that quarter. I know
your worth and honour. I depend upon your friendship, and conjure you,
by all the ties of it, to free me at once from the most miserable
suspense, by owning you have involuntarily captivated the heart of that
unhappy maiden."
To this solemn interrogation he made no reply, but shedding a flood of
tears, of which he had always a magazine at command, he repeated his
desire of withdrawing, and took God to witness, that what he proposed was
solely for the quiet of his honoured patron and beloved friend.
"Enough," cried the unfortunate Renaldo, "the measure of my woes is now
filled up." So saying, he fell backwards in a swoon, from which he was
with difficulty recovered to the sensation of the most exquisite
torments. During this paroxysm, our adventurer nursed him with infinite
care and tenderness, he exhorted him to summon all his fortitude to his
assistance, to remember his forefathers, and exert himself in the
imitation of their virtues, to fly from those bewitching charms which had
enslaved his better part, to retrieve his peace of mind by reflecting on
the inconstancy and ingratitude of woman, and amuse his imagination in
the pursuit of honour and glory.
After these admonitions he abused his ears with a forged detail of the
gradual advances made to him by Monimia, and the steps he had taken to
discourage her addresses, and re-establish her virtue, poisoning the mind
of that credulous youth to such a degree, that, in all probability, he
would have put a fatal period to his own existence, had not Fathom found
means to allay the rage of his ecstasy, by the cunning arrangement of
opposite considerations. He set his pride against his love, he opposed
his resentment to his sorrow, and his ambition to his despair.
Notwithstanding the balance of power so settled among these antagonists,
so violent were the shocks of their successive conflicts, that his bosom
fared like a wretched province, harassed, depopulated, and laid waste, by
two fierce contending armies. From this moment his life was nothing but
an alternation of starts and reveries; he wept and raved by turns,
according to the prevailing gust of passion; food became a stranger to
his lips, and sleep to his eyelids; he could not support the presence of
Monimia, her absence increased the torture of his pangs; and, when he met
her by accident, he started back with horror, like a traveller who
chances to tread upon a snake.
The poor afflicted orphan, worn to a shadow with self-consuming anguish,
eager to find some lowly retreat, where she could breath out her soul in
peace, and terrified at the frantic behaviour of Renaldo, communicated to
Fathom her desire of removing, and begged that he would take a small
picture of her father, decorated with diamonds, and convert them into
money, for the expense of her subsistence. This was the last pledge of
her family, which she had received from her mother, who had preserved it
in the midst of numberless distresses, and no other species of misery but
that which she groaned under could have prevailed upon the daughter to
part with it; but, exclusive of other motives, the very image itself, by
recalling to her mind the honours of her name, upbraided her with living
in dependence upon a man who had treated her with such indignity and
ingratitude; besides, she flattered herself with the hope that she should
not long survive the loss of this testimonial.
Our adventurer, with many professions of sorrow and mortification at his
own want of capacity to prevent such an alienation, undertook to dispose
of it to the best advantage, and to provide her with a cheap and retired
apartment, to which he would conduct her in safety, though at the hazard
of his life. In the meantime, however, he repaired to his friend
Renaldo, and, after having admonished him to arm his soul with patience
and philosophy, declared that Monimia's guilty passion for himself could
no longer be kept within bounds, that she had conjured him, in the most
pressing manner, to assist her in escaping from an house which she
considered as the worst of dungeons, because she was in it daily exposed
to the sight and company of a man whom she detested, and that she had
bribed him to compliance with her request, not only with repeated
promises of eternal love and submission, but also with the picture of her
father set with diamonds, which she had hitherto reserved as the last and
greatest testimony of her affection and esteem.
With these words he presented the fatal pledge to the eyes of the
astonished youth, upon whom it operated like the poisonous sight of the
basilisk, for in an instant, the whole passions of his soul were in the
most violent agitation. "What!" cried he, in an ecstasy of rage, "is she
so abandoned to perfidy, so lost to shame, so damned to constancy, to
gratitude, and virtuous love, as to meditate the means of leaving me
without decency, without remorse! to forsake me in my adversity, when my
hapless fortune can no longer flatter the pride and vanity of her
expectation! O woman! woman! woman! what simile shall I find to
illustrate the character of the sex? But I will not have recourse to
vain complaints and feeble exclamations. By Heaven! she shall not
'scape, she shall not triumph in her levity, she shall not exult in my
distress; no! I will rather sacrifice her to my just resentment, to the
injured powers of love and friendship. I will act the avenging minister
of Heaven! I will mangle that fair bosom, which contains so false a
heart! I will tear her to pieces, and scatter those beauteous limbs as a
prey to the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air!"
Fathom, who expected this storm, far from attempting to oppose its
progress, waited with patience until its first violence was overblown;
then, assuming an air of condolence, animated with that resolution which
a friend ought to maintain on such occasions, "My dear Count," said he,
"I am not at all surprised at your emotion, because I know what an heart,
susceptible as yours, must feel from the apostasy of one who has reigned
so long the object of your love, admiration, and esteem. Your endeavours
to drive her from your thoughts must create an agony much more severe
than that which divorces the soul from the body. Nevertheless, I am so
confident of your virtue and your manhood, as to foresee, that you will
allow the fair Monimia to execute that resolution which she hath so
unwisely taken, to withdraw herself from your love and protection.
Believe me, my best friend and benefactor, this is a step, in consequence
of which you will infallibly retrieve your peace of mind. It may cost
you many bitter pangs, it may probe your wounds to the quick; but those
pangs will be soothed by the gentle and salutary wing of time, and that
probing will rouse you to a due sense of your own dignity and importance,
which will enable you to convert your attention to objects far more
worthy of your contemplation. All the hopes of happiness you had
cherished in the possession of Monimia are now irrecoverably blasted; her
heart is now debased beneath your consideration; her love is, without all
doubt, extinguished, and her honour irretrievably lost; insomuch, that,
were she to profess sorrow for her indiscretion, and implore your
forgiveness, with the most solemn promises of regarding you for the
future with unalterable fidelity and affection, you ought not to restore
her to that place in your heart which she hath so meanly forfeited,
because you could not at the same time reinstate her in the possession of
that delicate esteem without which there is no harmony, no rapture, no
true enjoyment in love.
"No, my dear Renaldo, expel the unworthy tenant from your bosom; allow
her to fill up the measure of her ingratitude, by deserting her lover,
friend, and benefactor. Your glory demands her dismission; the world
will applaud your generosity, and your own heart approve of your conduct.
So disencumbered, let us exert ourselves once more in promoting your
departure from this island, that you may revisit your father's house, do
justice to yourself and amiable sister, and take vengeance on the author
of your wrongs; then dedicate yourself to glory, in imitation of your
renowned ancestors, and flourish in the favour of your imperial patron."
These remonstrances had such an effect upon the Hungarian, that his face
was lighted up with a transient gleam of satisfaction. He embraced
Ferdinand with great ardour, calling him his pride, his Mentor, his good
genius, and entreated him to gratify the inclination of that fickle
creature so far as to convey her to another lodging, without loss of
time, while he would, by absenting himself, favour their retreat.
Our hero having obtained this permission, went immediately to the skirts
of the town, where he had previously bespoke a small, though neat
apartment, at the house of an old woman, widow of a French refugee. He
had already reconnoitred the ground, by sounding his landlady, from whose
poverty and complaisance he found reason to expect all sorts of freedom
and opportunity for the accomplishment of his aim upon Monimia's person.
The room being prepared for her reception, he returned to that
disconsolate beauty, to whom he presented ten guineas, which he pretended
to have raised by pledging the picture, though he himself acted as the
pawnbroker on this occasion, for a very plain and obvious reason.
The fair orphan was overjoyed to find her wish so speedily accomplished.
She forthwith packed up her necessaries in a trunk; and a hackney-coach
was called in the dusk of the evening, in which she embarked with her
baggage and conductor.
Yet she did not leave the habitation of Renaldo without regret. In the
instant of parting, the idea of that unfortunate youth was associated
with every well-known object that presented itself to her eyes; not as an
inconstant, ungenerous, and perjured swain, but as the accomplished, the
virtuous, the melting lover, who had captivated her virgin heart. As
Fathom led her to the door, she was met by Renaldo's dog, which had long
been her favourite; and the poor animal fawning upon her as she passed,
her heart was overwhelmed with such a gush of tenderness, that a flood of
tears streamed down her cheeks, and she had well-nigh sunk upon the
floor.
Ferdinand, considering this emotion as the last tribute she would pay to
Renaldo, hurried her into the coach, where she soon recovered her
composure; and in a little time he ushered her into the house of Madam la
Mer, by whom she was received with great cordiality, and conducted to her
apartment, with which she found no other fault than that of its being too
good for one in her forlorn situation. Here, while the tear of gratitude
started in either eye, she thanked our adventurer for his benevolence and
kind concern, assuring him, that she would not fail duly to beseech the
Most High to shower down blessings upon him, as the orphan's friend and
protector.
Fathom was not deficient in those expressions that were best adapted to
her present turn of mind. He observed, that what he had done was in
obedience to the dictates of common humanity, which would have prompted
him to assist any fellow-creature in distress; but that her peculiar
virtue and qualifications were such as challenged the utmost exertion of
his faculties in her service. He said, that surely Heaven had not
created such perfection in vain; that she was destined to receive as well
as to communicate happiness; and that the Providence, which she so
piously adored, would not fail, in due season, to raise her from distress
and affliction, to that honour and felicity for which she was certainly
ordained. In the meantime, he entreated her to depend upon his service
and fidelity, and the article of her board being settled, he left her to
the company and consolation of her discreet hostess, who soon insinuated
herself into the good opinion of her beauteous lodger.
While our hero was employed in this transaction, Renaldo sallied forth in
a sort of intoxication, which Fathom's admonitions had inspired; and,
repairing to a certain noted coffee-house, engaged at chess with an old
French refugee, that his attention, by being otherwise employed, might
not stray towards that fatal object which he ardently wished to forget.
But, unluckily for him, he had scarce performed three moves of the game,
when his ears were exposed to a dialogue between two young gentlemen, one
of whom asked the other if he would go and see the "Orphan" acted at one
of the theatres; observing, as a farther inducement, that the part of
Monimia would be performed by a young gentlewoman who had never appeared
on the stage. At mention of that name, Renaldo started; for though it
did not properly belong to his orphan, it was the appellation by which
she had been distinguished ever since her separation from her father's
house, and therefore it recalled her to his imagination in the most
interesting point of view. Though he endeavoured to expel the image, by
a closer application to his play, every now and then it intruded upon his
fancy, and at each return made a stronger impression; so that he found
himself in the situation of an unfortunate bark stranded upon some hidden
rock, which, when the wind begins to blow, feels every succeeding wave
more boisterous than the former, until, with irresistible fury, they
surmount her deck, sweep everything before them, and dash her all to
pieces.
The refugee had observed his first emotion, which he attributed to an
unforeseen advantage he himself had gained over the Hungarian; but seeing
him, in the sequel, bite his lip, roll his eyes, groan, writhe his body,
ejaculate incoherent curses, and neglect his game, the Huguenot concluded
that he was mad, and being seized with terror and dismay, got up and
scampered off, without ceremony or hesitation.
Melvil, thus left to the horrors of his own thought, which tortured him
with the apprehension of losing Monimia for ever, could no longer combat
that suggestion, but ran homewards with all the speed he could exert, in
order to prevent her retreat. When he crossed the threshold, he was
struck with such a damp of presaging fear, that he durst not in person
approach her apartment, nor even, by questioning the servant, inform
himself of the particulars he wanted to know. Yet his suspense becoming
more insupportable than his fear, he rushed from room to room in quest of
that which was not to be found; and, seeing Monimia's chamber door open,
entered the deserted temple in a state of distraction, calling aloud upon
her name. All was silent, solitary, and woful. "She is gone," he cried,
shedding a flood of tears, "she is for ever lost; and all my hopes of
happiness are fled!"
So saying, he sunk upon that couch on which Monimia had oft reposed, and
abandoned himself to all the excess of grief and despondence. In this
deplorable condition he was found by our adventurer, who gently chid him
for his want of resolution, and again repelled his sorrow, by arousing
his resentment against the innocent cause of his disquiet, having
beforehand forged the particulars of provocation.
"Is it possible," said he, "that Renaldo can still retain the least
sentiment of regard for a fickle woman, by whom he has been so
ungratefully forsaken and so unjustly scorned? Is it possible he can be
so disturbed by the loss of a creature who is herself lost to all virtue
and decorum?--Time and reflection, my worthy friend, will cure you of
that inglorious malady. And the future misconduct of that imprudent
damsel will, doubtless, contribute to the recovery of your peace. Her
behaviour, at leaving the house where she had received so many marks of
the most delicate affection, was in all respects so opposite to honour
and decency, that I could scarce refrain from telling her I was shocked
at her deportment, even while she loaded me with protestations of love.
When a woman's heart is once depraved, she bids adieu to all
restraint;--she preserves no measures. It was not simply contempt which
she expressed for Renaldo; she seems to resent his being able to live
under her disdain; and that resentment stoops to objects unworthy of
indignation. Even your dog was not exempted from the effects of her
displeasure. For, in her passage to the door, she kicked the poor animal
as one of your dependents; and, in our way to the apartment I had
provided for her, she entertained me with a ludicrous comment upon the
manner in which you first made her acquainted with your passion. All
that modesty of carriage, all that chastity of conversation, all that
dignity of grief, which she knew so well how to affect, is now entirely
laid aside, and, when I quitted her, she seemed the most gay, giddy, and
impertinent of her sex."
"Gracious powers!" exclaimed Renaldo, starting from the couch, "am I
under the delusion of a dream; or are these things really so, as my
friend has represented them? Such a total and sudden degeneracy is
amazing! is monstrous and unnatural!"
"Such, my dear Count," replied our hero, "is the caprice of a female
heart, fickle as the wind, uncertain as a calm at sea, fixed to no
principle, but swayed by every fantastic gust of passion, or of whim.
Congratulate yourself, therefore, my friend, upon your happy deliverance
from such a domestic plague--upon the voluntary exile of a traitor from
your bosom.--Recollect the dictates of your duty, your discretion, and
your glory, and think upon the honours and elevated enjoyment for which
you are certainly ordained. To-night let us over a cheerful bottle
anticipate your success; and to-morrow I will accompany you to the house
of an usurer, who, I am informed, fears no risk, provided twenty per cent
be given, and the borrower's life insured."