COUNT FATHOM UNMASKS HIS BATTERY; IS REPULSED; AND VARIES HIS OPERATIONS
WITHOUT EFFECT.
Every necessary preparation being made, Renaldo, accompanied by our
adventurer, took the road to Dover, where he embarked in a packet-boat
for Calais, after having settled a correspondence with his dear
Ferdinand, from whom he did not part without tears. He had before
solicited him to be his fellow-traveller, that he might personally enjoy
the benefit of his conversation and superior sagacity; but these
entreaties he strenuously opposed, on pretence of his being determined to
push his fortune in England, which he considered as his native country,
and as the land in which, of all others, a man of merit has the best
encouragement. Such were the reasons he alleged for refusing to attend
his benefactor, who was himself eagerly desirous of attaining a
settlement in the island of Great Britain. But our hero's real motives
for staying were of a very different complexion.--The reader is already
informed of his aim upon the fair orphan, which, at present, was the
chief spring of his conduct. He may also recollect such passages of his
life, as were sufficient to deter him from reappearing at Presburg or
Vienna. But, besides these reflections, he was detained by a full
persuasion that Renaldo would sink under the power and influence of his
antagonist, consequently be rendered incapable to provide for his
friends; and that he himself, fraught with wiles and experience as he
was, could not fail to make himself amends for what he had suffered among
a people equally rich and unthinking.
Melvil, having embraced our adventurer, and with a deep sigh bid him take
care of the unfortunate Monimia, committed himself to the sea, and, by
the assistance of a favourable gale, was in four hours safely landed on
the French shore; while Fathom took post-horses for London, where he
arrived that same night, and next day, in the forenoon, went to visit the
beauteous mourner, who had as yet received no intimation of Renaldo's
departure or design. He found her in the attitude of writing a letter to
her inconstant lover, the contents of which the reader will be acquainted
with in due time. Her countenance, notwithstanding the veil of
melancholy by which it was overcast, seemed altogether serene and
composed; she was the picture of pious resignation, and sat like PATIENCE
on a monument, smiling at grief. After having paid the compliment of the
morning, Fathom begged pardon for having omitted to visit her during
three days, in which, he said, his time had been wholly engrossed in
procuring a proper equipage for Count Melvil, who had at last bid an
eternal adieu to the island of Great Britain.
At this information the hapless Monimia fell back in her chair, and
continued some minutes in a swoon; from which being recovered, "Excuse
me, Mr. Fathom," cried she with a deep sigh; "this, I hope, is the last
agony I shall feel from my unhappy passion."--Then wiping the tears from
her lovely eyes, she retrieved her tranquillity, and desired to know by
what means Renaldo had been enabled to undertake his journey into the
empire. Our hero, upon this occasion, assumed the whole merit of having
promoted the interest of his friend, by giving her to understand, that
he, in consequence of an unforeseen windfall, had defrayed the expense of
the Count's equipment; though he observed, that it was not without
reluctance he saw Renaldo make a wrong use of his friendship.
"Although I was happy," proceeded this artful traitor, "in being able to
discharge my obligations to the house of Melvil, I could not help feeling
the most sensible chagrin, when I saw my assistance rendered subservient
to the triumphs of the youth's baseness and infidelity; for he chose, as
the companion of his travels, the abandoned woman for whom he had
forsaken the all-perfect Monimia, whose virtue and accomplishments did
not preserve her sacred from his ungrateful sarcasms and unmannerly
ridicule. Believe me, madam, I was so shocked at his conversation on
that subject, and so much incensed at his want of delicacy, that my
temper was scarce sufficient for the ceremony of parting. And, now that
my debt to his family is over-paid, I have solemnly renounced his
correspondence."
When she heard that, instead of betraying the least symptom of regret or
compassion for her unhappy fate, the perfidious youth had exulted over
her fall, and even made her a subject for his mirth, the blood revisited
her faded cheeks, and resentment restored to her eyes that poignancy
which sorrow had before overcome. Yet she scorned to give speech to her
indignation; but, forcing a smile, "Why should I repine," said she, "at
the mortifications of a life which I despise, and from which, I hope,
Heaven speedily will set me free!"
Fathom, fired by her emotion, which had recalled all the graces of her
beauty, exclaimed in a rapture, "Talk not so contemptuously of this life,
which hath still a fund of happiness in store for the amiable, the divine
Monimia. Though one admirer hath proved an apostate to his vows, your
candour will not suffer you to condemn the whole sex. Some there are,
whose bosoms glow with passion equally pure, unalterable, and intense.
For my own part, I have sacrificed to a rigid punctilio of honour the
dearest ideas of my heart. I beheld your unrivalled charms, and deeply
felt their power. Yet, while a possibility of Melvil's reformation
remained, and while I was restrained by my niggard fortune from making a
tender worthy of your acceptance, I combated with my inclinations, and
bore without repining the pangs of hopeless love. But, now that my
honour is disengaged, and my fortune rendered independent, by the last
will of a worthy nobleman, whose friendship I was favoured with in
France, I presume to lay myself at the feet of the adorable Monimia, as
the most faithful of admirers, whose happiness or misery wholly depends
upon her nod. Believe me, madam, these are not the professions of idle
gallantry--I speak the genuine, though imperfect, language of my heart.
Words, even the most pathetic, cannot do justice to my love. I gaze upon
your beauty with ravishment; but I contemplate the graces of your soul
with such awful veneration, that I tremble while I approach you, as if my
vows were addressed to some superior being."
During this declaration, which was pronounced in the most emphatic
manner, Monimia was successively agitated with shame, anger, and grief;
nevertheless, she summoned her whole philosophy to her aid, and, with a
tranquil, though determined air, begged he would not diminish the
obligations he had already conferred, by disturbing with such
unseasonable addresses a poor unhappy maid, who had detached all her
thoughts from earthly objects, and waited impatiently for that
dissolution which alone could put a period to her misfortunes.
Fathom, imagining that these were no other than the suggestions of a
temporary disappointment and despondence, which it was his business to
oppose with all his eloquence and art, renewed his theme with redoubled
ardour, and, at last, became so importunate in his desires, that Monimia,
provoked beyond the power of concealing her resentment, said, she was
heartily sorry to find herself under the necessity of telling him, that,
in the midst of her misfortunes, she could not help remembering what she
had been. Then, rising from her seat, with all the dignity of
displeasure, "Perhaps," added she, "you have forgot who was the father of
the once happy Monimia."
With these words she retired into another chamber, leaving our adventurer
confounded by the repulse he had sustained. Not that he was discouraged
from prosecuting his aim--on the contrary, this rebuff seemed to add
fresh vigour to his operations. He now thought it high time to bring
over Madam la Mer to his interest; and, to facilitate her conversion,
took an opportunity of bribing her with some inconsiderable presents,
after having amused her with a plausible tale of his passion for Monimia,
with whom she undertook the office of his mediatrix, on the supposition
that his intentions were honourable, and highly advantageous to her
lodger.
She was, first of all, invested with the office of obtaining pardon for
the offence he had given; and, in this negotiation she succeeded so well,
as to become an advocate for his suit; accordingly, she took all
occasions of magnifying his praise. His agreeable person was often the
subject of her discourse to the fair mourner. Her admiration dwelt upon
his politeness, good sense, and winning deportment; and she every day
retailed little stories of his benevolence and greatness of soul. The
defect in his birth she represented as a circumstance altogether foreign
from the consideration of his merit; especially in a nation where such
distinctions are as little respected as they will be in a future state.
She mentioned several persons of note, who basked in the sunshine of
power and fortune, without having enjoyed the least hereditary assistance
from their forefathers. One, she said, sprung from the loins of an
obscure attorney; another was the grandson of a valet-de-chambre; a third
was the issue of an accountant; and a fourth the offspring of a
woollen draper. All these were the children of their own good works, and
had raised themselves upon their personal virtues and address; a
foundation certainly more solid and honourable than a vague inheritance
derived from ancestors, in whose deserts they could not be supposed to
have borne the least share.
Monimia listened to all these arguments with great patience and
affability, though she at once dived into the source from which all such
insinuations flowed. She joined in the commendations of Fathom, and
owned herself a particular instance of that benevolence which the old
lady had so justly extolled; but, once for all, to prevent the
supplication which Madam la Mer was about to make, she solemnly protested
that her heart was altogether shut against any other earthly engagement,
and that her thoughts were altogether employed upon her eternal
salvation.
The assiduous landlady, perceiving the steadiness of her disposition,
thought proper to alter her method of proceeding, and, for the present,
suspended that theme by which she found her fair lodger disobliged.
Resolved to reconcile Monimia to life, before she would again recommend
Ferdinand to her love, she endeavoured to amuse her imagination, by
recounting the occasional incidents of the day, hoping gradually to decoy
her attention to those sublunary objects from which it had been
industriously weaned. She seasoned her conversation with agreeable
sallies; enlarged upon the different scenes of pleasure and diversion
appertaining to this great metropolis; practised upon her palate with the
delicacies of eating; endeavoured to shake her temperance with repeated
proffers and recommendations of certain cordials and restoratives, which
she alleged were necessary for the recovery of her health; and pressed
her to make little excursions into the fields that skirt the town, for
the benefit of air and exercise.
While this auxiliary plied the disconsolate Monimia on one hand, Fathom
was not remiss on the other. He now seemed to have sacrificed his
passion to her quiet; his discourse turned upon more indifferent
subjects. He endeavoured to dispel her melancholy with arguments drawn
from philosophy and religion. On some occasions, he displayed all his
fund of good humour, with a view to beguile her sorrow; he importuned her
to give him the pleasure of squiring her to some place of innocent
entertainment; and, finally, insisted upon her accepting a pecuniary
reinforcement to her finances, which he knew to be in a most consumptive
condition.