HE IS THE MESSENGER OF HAPPINESS TO HIS SISTER, WHO REMOVES THE FILM
WHICH HAD LONG OBSTRUCTED HIS PENETRATION, WITH REGARD TO COUNT FATHOM.
As the most endearing affection had always subsisted between Renaldo and
his sister, he would not one moment deny himself the pleasure of flying
to her embrace, and of being the glad messenger of her deliverance.
Soon, therefore, as he understood the place of her retreat, and had
obtained a proper order to the abbess, signed by Count Trebasi, he set
out post for Vienna, still accompanied by his faithful Hibernian, and,
arriving at the convent, found the abbess and the whole house so
engrossed in making preparations for the ceremony of giving the veil next
day to a young woman who had fulfilled the term of her probation, that he
could not possibly see his sister with that leisure and satisfaction
which he had flattered himself with enjoying at this meeting; and
therefore he was fain to bridle his impatience for two days, and keep his
credentials until the hurry should be over, that Mademoiselle might have
no intimation of her good fortune, except from his own mouth.
In order to fill up this tedious interval, he visited his friends at
court, who were rejoiced to hear the happy issue of his excursion to
Presburg; the prince, who was his particular patron, desired he would
make himself perfectly easy with regard to the death of Count Trebasi,
for he would take care to represent him in such a light to the
empress-queen, as would screen him from any danger or prosecution on
that account. His highness, moreover, appointed the following day for
performing the promise he had made of presenting him to that august
princess, and in the meantime prepossessed her so much in his favour,
that when he approached her presence, and was announced by his noble
introductor, she eyed him with a look of peculiar complacency, saying,
"I am glad to see you returned to my dominions. Your father was a
gallant officer, who served our house with equal courage and fidelity;
and as I understand you tread in his footsteps, you may depend upon my
favour and protection."
He was so much overwhelmed with this gracious reception, that, while he
bowed in silence, the drops of gratitude trickled from his eyes; and her
imperial majesty was so well pleased with this manifestation of his
heart, that she immediately gave directions for promoting him to the
command of a troop of horse. Thus fortune seemed willing, and indeed
eager to discharge the debt she owed him for the different calamities he
had undergone. And as he looked upon the generous Hebrew to be the sole
source of his success, he did not fail to make him acquainted with the
happy effects of his recommendation and friendship, and to express, in
the warmest terms, the deep sense he had of his uncommon benevolence,
which, by the bye, was still greater, with regard to Renaldo, than the
reader as yet imagines; for he not only furnished him with money for his
present occasions, but also gave him an unlimited credit on a banker in
Vienna, to whom one of his letters was directed.
The ceremony of the nun's admission being now performed, and the convent
restored to its former quiet, Melvil hastened thither on the wings of
brotherly affection, and presented his letter to the abbess, who having
perused the contents, by which she learned that the family disquiets of
Count Trebasi no longer subsisted, and that the bearer was the brother of
Mademoiselle, she received him with great politeness, congratulated him
on this happy event, and, begging he would excuse her staying with him in
the parlour, on pretence of business, withdrew, saying, she would
immediately send in a young lady who would console him for her absence.
In a few minutes he was joined by his sister, who, expecting nothing less
than to see Renaldo, no sooner distinguished his features, than she
shrieked aloud with surprise, and would have sunk upon the floor, had not
he supported her in his embrace.
Such a sudden apparition of her brother at any time, or in any place,
after their long separation, would have strongly affected this sensible
young lady; but to find him so abruptly in a place where she thought
herself buried from the knowledge of all her relations, occasioned such
commotions in her spirits as had well-nigh endangered her reason. For it
was not till after a considerable pause, that she could talk to him with
connexion or coherence. However, as those transports subsided, they
entered into a more deliberate and agreeable conversation; in the course
of which, he gradually informed her of what had passed at the castle; and
inexpressible was the pleasure she felt in learning that her mother was
released from captivity, herself restored to freedom, and her brother to
the possession of his inheritance, by the only means to which she had
always prayed these blessings might be owing.
As she had been treated with uncommon humanity by the abbess, she would
not consent to leave the convent until he should be ready to set out for
Presburg; so that they dined together with that good lady, and passed the
afternoon in that mutual communication with which a brother and sister
may be supposed to entertain themselves on such an occasion. She gave
him a detail of the insults and mortifications she had suffered from the
brutality of her father-in-law, and told him, that her confinement in
this monastery was owing to Trebasi having intercepted a letter to her
from Renaldo, signifying his intention to return to the empire, in order
to assert his own right, and redress his grievances. Then turning the
discourse upon the incidents of his peregrinations, she in a particular
manner inquired about that exquisite beauty who had been the innocent
source of all his distresses, and upon whose perfections he had often, in
his letters to his sister, expatiated with indications of rapture and
delight.
This inquiry in a moment blew up that scorching flame which had been
well-nigh stifled by other necessary avocations. His eyes gleamed, his
cheeks glowed and grew pale alternately, and his whole frame underwent an
immediate agitation; which being perceived by Mademoiselle, she concluded
that some new calamity was annexed to the name of Monimia, and, dreading
to rip up a wound which she saw was so ineffectually closed, she for the
present suppressed her curiosity and concern, and industriously
endeavoured to introduce some less affecting subject of conversation. He
saw her aim, approved of her discretion, and, joining her endeavours,
expressed his surprise at her having omitted to signify the least
remembrance of her old favourite, Fathom, whom he had left in England.
He had no sooner pronounced this name, than she suffered some confusion
in her turn; from which, however, recollecting herself, "Brother," said
she, "you must endeavour to forget that wretch, who is altogether
unworthy of retaining the smallest share of your regard."
Astonished, and indeed angry, at this expression, which he considered as
the effect of malicious misrepresentation, he gently chid her for her
credulity in believing the envious aspersion of some person, who repined
at the superior virtue of Fathom, whom he affirmed to be an honour to the
human species.
"Nothing is more easy," replied the young lady, "than to impose upon a
person, who, being himself unconscious of guile, suspects no deceit. You
have been a dupe, dear brother, not to the finesse of Fathom, but to the
sincerity of your own heart. For my own part, I assume no honour to my
own penetration in having comprehended the villany of that impostor,
which was discovered, in more than one instance, by accidents I could not
possibly foresee.
"You must know, that Teresa, who attended me from my childhood, and in
whose honesty I reposed such confidence, having disobliged some of the
inferior servants, was so narrowly watched in all her transactions, as to
be at last detected in the very act of conveying a piece of plate, which
was actually found concealed among her clothes.
"You may guess how much I was astonished when I understood this
circumstance. I could not trust to the evidence of my own senses, and
should have still believed her innocent, in spite of ocular
demonstration, had not she, in the terrors of being tried for felony,
promised to make a very material discovery to the Countess, provided she
would take such measures as would save her life.
"This request being complied with, she, in my hearing, opened up such an
amazing scene of iniquity, baseness, and ingratitude, which had been
acted by her and Fathom, in order to defraud the family to which they
were so much indebted, that I could not have believed the human mind
capable of such degeneracy, or that traitor endowed with such pernicious
cunning and dissimulation, had not her tale been congruous, consistent,
and distinct, and fraught with circumstances that left no room to doubt
the least article of her confession; on consideration of which she was
permitted to go into voluntary exile."
She then explained their combination in all the particulars, as we have
already recounted them in their proper place, and finally observed, that
the opinion she had hence conceived of Fathom's character, was confirmed
by what she had since learned of his perfidious conduct towards that very
nun who had lately taken the veil.
Perceiving her brother struck dumb with astonishment, and gaping with the
most eager attention, she proceeded to relate the incidents of his double
intrigue with the jeweller's wife and daughter, as they were communicated
to her by the nun, who was no other than the individual Wilhelmina.
After those rivals had been forsaken by their gallant, their mutual
animosities and chagrin served to whet the attention and invention of
each; so that in a little time the whole mystery stood disclosed to both.
The mother had discovered the daughter's correspondence with Fathom, as
we have formerly observed, by means of that unfortunate letter which he
unwittingly committed to the charge of the old beldame; and, as soon as
she understood he was without the reach of all solicitation or
prosecution, imparted this billet to her husband, whose fury was so
ungovernable, that he had almost sacrificed Wilhelmina with his own
hands, especially when, terrified by his threats and imprecations, she
owned that she had bestowed the chain on this perfidious lover. However,
this dreadful purpose was prevented, partly by the interposition of his
wife, whose aim was not the death but immurement of his daughter, and
partly by the tears and supplication of the young gentlewoman herself,
who protested, that, although the ceremony of the church had not been
performed, she was contracted to Fathom by the most solemn vows, to
witness which he invoked all the saints in heaven.
The jeweller, upon cooler consideration, was unwilling to lose the last
spark of hope that glittered among the ruins of his despair, and resisted
all the importunities of his wife, who pressed him to consult the welfare
of his daughter's soul, in the fond expectation of finding some expedient
to lure back the chain and its possessor. In the meantime Wilhelmina was
daily and hourly exposed to the mortifying animadversions of her mamma,
who, with all the insolence of virtue, incessantly upbraided her with the
backslidings of her vicious life, and exhorted her to reformation and
repentance. This continual triumph lasted for many months, till at
length, a quarrel happening between the mother and the gossip at whose
house she used to give the rendezvous to her admirers, that incensed
confidante, in the precipitation of her anger, promulgated the history of
those secret meetings; and, among the rest, her interviews with Fathom
were brought to light.
The first people who hear news of this sort are generally those to whom
they are most unwelcome. The German was soon apprised of his wife's
frailty, and considered the two females of his house as a couple of
devils incarnate, sent from hell to exercise his patience. Yet, in the
midst of his displeasure, he found matter of consolation, in being
furnished with a sufficient reason for parting with his helpmate, who had
for many years kept his family in disquiet. He therefore, without
hazarding a personal conference, sent proposals to her by a friend, which
she did not think proper to reject; and seeing himself restored to the
dominion of his own house, exerted his sway so tyrannically, that
Wilhelmina became weary of her life, and had recourse to the comforts of
religion, of which she soon became enamoured, and begged her father's
permission to dedicate the rest of her life to the duties of devotion.
She was accordingly received in this convent, the regulations of which
were so much to her liking, that she performed the task of probation with
pleasure, and voluntarily excluded herself from the vanities of this
life. It was here she had contracted an acquaintance with Mademoiselle
de Melvil, to whom she communicated her complaints of Fathom, on the
supposition that he was related to the Count, as he himself had often
declared.
While the young lady rehearsed the particulars of this detail, Renaldo
sustained a strange vicissitude of different passions. Surprise, sorrow,
fear, hope, and indignation raised a most tumultuous conflict in his
bosom. Monimia rushed upon his imagination in the character of innocence
betrayed by the insinuations of treachery. He with horror viewed her at
the mercy of a villain, who had broken all the ties of gratitude and
honour.
Affrighted at the prospect, he started from his seat, exclaiming, in the
most unconnected strain of distraction and despair, "Have I then
nourished a serpent in my bosom! Have I listened to the voice of a
traitor, who hath murdered my peace! who hath torn my heart-strings
asunder, and perhaps ruined the pattern of all earthly perfection. It
cannot be. Heaven would not suffer such infernal artifice to take
effect. The thunder would be levelled against the head of the accursed
projector."
From this transport, compared with his agitation when he mentioned
Monimia, his sister judged that Fathom had been the occasion of a breach
between the two lovers; and this conjecture being confirmed by the
disjointed answers he made to her interrogations upon the affair, she
endeavoured to calm his apprehensions, by representing that he would soon
have an opportunity of returning to England, where the misunderstanding
might be easily cleared up; and that, in the meantime, he had nothing to
fear on account of the person of his mistress, in a country where
individuals were so well protected by the laws and constitution of the
realm. At length he suffered himself to be flattered with the fond hope
of seeing Monimia's character triumph in the inquiry, of retrieving that
lost jewel, and of renewing that ravishing intercourse and exalted
expectation which had been so cruelly cut off. He now wished to find
Fathom as black as he had been exhibited, that Monimia's apostasy might
be numbered among the misrepresentations of his treachery and fraud.
His love, which was alike generous and ardent, espoused the cause, and he
no longer doubted her constancy and virtue. But when he reflected how
her tender heart must have been wrung with anguish at his unkindness and
cruelty, in leaving her destitute in a foreign land; how her sensibility
must have been tortured in finding herself altogether dependent upon a
ruffian, who certainly harboured the most baleful designs upon her
honour; how her life must be endangered both by his barbarity and her own
despair--I say, when he reflected on these circumstances, he shuddered
with horror and dismay; and that very night despatched a letter to his
friend the Jew, entreating him, in the most pressing manner, to employ
all his intelligence in learning the situation of the fair orphan, that
she might be protected from the villany of Fathom, until his return to
England.