The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle

by T. Smollett

  Mr. Jolter threatens to leave him on account of his Misconduct, which hepromises to rectify; but his Resolution is defeated by the Impetuosityof his Passions--He meets accidentally with Mrs. Hornbeck, who elopeswith him from her Husband, but is restored by the Interposition of theBritish Ambassador.

  Though Mr. Jolter was extremely well pleased at the safety of his pupil,he could not forgive him for the terror and anxiety he had undergone onhis account; and roundly told him, that notwithstanding the inclinationand attachment he had to his person, he would immediately depart forEngland, if ever he should hear of his being involved in such anotheradventure; for it could not be expected that he would sacrifice his ownquiet, to an unrequited regard for one who seemed determined to keep himin continual uneasiness and apprehension.

  To this declaration Pickle made answer, that Mr. Jolter, by this time,ought to be convinced of the attention he had always paid to his easeand satisfaction; since he well knew that he had ever looked upon him inthe light of a friend rather than as a counsellor or tutor; and desiredhis company in France with a view of promoting his interest, not for anyemolument he could expect from his instruction. This being the case, hewas at liberty to consult his own inclinations, with regard to going orstaying; though he could not help owning himself obliged by the concernhe expressed for his safety, and would endeavour, for his own sake, toavoid giving him any cause of disturbance in time to come.

  No man was more capable of moralizing upon Peregrine's misconduct thanhimself: his reflections were extremely just and sagacious, and attendedwith no other disadvantage but that of occurring too late. He projecteda thousand salutary schemes of deportment, but, like other projectors,he never had interest enough with the ministry of his passions to bringany of them to bear. He had, in the heyday of his gallantry received aletter from his friend Gauntlet with a kind postscript from his charmingEmilia; but it arrived at a very unseasonable juncture, when hisimagination was engrossed by conquests that more agreeably flattered hisambition; so that he could not find leisure and inclination, from thatday, to honour the correspondence which he himself had solicited. Hisvanity had, by the time, disapproved of the engagement he had contractedin the rawness and inexperience of youth; suggesting, that he was bornto such an important figure in life, as ought to raise his ideasabove the consideration of any such middling connections, and fix hisattention upon objects of the most sublime attraction. These dictatesof ridiculous pride had almost effaced the remembrance of his amiablemistress, or at least so far warped his morals and integrity, that heactually began to conceive hopes of her altogether unworthy of his owncharacter and her deserts.

  Meanwhile, being destitute of a toy for the dalliance of his idle hours,he employed several spies, and almost every day made a tour of thepublic places in person, with a view of procuring intelligence of Mr.Hornbeck, with whose wife he longed to have another interview. In thiscourse of expectation had he exercised himself a whole fortnight, when,chancing to be at the Hospital of the Invalids with a gentleman latelyarrived from England, he no sooner entered the church than he perceivedhis lady, attended by her spouse, who at sight of our hero changedcolour and looked another way, in order to discourage any communicationbetween them. But the young man, who was not so easily repulsed,advanced with great assurance to his fellow-traveller, and taking him bythe hand, expressed his satisfaction at this unexpected meeting; kindlyupbraiding him for his precipitate retreat from Chantilly. BeforeHornbeck could make any reply he went up to his wife, whom hecomplimented in the same manner; assuring her, with some significantglances, he ass extremely mortified that she had put it out of his powerto pay his respects to her on his first arrival at Paris; and then,turning to her husband, who thought proper to keep close to him in thisconference, begged to know where he could have the honour of waitingupon him; observing at the same time, that he himself lived a l'Academiede Palfrenier.

  Mr. Hornbeck, without making any apology for his elopement on the road,thanked Mr. Pickle for his complaisance in a very cool and disobligingmanner; saying that as he intended to shift his lodgings in a day ortwo, he could not expect the pleasure of seeing him, until he should besettled, when he would call at the academy, and conduct him to his newhabitation.

  Pickle, who was not unacquainted with the sentiments of this jealousgentleman, did not put much confidence in his promise, and thereforemade divers efforts to enjoy a little private conversation with hiswife; but he was baffled in all his attempts by the indefatigablevigilance of her keeper, and reaped no other immediate pleasure fromthis accidental meeting, than that of a kind squeeze while he handed herinto the coach. However, as he had been witness to some instances ofher invention, and was no stranger to the favourable disposition ofher heart, he entertained some faint hopes of profiting by herunderstanding, and was not deceived in his expectation; for the verynext forenoon, a Savoyard called at the academy, and put the followingbillet in his hand:--

  "Coind Sur,--Heaving the playsure of meating with you at the osspital of awilheads, I take this lubbertea of latin you know, that I lotch at the hottail de May cong dangle rouy Doghouseten, with two postis at the gait, naytheir of um very hole, ware I shall be at the windore, if in kais you will be so good as to pass that way at sicks a cloak in the heavening when Mr. Hornbeck goes to the Calf hay de Contea. Prey for the loaf of Geesus keep this from the nolegs of my hussban, ells he will make me leed a hell upon urth.--Being all from, deer Sur, your most umbell servan wile

  "Deborah Hornbeck."

  Our young gentleman was ravished at the receipt of this elegant epistle,which was directed, A Monsr. Monsr. Pickhell, a la Gaddamme de PaulFreny, and did not fail to obey the summons at the hour of assignation;when the lady, true to her appointment, beckoned him up-stairs, and hehad the good fortune to be admitted unseen.

  After the first transports of their mutual joy at meeting, she told him,that her husband had been very surly and cross ever since the adventureat Chantilly, which he had not yet digested; that he had laid severeinjunctions upon her to avoid all commerce with Pickle, and eventhreatened to shut her up in a convent for life, if ever she shoulddiscover the least inclination to renew that acquaintance; that she hadbeen cooped up in her chamber since her arrival at Paris, without beingpermitted to see the place, or indeed any company, except that of herlandlady, whose language she did not understand; so that her spiritbeing broken, and her health impaired, he was prevailed upon some daysago to indulge her in a few airings, during which she had seen thegardens of the Luxembourg, the Tuileries, and Palais Royal, though atthose times when there was no company in the walks; and that it wasin one of those excursions she had the happiness of meeting with him.Finally, she gave him to understand, that rather than continue longerin such confinement with the man whom she could not love, she wouldinstantly give him the slip, and put herself under the protection of herlover.

  Rash and unthinking as this declaration might be, the younggentleman was so much of a gallant, that he would not balk thelady's inclinations; and too infatuated by his passion to foresee theconsequences of such a dangerous step: he therefore, without hesitation,embraced the proposal; and the coast being clear, they sallied out intothe street, where Peregrine, calling a fiacre, ordered the coachmanto drive them to a tavern; but knowing it would not be in his power toconceal her from the search of the lieutenant de police, if she shouldremain within the walls of Paris, he hired a remise, and carried herthat same evening to Villejuif, about four leagues from town, where hestayed with her all night; and having boarded her on a genteel pension,and settled the economy of his future visits, returned next day to hisown lodgings.

  While he thus enjoyed his success, her husband endured the tortures ofthe damned. When he returned from the coffee-house, and understoodthat his wife had eloped, without being perceived by any person in thefamily, he began to rave and foam with rage and jealousy; and, in thefury of distraction, accused the landlady of being an accomplice in herescape, threatening to c
omplain of her to the commissaire. The womancould not conceive how Mrs. Hornbeck, who she knew was an utter strangerto the French language, and kept no sort of company, could elude thecaution of her husband, and find any refuge in a place where she hadno acquaintance, and began to suspect the lodger's emotion was no otherthan an affected passion to conceal his own practices upon his wife, whohad perhaps fallen a sacrifice to his jealous disposition. She thereforespared him the trouble of putting his menaces into execution by going tothe magistrate, without any further deliberation, and giving an accountof what she knew concerning this mysterious affair, with certaininsinuations against Hornbeck's character, which she represented aspeevish and capricious to the last degree.

  While she thus anticipated the purpose of the plaintiff, her informationwas interrupted by the arrival of the party himself, who exhibitedhis complaint with such evident marks of perturbation, anger, andimpatience, that the commissaire could easily perceive that he hadno share in the disappearance of his wife, and directed him to thelieutenant de police, whose province it is to take cognizance of suchoccurrences. This gentleman, who presides over the city of Paris, havingheard the particulars of Hornbeck's misfortune, asked if he suspectedany individual person as the seducer of his yoke-fellow; and when hementioned Peregrine as the object of his suspicion, granted a warrantand a detachment of soldiers, to search for and retrieve the fugitive.

  The husband conducted them immediately to the academy where our herolodged; and having rummaged the whole place, to the astonishment ofMr. Jolter, without finding either his wife or the supposed ravisher,accompanied them to all the public-houses in the Faubourg, which havingexamined also without success, he returned to the magistrate in a stateof despair, and obtained a promise of his making such an effectualinquiry, that in three days he should have an account of her, providedshe was alive, and within the walls of Paris.

  Our adventurer, who had foreseen all this disturbance, was not at allsurprised when his governor told him what had happened, and conjuredhim to restore the woman to the right owner, with many patheticremonstrances touching the heinous sin of adultery, the distraction ofthe unfortunate husband, and the danger of incurring the resentment ofan arbitrary government, which, upon application being made wouldnot fail of espousing the cause of the injured. He denied, with greateffrontery, that he had the least concern in the matter, pretended toresent the deportment of Hornbeck, whom he threatened to chastise forhis scandalous suspicion, and expressed his displeasure at the credulityof Jolter, who seemed to doubt the veracity of his asseveration.

  Notwithstanding this confident behaviour, Jolter could not helpentertaining doubts of his sincerity, and, visiting the disconsolateswain, begged he would, for the honour of his country, as well asfor the sake of his own reputation, discontinue his addresses to thelieutenant de police, and apply to the British ambassador, who, by dintof friendly admonitions, would certainly prevail upon Mr. Pickle to dohim all the justice in his power, if he was really the author ofthe injury he had sustained. The governor urged this advice with theappearance of so much sympathy and concern, promising to co-operatewithin his influence in his behalf, that Hornbeck embraced the proposal,communicated his purpose to the magistrate, who commended the resolutionas the most decent and desirable expedient he could use, and then waitedupon his excellency, who readily espoused his cause, and sending for theyoung gentleman that same evening, read him such a lecture in private,as extorted a confession of the whole affair. Not that he assailed himwith sour and supercilious maxims, or severe rebuke; because hehad penetration enough to discern that Peregrine's disposition wasimpregnable to all such attacks; but he first of all rallied him on hisintriguing genius; then, in a humorous manner, described the distractionof the poor cuckold, who he owned was justly punished for the absurdityof his conduct; and lastly, upon the supposition that it would be nogreat effort in Pickle to part with such a conquest, especially afterit had been for some time possessed, represented the necessity andexpediency of restoring her, not only out of regard to his own characterand that of his nation, but also with a view to his ease, which would ina little time be very much invaded by such an incumbrance, that in allprobability would involve him in a thousand difficulties and disgusts.Besides, he assured him that he was already, by order of the lieutenantde police, surrounded with spies, who would watch all his motions, andimmediately discover the retreat in which he had disposed his prize.These arguments, and the frank familiar manner in which they weredelivered--but, above all, the last consideration--induced the younggentleman to disclose the whole of his proceedings to the ambassador;and he promised to be governed by his direction, provided the ladyshould not suffer for the step she had taken, but, be received by herhusband with due reverence and respect. These stipulations being agreedto, he undertook to produce her in eight-and-forty hours; and, takingcoach, immediately drove to the place of her residence, where he spenta whole day and night in convincing her of the impossibility of theirenjoying each other in that manner; then, returning to Paris, hedelivered her into the hands of the ambassador, who, having assured herthat she might depend upon his friendship and protection, in case sheshould find herself aggrieved by the jealous temper of Mr. Hornbeck,restored her to her legitimate lord, whom he counselled to exempt herfrom that restraint which in all probability had been the cause ofher elopement, and endeavour to conciliate her affection by tender andrespectful usage.

  The husband behaved with great humility and compliance, protestingthat his chief study should be to contrive parties for her pleasure andsatisfaction. But no sooner did he regain possession of his stray sheep,than he locked her up more closely than ever; and after having revolvedvarious schemes for her reformation, determined to board her ina convent, under the inspection of a prudent abbess, who shouldsuperintend her morals, and recall her to the paths of virtue whichshe had forsaken. With this view, he consulted an English priest of hisacquaintance, who advised him to settle her in a monastery at Lisle,that she might be as far as possible from the machinations of her lover,and gave him a letter of recommendation to the superior of a certainconvent in that place, for which Mr. Hornbeck set out in a few days withhis troublesome charge.

  CHAPTER XLII.