by T. Smollett
CHAPTER ELEVEN
FATHOM MAKES VARIOUS EFFORTS IN THE WORLD OF GALLANTRY.
Thus connected, they began to hunt in couples; and Fathom, in order toprofit by the alliance with a good grace, contrived a small scheme thatsucceeded to his wish. Renaldo being one night intoxicated in the courseof a merry-making with his fellow-pupils, from which Fathom had purposelyabsented himself, was by the Tyrolese so artfully provoked to play, thathe could not resist the temptation, but engaged at passdice with thatfell adversary, who, in less than an hour, stripped him of a pretty roundsum. Next day, when the young gentleman recovered the use of hisreflection, he was sensibly chagrined at the folly and precipitation ofhis own conduct, an account of which he communicated in confidence to ourhero, with demonstrations of infinite shame and concern.
Ferdinand, having moralised upon the subject with great sagacity, andsharply inveighed against the Tyrolese, for the unfair advantage he hadtaken, retired to his closet, and wrote the following billet, which wasimmediately sent to his ally:--
"The obligations I owe, and the attachments I feel, to the Count deMelvil, will not suffer me to be an idle spectator of the wrongs offeredto his son, in the dishonourable use, I understand, you made last nightof his unguarded hours. I therefore insist upon your making immediaterestitution of the booty which you so unjustly got; otherwise I expectyou will meet me upon the ramparts, near the bastion de la Port Neuve,to-morrow morning at daybreak, in order to justify, with your sword, thefinesse you have practised upon the friend of FERDINAND DE FATHOM."
The gamester no sooner received this intimation, than, according to theplan which had been preconcerted betwixt the author and him, he went tothe apartment of Renaldo, and presenting the sum of money which he haddefrauded him of the preceding night, told him, with a stern countenance,that, though it was a just acquisition, he scorned to avail himself ofhis good fortune against any person who entertained the smallest doubt ofhis honour.
The young Count, surprised at this address, rejected his offer withdisdain, and desired to know the meaning of such an unexpecteddeclaration. Upon which, the other produced Ferdinand's billet, andthreatened, in very high terms, to meet the stripling according to hisinvitation, and chastise him severely for his presumption. Theconsequence of this explanation is obvious. Renaldo, imputing theofficiousness of Fathom to the zeal of his friendship, interposed in thequarrel, which was amicably compromised, not a little to the honour ofour adventurer, who thus obtained an opportunity of displaying hiscourage and integrity, without the least hazard to his person; while, atthe same time, his confederate recommended himself to the esteem of theyoung Count, by his spirited behaviour on this occasion; so that Renaldobeing less shy of his company for the future, the Tyrolese had the faireropportunities to prosecute his designs upon the young gentleman's purse.
It would be almost superfluous to say, that these were not neglected.The son of Count Melvil was not deficient in point of penetration; buthis whole study was at that time engrossed by the care of his education,and he had sometimes recourse to play as an amusement by which he soughtto unbend the severity of his attention. No wonder then that he fell aprey to an artful gamester, who had been regularly trained to theprofession, and made it the sole study of his life; especially as theHungarian was remarkable for a warmth of temper, which a knight of thepost always knows how to manage for his own advantage.
In the course of these operations, Fathom was a very usefulcorrespondent. He instructed the Tyrolese in the peculiarities ofRenaldo's disposition, and made him acquainted with the proper seasonsfor profiting by his dexterity. Ferdinand, for example, who, by theauthority derived to him from the injunctions of the old Count, sometimestook upon himself the office of an adviser, cunningly chose to counselthe son at those conjunctures when he knew him least able to bear suchexpostulation. Advice improperly administered generally acts indiametrical opposition to the purpose for which it is supposed to begiven; at least this was the case with the young gentleman, who, inflamedby the reproof of such a tutor, used to obey the dictates of hisresentment in an immediate repetition of that conduct which ouradventurer had taken the liberty to disapprove; and the gamester wasalways at hand to minister unto his indignation. By these means he wasdisencumbered of divers considerable remittances, with which his fathercheerfully supplied him, on the supposition that they were spent withtaste and liberality, under the direction of our adventurer.
But Ferdinand's views were not confined to the narrow field of thisalliance. He attempted divers enterprises in the world of gallantry,conscious of his own personal qualifications, and never doubting that hecould insinuate himself into the good graces of some married lady aboutcourt, or lay an opulent dowager under contribution. But he met with anobstacle in his endeavours of this kind, which all his art was unable tosurmount. This was no other than the obscurity of his birth, and thewant of a title, without which no person in that country lays claim tothe privileges of a gentleman. Had he foreseen this inconvenience hemight have made shift to obviate the consequences, by obtainingpermission to appear in the character of the Count's kinsman; though, inall probability, such an expedient would not have been extremelyagreeable to the old gentleman, who was very tenacious of the honour ofhis family; nevertheless, his generosity might have been prevailed uponto indulge Fathom with such a pretext, in consideration of the youth'ssupposed attachment, and the obligations for which he deemed himselfindebted to his deceased mother.
True it is, Ferdinand, upon his first arrival at Vienna, had beenadmitted into fashionable company, on the footing of Renaldo's companion,because nobody suspected the defect of his pedigree; and even after areport had been circulated to the prejudice of his extraction, by theindustry of a lacquey who attended the young Count, there were notwanting many young people of distinction who still favoured him withtheir countenance and correspondence; but he was no longer invited toprivate families, in which only he could expect to profit by his addressamong the ladies, and had the mortification of finding himself frequentlyexcepted from parties which were expressly calculated for theentertainment of the young Count. Luckily, his spirit was so pliant asto sustain these slights without being much dejected; instead of repiningat the loss of that respect which had been paid to him at first, heendeavoured, with all his might, to preserve the little that stillremained, and resolved to translate into a humbler sphere that gallantrywhich he had no longer opportunities of displaying in the world of rankand fashion.