The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete
to govern himself according to his remonstrances; and, far from
conceiving the least spark of animosity against Fathom, he looked upon
the poor boy as the innocent cause of his disgrace, and redoubled his
kindness towards him, that his honour might never again be called in
question, upon the same subject. Nothing is more liable to
misconstruction than an act of uncommon generosity; one half of the
world mistake the motive, from want of ideas to conceive an instance of
beneficence that soars so high above the level of their own sentiments;
and the rest suspect it of something sinister or selfish, from the
suggestions of their own sordid and vicious inclinations. The young
Count subjected himself to such misinterpretation, among those who
observed the increased warmth of civility and complaisance in his
behaviour to Ferdinand. They ascribed it to his desire of still
profiting by our adventurer’s superior talents, by which alone they
supposed him enabled to maintain any degree of reputation at school; or
to the fear of being convicted by him of some misdemeanour of which he
knew himself guilty. These suspicions were not effaced by the conduct
of Ferdinand, who, when examined on the subject, managed his answers in
such a manner, as confirmed their conjectures, while he pretended to
refute them, and at the same time acquired to himself credit for his
extraordinary discretion and self-denial.
If he exhibited such a proof of sagacity in the twelfth year of his
age, what might not be expected from his finesse in the maturity of his
faculties and experience? Thus secured in the good graces of the whole
family, he saw the days of his puerility glide along in the most
agreeable elapse of caresses and amusement. He never fairly plunged
into the stream of school-education, but, by floating on the surface,
imbibed a small tincture of those different sciences which his master
pretended to teach. In short, he resembled those vagrant swallows that
skim along the level of some pool or river, without venturing to wet
one feather in their wings, except in the accidental pursuit of an
inconsiderable fly. Yet, though his capacity or inclination was
unsuited for studies of this kind, he did not fail to manifest a
perfect genius in the acquisition of other more profitable arts. Over
and above the accomplishments of address, for which he hath been
already celebrated, he excelled all his fellows in his dexterity at
fives and billiards; was altogether unrivalled in his skill at draughts
and backgammon; began, even at these years, to understand the moves and
schemes of chess; and made himself a mere adept in the mystery of
cards, which he learned in the course of his assiduities and attention
to the females of the house.
CHAPTER SIX
HE MEDITATES SCHEMES OF IMPORTANCE.
It was in these parties that he attracted the notice and friendship of
his patron’s daughter, a girl by two years older than himself, who was
not insensible to his qualifications, and looked upon him with the most
favourable eyes of prepossession. Whether or not he at this period of
his life began to project plans for availing himself of her
susceptibility, is uncertain; but, without all doubt, he cultivated her
esteem with as obsequious and submissive attention as if he had already
formed the design, which, in his advanced age, he attempted to put in
execution.
Divers circumstances conspired to promote him in the favour of this
young lady; the greenness of his years secured him from any appearance
of fallacious aim; so that he was indulged in frequent opportunities of
conversing with his young mistress, whose parents encouraged this
communication, by which they hoped she would improve in speaking the
language of her father. Such connexions naturally produce intimacy and
friendship. Fathom’s person was agreeable, his talents calculated for
the meridian of those parties, and his manners so engaging, that there
would have been no just subject for wonder, had he made an impression
upon the tender unexperienced heart of Mademoiselle de Melvil, whose
beauty was not so attractive as to extinguish his hope, in raising up a
number of formidable rivals; though her expectations of fortune were
such as commonly lend additional lustre to personal merit.
All these considerations were so many steps towards the success of
Ferdinand’s pretensions; and though he cannot be supposed to have
perceived them at first, he in the sequel seemed perfectly well
apprised of his advantages, and used them to the full extent of his
faculties. Observing that she delighted in music, he betook himself to
the study of that art, and, by dint of application and a tolerable ear,
learned of himself to accompany her with a German flute, while she sung
and played upon the harpsichord. The Count, seeing his inclination, and
the progress he had made, resolved that his capacity should not be lost
for want of cultivation; and accordingly provided him with a master, by
whom he was instructed in the principles of the art, and soon became a
proficient in playing upon the violin.
In the practice of these improvements and avocations, and in attendance
upon his young master, whom he took care never to disoblige or neglect,
he attained to the age of sixteen, without feeling the least abatement
in the friendship and generosity of those upon whom he depended; but,
on the contrary, receiving every day fresh marks of their bounty and
regard. He had before this time been smit with the ambition of making a
conquest of the young lady’s heart, and foresaw manifold advantages to
himself in becoming son-in-law to Count Melvil, who, he never doubted,
would soon be reconciled to the match, if once it could be effectuated
without his knowledge. Although he thought he had great reason to
believe that Mademoiselle looked upon him with an eye of peculiar
favour, his disposition was happily tempered with an ingredient of
caution, that hindered him from acting with precipitation; and he had
discerned in the young lady’s deportment certain indications of
loftiness and pride, which kept him in the utmost vigilance and
circumspection; for he knew, that, by a premature declaration, he
should run the risk of forfeiting all the advantages he had gained, and
blasting those expectations that now blossomed so gaily in his heart.
Restricted by these reflections, he acted at a wary distance, and
determined to proceed by the method of sap, and, summoning all his
artifice and attractions to his aid, employed them under the insidious
cover of profound respect, in order to undermine those bulwarks of
haughtiness or discretion, which otherwise might have rendered his
approaches to her impracticable. With a view to enhance the value of
his company, and sound her sentiments at the same time, he became more
reserved than usual, and seldomer engaged in her parties of music and
cards; yet, in the midst of his reserve, he never failed in those
demonstrations of reverence and regard, which he knew perfectly well
how to express, but devised such excuses for his absence, as she could
not help admitting. In consequence of this affected shyness, she more
than once gently chid him for his neglect and indifference, observing,
with an ironical air, that he was now too much of a man to be
entertained with such effeminate diversions; but her reproofs were
pronounced with too much ease and good-humour to be agreeable to our
hero, who desired to see her ruffled and chagrined at his absence, and
to hear himself rebuked with an angry affectation of disdain. This
effort, therefore, he reinforced with the most captivating carriage he
could assume, in those hours which he now so sparingly bestowed upon
his mistress. He regaled her with all the entertaining stories he could
learn or invent, particularly such as he thought would justify and
recommend the levelling power of love, that knows no distinctions of
fortune. He sung nothing but tender airs and passionate complaints,
composed by desponding or despairing swains; and, to render his
performances of this kind the more pathetic, interlarded them with some
seasonable sighs, while the tears, which he had ever at command, stood
collected in either eye.
It was impossible for her to overlook such studied emotions; she in a
jocose manner taxed him with having lost his heart, rallied the excess
of his passion, and in a merry strain undertook to be an advocate for
his love. Her behaviour was still wide of his wish and expectation. He
thought she would, in consequence of her discovery, have betrayed some
interested symptom; that her face would have undergone some favourable
suffusion; that her tongue would have faltered, her breast heaved, and
her whole deportment betokened internal agitation and disorder, in
which case, he meant to profit by the happy impression, and declare
himself, before she could possibly recollect the dictates of her
pride.—Baffled however in his endeavours, by the serenity of the young
lady, which he still deemed equivocal, he had recourse to another
experiment, by which he believed he should make a discovery of her
sentiments beyond all possibility of doubt. One day, while he
accompanied Mademoiselle in her exercise of music, he pretended all of
a sudden to be taken ill, and counterfeited a swoon in her apartment.
Surprised at this accident, she screamed aloud, but far from running to
his assistance, with the transports and distraction of a lover, she
ordered her maid, who was present, to support his head, and went in
person to call for more help. He was accordingly removed to his own
chamber, where, willing to be still more certified of her inclinations,
he prolonged the farce, and lay groaning under the pretence of a severe
fever.
The whole family was alarmed upon this occasion; for, as we have
already observed, he was an universal favourite. He was immediately
visited by the old Count and his lady, who expressed the utmost concern
at his distemper, ordered him to be carefully attended, and sent for a
physician without loss of time. The young gentleman would scarce stir
from his bedside, where he ministered unto him with all the
demonstrations of brotherly affection; and Miss exhorted him to keep up
his spirits, with many expressions of unreserved sympathy and regard.
Nevertheless, he saw nothing in her behaviour but what might be
naturally expected from common friendship, and a compassionate
disposition, and was very much mortified at his disappointment.
Whether the miscarriage actually affected his constitution, or the
doctor happened to be mistaken in his diagnostics, we shall not pretend
to determine; but the patient was certainly treated secundum artem, and
all his complaints in a little time realised; for the physician, like a
true graduate, had an eye to the apothecary in his prescriptions; and
such was the concern and scrupulous care with which our hero was
attended, that the orders of the faculty were performed with the utmost
punctuality. He was blooded, vomited, purged, and blistered, in the
usual forms (for the physicians of Hungary are generally as well
skilled in the arts of their occupation as any other leeches under the
sun), and swallowed a whole dispensary of bolusses, draughts, and
apozems, by which means he became fairly delirious in three days, and
so untractable, that he could be no longer managed according to rule;
otherwise, in all likelihood, the world would never have enjoyed the
benefit of these adventures. In short, his constitution, though unable
to cope with two such formidable antagonists as the doctor and the
disease he had conjured up, was no sooner rid of the one, than it
easily got the better of the other; and though Ferdinand, after all,
found his grand aim unaccomplished, his malady was productive of a