The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete
a little time overcame the fever; and, at the third dressing, the
surgeon declared him out of all danger from his wounds. Then was
Renaldo indulged with opportunities of conversing with the patient, and
of inquiring into the particulars of his fortune and designs in life,
with a view to manifest the inclination he felt to serve him in his
future occasions.
The more this stranger contemplated the character of the Count, the
more his amazement increased, on account of his extraordinary
benevolence in favour of a person whose merit he could not possibly
know; he even expressed his surprise on this subject to Renaldo, who at
length told him, that, although his best offices should always be ready
for the occasions of any gentleman in distress, his particular
attachment and regard to him was improved by an additional
consideration. “I am no stranger,” said he, “to the virtues and honour
of the gallant Don Diego de Zelos.”
“Heaven and earth!” cried the stranger, starting from his seat with
extreme emotion, “do I then live to hear myself addressed by that
long-lost appellation! my heart glows at the expression! my spirits are
kindled with a flame that thrills through every nerve! Say, young
gentleman, if you are really an inhabitant of earth, by what means are
you acquainted with the unhappy name of Zelos?”
In answer to this eager interrogation, Renaldo gave him to understand,
that in the course of his travels, he had resided a short time at
Seville, where he had frequently seen Don Diego, and often heard his
character mentioned with uncommon esteem and veneration. “Alas!”
replied the Castilian, “that justice is no longer done to the wretched
Zelos; his honours are blasted, and his reputation canker-bitten by the
venomous tooth of slander.”
He then proceeded to unfold his misfortunes, as they have already been
explained in the former part of these memoirs; at the recapitulation of
which, the heart of Melvil, being intendered by his own calamities, was
so deeply affected, that he re-echoed the groans of Don Diego, and wept
over his sufferings with the most filial sympathy. When he repeated the
story of that cruel fraud which was practised upon him by the faithless
Fadini, Melvil, whose mind and imagination teemed with the villanies of
Fathom, was immediately struck with the conjecture of his being the
knave; because, indeed, he could not believe that any other person was
so abandoned by principle and humanity as to take such a barbarous
advantage of a gentleman in distress.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND MIDNIGHT PILGRIMAGE TO MONIMIA’S TOMB.
He considered the date of that unparalleled transaction, which agreed
with his conjecture, and from the inquiries he made concerning the
person of the traitor, gathered reasons sufficient to confirm his
supposition. Thus certified, “That is the villain,” cried the Count,
“whose infernal arts have overwhelmed me with such misery as Heaven
itself hath made no remedy to dispel! To revenge my wrongs on that
perfidious miscreant, is one of the chief reasons for which I deign to
drag about an hateful being. O Don Diego! what is life, when all its
enjoyments are so easily poisoned by the machinations of such a worm!”
So saying, he smote his breast in all the agony of woe, and besought
the Spaniard to relate the steps he took in consequence of this
disaster.
The Castilian’s cheeks reddened at this information, which enforced his
own resentment, and casting up his eyes to heaven, “Sacred powers!”
cried he, “let him not perish, before you bring him within my reach.
You ask me, noble cavalier, what measures I took in this abyss of
misery? For the first day, I was tortured with apprehensions for the
friendly Fadini, fearing that he had been robbed and murdered for the
jewels which he had, perhaps, too unwarily exposed to sale. But this
terror soon vanished before the true presages of my fate, when, on the
morrow, I found the whole family in tears and confusion, and heard my
landlord pour forth the most bitter imprecations against the fugitive,
who had deflowered his daughter, and even robbed the house. You will
ask, which of the passions of my heart were interested on this
occasion? they were shame and indignation. All my grief flowed in
another channel; I blushed to find my judgment deceived; I scorned to
complain; but, in my heart, denounced vengeance against my base
betrayer. I silently retired to my apartment, in order to commune with
my own thoughts.
“I had borne greater calamities without being driven to despair; I
summoned all my fortitude to my assistance, and resolved to live in
spite of affliction. Thus determined, I betook myself to the house of a
general officer, whose character was fair in the world; and having
obtained admission in consequence of my Oriental appearance, ‘To a man
of honour,’ said I, ‘the unfortunate need no introduction. My habit
proclaims me a Persian; this passport from the States of Holland will
confirm that supposition. I have been robbed of jewels to a
considerable value, by a wretch whom I favoured with my confidence; and
now, reduced to extreme indigence, I come to offer myself as a soldier
in the armies of France. I have health and strength sufficient to
discharge that duty. Nor am I unacquainted with a military life, which
was once my glory and occupation. I therefore sue for your protection,
that I may be received, though in the lowest order of them that serve
the King; and that your future favour may depend upon my behaviour in
that capacity.’
“The general, surprised at my declaration, surveyed me with uncommon
attention; he perused my certificate; asked divers questions concerning
the art of war, to which I returned such answers as convinced him that
I was not wholly ignorant in that particular. In short, I was enlisted
as a volunteer in his own regiment, and soon after promoted to the rank
of a subaltern, and the office of equerry to his own son, who, at that
time, had attained to the degree of colonel, though his age did not
exceed eighteen years.
“This young man was naturally of a ferocious disposition, which had
been rendered quite untractable by the pride of birth and fortune,
together with the licence of his education. As he did not know the
respect due to a gentleman, so he could not possibly pay it to those
who were, unfortunately, under his command. Divers mortifications I
sustained with that fortitude which became a Castilian who lay under
obligations to the father; till, at length, laying aside all decorum,
he smote me. Sacred Heaven! he smote Don Diego de Zelos, in presence of
his whole household.
“Had my sword been endowed with sensation, it would of itself have
started from its scabbard at this indignity offered to its master. I
unsheathed it without deliberation, saying, ‘Know, insolent boy, he is
a gentleman whom thou hast outraged; and thou hast thus cancelled the
ties which have hitherto restrained my indignation.’ His servants would
have interposed, but he commanded them to retire; and, flushed with
that confidence which the impetuosity of his temper inspired, he drew,
in his turn, and attacked me with redoubled rage; but his dexterity
being very unequal to his courage, he was soon disarmed, and
overthrown; when, pointing my sword to his breast, ‘In consideration of
thy youth and ignorance,’ said I, ‘I spare that life which thou hast
forfeited by thy ungenerous presumption.’
“With these words, I put up my weapon, retired through the midst of his
domestics, who, seeing their master safe, did not think proper to
oppose my passage, and, mounting my horse, in less than two hours
entered the Austrian dominions, resolving to proceed as far as Holland,
that I might embark in the first ship for Spain, in order to wash away,
with my own blood, or that of my enemies, the cruel stain which hath so
long defiled my reputation.
“This was the grievance that still corroded my heart, and rendered
ineffectual the inhuman sacrifice I had made to my injured honour. This
was the consideration that incessantly prompted, and still importunes
me to run every risk of life and fortune, rather than leave my fame
under such an ignominious aspersion. I purpose to obey this internal
call. I am apt to believe it is the voice of Heaven—of that Providence
which manifested its care by sending such a generous auxiliary to my
aid, when I was overpowered by banditti, on the very first day of my
expedition.”
Having in this manner gratified the curiosity of his deliverer, he
expressed a desire of knowing the quality of him to whom he was so
signally obliged; and Renaldo did not scruple to make the Castilian
acquainted with his name and family. He likewise communicated the story
of his unfortunate love, with all the symptoms of unutterable woe,
which drew tears from the noble-hearted Spaniard, while, with a groan,
that announced the load which overwhelmed his soul, “I had a daughter,”
said he, “such as you describe the peerless Monimia; had Heaven decreed
her for the arms of such a lover, I, who am now the most wretched,
should have been the most happy parent upon earth.”
Thus did these new friends alternately indulge their mutual sorrow, and
concert measures for their future operations. Melvil earnestly
solicited the Castilian to favour him with his company to England,
where, in all probability, both would enjoy the gloomy satisfaction of
being revenged upon their common betrayer, Fathom; and, as a farther
inducement, he assured him, that, as soon as he should have
accomplished the melancholy purposes of his voyage, he would accompany
Don Diego to Spain, and employ his whole interest and fortune in his
service. The Spaniard, thunderstruck at the extravagant generosity of
this proposal, could scarce believe the evidence of his own senses;
and, after some pause, replied, “My duty would teach me to obey any
command you should think proper to impose; but here my inclination and
interest are so agreeably flattered, that I should be equally
ungrateful and unwise, in pretending to comply with reluctance.”
This point being settled, they moved forwards to Mons, as soon as Don
Diego was in a condition to bear the shock of such a removal, and there
remaining until his wounds were perfectly cured, they hired a
post-chaise for Ostend, embarked in a vessel at that port, reached the
opposite shore of England, after a short and easy passage, and arrived
in London without having met with any sinister accident on the road.
As they approached this capital, Renaldo’s grief seemed to regurgitate
with redoubled violence. His memory was waked to the most minute and
painful exertion of its faculties; his imagination teemed with the most
afflicting images, and his impatience became so ardent, that never
lover panted more eagerly for the consummation of his wishes, than
Melvil, for an opportunity of stretching himself upon the grave of the
lost Monimia. The Castilian was astonished, as well as affected, at the
poignancy of his grief, which, as a proof of his susceptibility and
virtue, endeared him still more to his affection; and though his own
misfortunes had rendered him very unfit for the office of a comforter,
he endeavoured, by soothing discourse, to moderate the excess of his
friend’s affliction.
Though it was dark when they alighted at the inn, Melvil ordered a
coach to be called; and, being attended by the Spaniard, who would not
be persuaded to quit him upon such an occasion, he repaired to the
house of the generous Jew, whose rheum distilled very plentifully at
his approach. The Count had already acquitted himself in point of
pecuniary obligations to this benevolent Hebrew; and now, after having
made such acknowledgments as might be expected from a youth of his