CHAPTER SIX
HE MEDITATES SCHEMES OF IMPORTANCE.
It was in these parties that he attracted the notice and friendship ofhis patron's daughter, a girl by two years older than himself, who wasnot insensible to his qualifications, and looked upon him with the mostfavourable eyes of prepossession. Whether or not he at this period ofhis life began to project plans for availing himself of hersusceptibility, is uncertain; but, without all doubt, he cultivated heresteem with as obsequious and submissive attention as if he had alreadyformed the design, which, in his advanced age, he attempted to put inexecution.
Divers circumstances conspired to promote him in the favour of this younglady; the greenness of his years secured him from any appearance offallacious aim; so that he was indulged in frequent opportunities ofconversing with his young mistress, whose parents encouraged thiscommunication, by which they hoped she would improve in speaking thelanguage of her father. Such connexions naturally produce intimacy andfriendship. Fathom's person was agreeable, his talents calculated forthe meridian of those parties, and his manners so engaging, that therewould have been no just subject for wonder, had he made an impressionupon the tender unexperienced heart of Mademoiselle de Melvil, whosebeauty was not so attractive as to extinguish his hope, in raising up anumber of formidable rivals; though her expectations of fortune were suchas commonly lend additional lustre to personal merit.
All these considerations were so many steps towards the success ofFerdinand's pretensions; and though he cannot be supposed to haveperceived them at first, he in the sequel seemed perfectly well apprisedof his advantages, and used them to the full extent of his faculties.Observing that she delighted in music, he betook himself to the study ofthat art, and, by dint of application and a tolerable ear, learned ofhimself to accompany her with a German flute, while she sung and playedupon the harpsichord. The Count, seeing his inclination, and theprogress he had made, resolved that his capacity should not be lost forwant of cultivation; and accordingly provided him with a master, by whomhe was instructed in the principles of the art, and soon became aproficient in playing upon the violin.
In the practice of these improvements and avocations, and in attendanceupon his young master, whom he took care never to disoblige or neglect,he attained to the age of sixteen, without feeling the least abatement inthe friendship and generosity of those upon whom he depended; but, on thecontrary, receiving every day fresh marks of their bounty and regard. Hehad before this time been smit with the ambition of making a conquest ofthe young lady's heart, and foresaw manifold advantages to himself inbecoming son-in-law to Count Melvil, who, he never doubted, would soon bereconciled to the match, if once it could be effectuated without hisknowledge. Although he thought he had great reason to believe thatMademoiselle looked upon him with an eye of peculiar favour, hisdisposition was happily tempered with an ingredient of caution, thathindered him from acting with precipitation; and he had discerned in theyoung lady's deportment certain indications of loftiness and pride, whichkept him in the utmost vigilance and circumspection; for he knew, that,by a premature declaration, he should run the risk of forfeiting all theadvantages he had gained, and blasting those expectations that nowblossomed so gaily in his heart.
Restricted by these reflections, he acted at a wary distance, anddetermined to proceed by the method of sap, and, summoning all hisartifice and attractions to his aid, employed them under the insidiouscover of profound respect, in order to undermine those bulwarks ofhaughtiness or discretion, which otherwise might have rendered hisapproaches to her impracticable. With a view to enhance the value of hiscompany, and sound her sentiments at the same time, he became morereserved than usual, and seldomer engaged in her parties of music andcards; yet, in the midst of his reserve, he never failed in thosedemonstrations of reverence and regard, which he knew perfectly well howto express, but devised such excuses for his absence, as she could nothelp admitting. In consequence of this affected shyness, she more thanonce gently chid him for his neglect and indifference, observing, with anironical air, that he was now too much of a man to be entertained withsuch effeminate diversions; but her reproofs were pronounced with toomuch ease and good-humour to be agreeable to our hero, who desired to seeher ruffled and chagrined at his absence, and to hear himself rebukedwith an angry affectation of disdain. This effort, therefore, hereinforced with the most captivating carriage he could assume, in thosehours which he now so sparingly bestowed upon his mistress. He regaledher with all the entertaining stories he could learn or invent,particularly such as he thought would justify and recommend the levellingpower of love, that knows no distinctions of fortune. He sung nothingbut tender airs and passionate complaints, composed by desponding ordespairing swains; and, to render his performances of this kind the morepathetic, 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 ajocose manner taxed him with having lost his heart, rallied the excess ofhis passion, and in a merry strain undertook to be an advocate for hislove. Her behaviour was still wide of his wish and expectation. Hethought she would, in consequence of her discovery, have betrayed someinterested symptom; that her face would have undergone some favourablesuffusion; that her tongue would have faltered, her breast heaved, andher whole deportment betokened internal agitation and disorder, in whichcase, he meant to profit by the happy impression, and declare himself,before she could possibly recollect the dictates of her pride.--Baffledhowever in his endeavours, by the serenity of the young lady, which hestill deemed equivocal, he had recourse to another experiment, by whichhe believed he should make a discovery of her sentiments beyond allpossibility of doubt. One day, while he accompanied Mademoiselle in herexercise of music, he pretended all of a sudden to be taken ill, andcounterfeited a swoon in her apartment. Surprised at this accident, shescreamed aloud, but far from running to his assistance, with thetransports and distraction of a lover, she ordered her maid, who waspresent, 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 stillmore certified of her inclinations, he prolonged the farce, and laygroaning under the pretence of a severe fever.
The whole family was alarmed upon this occasion; for, as we have alreadyobserved, he was an universal favourite. He was immediately visited bythe old Count and his lady, who expressed the utmost concern at hisdistemper, ordered him to be carefully attended, and sent for a physicianwithout loss of time. The young gentleman would scarce stir from hisbedside, where he ministered unto him with all the demonstrations ofbrotherly affection; and Miss exhorted him to keep up his spirits, withmany expressions of unreserved sympathy and regard. Nevertheless, he sawnothing in her behaviour but what might be naturally expected from commonfriendship, and a compassionate disposition, and was very much mortifiedat his disappointment.
Whether the miscarriage actually affected his constitution, or the doctorhappened to be mistaken in his diagnostics, we shall not pretend todetermine; but the patient was certainly treated secundum artem, and allhis complaints in a little time realised; for the physician, like a truegraduate, had an eye to the apothecary in his prescriptions; and such wasthe concern and scrupulous care with which our hero was attended, thatthe orders of the faculty were performed with the utmost punctuality. Hewas blooded, vomited, purged, and blistered, in the usual forms (for thephysicians of Hungary are generally as well skilled in the arts of theiroccupation as any other leeches under the sun), and swallowed a wholedispensary of bolusses, draughts, and apozems, by which means he becamefairly delirious in three days, and so untractable, that he could be nolonger managed according to rule; otherwise, in all likelihood, the worldwould never have enjoyed the benefit of these adventures. In short, hisconstitution, though unable to cope with two such formidable antagonistsas the doctor and the disease he had conjured up, was no sooner rid ofthe one, than it easily got the better of
the other; and thoughFerdinand, after all, found his grand aim unaccomplished, his malady wasproductive of a consequence, which, though he had not foreseen it, he didnot fail to convert to his own use and advantage.