CHAPTER SEVEN
ENGAGES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A FEMALE ASSOCIATE, IN ORDER TO PUT HISTALENTS IN ACTION.
While he displayed his qualifications in order to entrap the heart of hisyoung mistress, he had unwittingly enslaved the affections of her maid.This attendant was also a favourite of the young lady, and, though hersenior by two or three good years at least, unquestionably her superiorin point of personal beauty; she moreover possessed a good stock ofcunning and discernment, and was furnished by nature with a very amorouscomplexion. These circumstances being premised, the reader will not besurprised to find her smitten by those uncommon qualifications which wehave celebrated in young Fathom. She had in good sooth long sighed insecret, under the powerful influence of his charms, and practised uponhim all those little arts, by which a woman strives to attract theadmiration, and ensnare the heart of a man she loves; but all hisfaculties were employed upon the plan which he had already projected;that was the goal of his whole attention, to which all his measurestended; and whether or not he perceived the impression he had made uponTeresa, he never gave her the least reason to believe he was conscious ofhis victory, until he found himself baffled in his design upon the heartof her mistress.--She therefore persevered in her distant attempts toallure him, with the usual coquetries of dress and address, and, in thesweet hope of profiting by his susceptibility, made shift to suppress herfeelings, and keep her passion within bounds, until his supposed dangeralarmed her fears, and raised such a tumult within her breast, that shecould no longer conceal her love, but gave a loose to her sorrow in themost immoderate expressions of anguish and affliction, and, while hisdelirium lasted, behaved with all the agitation of a despairingshepherdess.
Ferdinand was, or pretended to be, the last person in the family whounderstood the situation of her thoughts; when he perceived her passion,he entered into deliberation with himself, and tasked his reflection andforesight, in order to discover how best he might convert this conquestto his own advantage. Here, then, that we may neglect no opportunity ofdoing justice to our hero, it will be proper to observe, that, howsoeverunapt his understanding might be to receive and retain the usual cultureof the schools, he was naturally a genius self-taught, in point ofsagacity and invention.--He dived into the characters of mankind, with apenetration peculiar to himself, and, had he been admitted as a pupil inany political academy, would have certainly become one of the ableststatesmen in Europe.
Having revolved all the probable consequences of such a connexion, hedetermined to prosecute an amour with the lady whose affection he hadsubdued; because he hoped to interest her as an auxiliary in his grandscheme upon Mademoiselle, which he did not as yet think proper to layaside; for he was not more ambitious in the plan, than indefatigable inthe prosecution of it. He knew it would be impossible to execute hisaims upon the Count's daughter under the eye of Teresa, whose naturaldiscernment would be whetted with jealousy, and who would watch hisconduct, and thwart his progress with all the vigilance and spite of aslighted maiden. On the other hand, he did not doubt of being able tobring her over to his interest, by the influence he had already gained,or might afterwards acquire over her passions; in which case, she wouldeffectually espouse his cause, and employ her good offices with hermistress in his behalf; besides, he was induced by another motive, which,though secondary, did not fail in this case to have an effect upon hisdetermination. He looked upon Teresa with the eyes of appetite, which helonged to gratify; for he was not at all dead to the instigations of theflesh, though he had philosophy enough to resist them, when he thoughtthey interfered with his interest. Here the case was quite different.His desire happened to be upon the side of his advantage, and therefore,resolving to indulge it, he no sooner found himself in a condition tomanage such an adventure, than he began to make gradual advances in pointof warmth and particular complacency to the love-sick maid.
He first of all thanked her, in the most grateful terms, for the concernshe had manifested at his distemper, and the kind services he hadreceived from her during the course of it; he treated her upon alloccasions with unusual affability and regard, assiduously courted heracquaintance and conversation, and contracted an intimacy that in alittle time produced a declaration of love. Although her heart was toomuch intendered to hold out against all the forms of assault, far fromyielding at discretion, she stood upon honourable terms, with greatobstinacy of punctilio, and, while she owned he was master of herinclinations, gave him to understand, with a peremptory and resolute air,that he should never make a conquest of her virtue; observing, that, ifthe passion he professed was genuine, he would not scruple to give such aproof of it as would at once convince her of his sincerity; and that hecould have no just cause to refuse her that satisfaction, she being hisequal in point of birth and situation; for, if he was the companion andfavourite of the young Count, she was the friend and confidant ofMademoiselle.
He acknowledged the strength of her argument, and that her condescensionwas greater than his deserts, but objected against the proposal, asinfinitely prejudicial to the fortunes of them both. He represented thestate of dependence in which they mutually stood; their utter incapacityto support one another under the consequences of a precipitate match,clandestinely made, without the consent and concurrence of their patrons.He displayed, with great eloquence, all those gay expectations they hadreason to entertain, from that eminent degree of favour which they hadalready secured in the family; and set forth, in the most alluringcolours, those enchanting scenes of pleasure they might enjoy in eachother, without that disagreeable consciousness of a nuptial chain,provided she would be his associate in the execution of a plan which hehad projected for their reciprocal convenience.
Having thus inflamed her love of pleasure and curiosity, he, with greatcaution, hinted his design upon the young lady's fortune, and, perceivingher listening with the most greedy attention, and perfectly ripe for theconspiracy, he disclosed his intention at full length, assuring her, withthe most solemn protestations of love and attachment, that, could he oncemake himself legal possessor of an estate which Mademoiselle inherited bythe will of a deceased aunt, his dear Teresa should reap the happy fruitsof his affluence, and wholly engross his time and attention.
Such a base declaration our hero would not have ventured to make, had henot implicitly believed the damsel was as great a latitudinarian ashimself, in point of morals and principle; and been well assured, that,though he should be mistaken in her way of thinking, so far as to bethreatened with a detection of his purpose, he would always have it inhis power to refute her accusation as mere calumny, by the character hehad hitherto maintained, and the circumspection of his future conduct.
He seldom or never erred in his observations on the human heart. Teresa,instead of disapproving, relished the plan in general, withdemonstrations of singular satisfaction. She at once conceived all theadvantageous consequences of such a scheme, and perceived in it only oneflaw, which, however, she did not think incurable. This defect was noother than a sufficient bond of union, by which they might be effectuallytied down to their mutual interest. She foresaw, that, in case Ferdinandshould obtain possession of the prize, he might, with great ease, denytheir contract, and disavow her claim of participation. She thereforedemanded security, and proposed, as a preliminary of the agreement, thathe should privately take her to wife, with a view to dispel all herapprehensions of his inconstancy or deceit, as such a previous engagementwould be a check upon his behaviour, and keep him strictly to the letterof their contract.
He could not help subscribing to the righteousness of this proposal,which, nevertheless, he would have willingly waived, on the suppositionthat they could not possibly be joined in the bands of wedlock with suchsecrecy as the nature of the case absolutely required. This would havebeen a difficulty soon removed, had the scene of the transaction beenlaid in the metropolis of England, where passengers are plied in thestreets by clergymen, who prostitute their characters and consciences forhire, in defiance of all decency and
law; but in the kingdom of Hungary,ecclesiastics are more scrupulous in the exercise of their function, andthe objection was, or supposed to be, altogether insurmountable; so thatthey were fain to have recourse to an expedient, with which, after somehesitation, our she-adventurer was satisfied. They joined hands in thesight of Heaven, which they called to witness, and to judge the sincerityof their vows, and engaged, in a voluntary oath, to confirm their unionby the sanction of the church, whenever a convenient opportunity for sodoing should occur.
The scruples of Teresa being thus removed, she admitted Ferdinand to theprivileges of a husband, which he enjoyed in stolen interviews, andreadily undertook to exert her whole power in promoting his suit with heryoung mistress, because she now considered his interest as inseparablyconnected with her own. Surely nothing could be more absurd orpreposterous than the articles of this covenant, which she insisted uponwith such inflexibility. How could she suppose that her pretended loverwould be restrained by an oath, when the very occasion of incurring itwas an intention to act in violation of all laws human and divine? andyet such ridiculous conjuration is commonly the cement of everyconspiracy, how dark, how treacherous, how impious soever it may be: acertain sign that there are some remains of religion left in the humanmind, even after every moral sentiment hath abandoned it; and that themost execrable ruffian finds means to quiet the suggestions of hisconscience, by some reversionary hope of Heaven's forgiveness.