The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — CompleteSmollett, T. (Tobias)
General
The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete
Smollett, T. (Tobias)
Adventure stories; Gothic fiction
He was, indeed, allured by the roses of her complexion, and the
innocence of her aspect, and began to repent of having pretended
ignorance of the language, by which he was restrained from exercising
his eloquence upon her heart; he resolved, however, to ingratiate
himself, if possible, by the courtesy and politeness of dumb show, and
for that purpose put his eyes in motion without farther delay.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ANOTHER PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE SMUGGLER’S
INGENIOUS CONJECTURE.
During these deliberations, the wine merchant, with a view to make a
parade of his superior parts and breeding, as well as to pave the way
for a match at backgammon, made a tender of his snuff-box to our
adventurer, and asked, in bad French, how he travelled from Paris. This
question produced a series of interrogations concerning the place of
Ferdinand’s abode in that city, and his business in England, so that he
was fain to practise the science of defence, and answered with such
ambiguity, as aroused the suspicion of the smuggler, who began to
believe our hero had some very cogent reason for evading his curiosity;
he immediately set his reflection at work, and, after various
conjectures, fixed upon Fathom’s being the Young Pretender. Big with
this supposition, he eyed him with the most earnest attention,
comparing his features with those of the Chevalier’s portrait which he
had seen in France, and though the faces were as unlike as any two
human faces could be, found the resemblance so striking as to dispel
all his doubts, and persuade him to introduce the stranger to some
justice on the road; a step by which he would not only manifest his
zeal for the Protestant succession, but also acquire the splendid
reward proposed by parliament to any person who should apprehend that
famous adventurer.
These ideas intoxicated the brain of this man to such a pitch of
enthusiasm, that he actually believed himself in possession of the
thirty thousand pounds, and amused his fancy with a variety of
magnificent projects to be executed by means of that acquisition, until
his reverie was interrupted by the halting of the coach at the inn
where the passengers used to eat their breakfasts. Waked as he was from
the dream of happiness, it had made such impression upon his mind,
that, seeing Fathom rise up with an intention to alight, he took it for
granted his design was to escape, and seizing him by the collar, called
aloud for assistance in the King’s name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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