The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Volume 02Smollett, T. (Tobias)
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The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Volume 02
Smollett, T. (Tobias)
Adventure stories; Gothic fiction
So saying, he sprung upon his valet, who would have fallen a sacrifice to
his undistinguishing fury, had not he been saved by the interposition of
Farrel and the family, who disengaged him from his master's gripe by dint
of force; yet, notwithstanding their joint endeavours, he broke from this
restraint, leaped upon the floor, and seizing his sword, attempted to
plunge it in his own breast. When he was once more overcome by numbers,
he cursed himself, and all those who withheld him; swore he would not
survive the fair victim who had perished by his credulity and
indiscretion; and the agitation of his spirits increased to such a
degree, that he was seized with strong convulsions, which nature was
scarce able to sustain. Every medical expedient was used to quiet his
perturbation, which at length yielded so far as to subside into a
continual fever and confirmed delirium, during which he ceased not to
pour forth the most pathetic complaints, touching his ruined love, and to
rave about the ill-starred Monimia. The Major, half distracted by the
calamity of his friend, would have concealed it from the knowledge of his
family, had not the physician, by despairing of his life, laid him under
the necessity of making them acquainted with his condition.
The Countess and Mrs. Farrel were no sooner informed of his case than
they hastened to the melancholy scene, where they found Renaldo deprived
of his senses, panting under the rage of an exasperated disease. They
saw his face distorted, and his eyes glaring with frenzy; they heard him
invoke the name of Monimia with a tenderness of accent which even the
impulse of madness could not destroy. Then, with a sudden transition of
tone and gesture, he denounced vengeance against her betrayer, and called
upon the north wind to cool the fervour of his brain. His hair hung in
dishevelled parcels, his cheeks were wan, his looks ghastly, his vigour
was fled, and all the glory of his youth faded; the physician hung his
head in silence, the attendants wrung their hands in despair, and the
countenance of his friend was bathed in tears.
Such a picture would have moved the most obdurate heart; what impression
then must it have made upon a parent and sister, melting with all the
enthusiasm of affection! The mother was struck dumb, and stupefied with
grief; the sister threw herself on the bed in a transport of sorrow,
caught her loved Renaldo in her arms, and was, with great difficulty,
torn from his embrace. Such was the dismal reverse that overtook the
late so happy family of Melvil; such was the extremity to which the
treachery of Fathom had reduced his best benefactor!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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