A Present for Lord Straddle
Elated by his reception, Roderick gives a guinea to the lacqueys who escort him out. He then flies to Lord Straddle’s lodgings, where he forces a diamond ring upon the young lord as acknowledgment for introducing him to Earl Strutwell. From there, he hurries home with the intention of sharing his good fortune with honest Strap, his faithful friend and traveling companion.
Celebrating with Strap
Roderick determines to heighten Strap’s pleasure by first depressing him. Affecting disappointment and chagrin, he tells Strap abruptly that he has lost both the watch and the diamond. Poor Hugh, already worn to a consumption by such distressing news, cries out with distraction, “God in heaven forbid!” Roderick cannot continue the charade and laughs in Strap’s face, revealing everything that has happened. Strap’s features immediately relax, and the transition proves so affecting that he weeps with joy. He bestows upon Lord Strutwell the appellations of Jewel, Phoenix, and Rara avis, praising God that some virtue remains among the nobility. Their mutual congratulations complete, they give way to imagination and anticipate future happiness, projecting their success through various steps of promotion until Roderick becomes prime minister and Strap his first secretary.
Banter Disabuses Me
At the tavern, Roderick meets Banter and confidentially communicates the entire affair, concluding with promises of service. Banter listens patiently, then regards him long with a look of disdain before asking if Roderick truly believes his business is done. When Roderick confirms his belief, Banter declares a halter would do the job more effectually, exclaiming he would tuck himself up rather than be such a gull to two scoundrels like Strutwell and Straddle. Shocked, Roderick asks for explanation. Banter reveals that Straddle is a poor, contemptible wretch who lives by borrowing and pimping for his fellow peers. He has undoubtedly introduced Roderick to Strutwell, who is notorious for unnatural passions—Banter expresses amazement that this character never reached Roderick’s ears. Far from possessing influence at court, Strutwell’s interest is so low he can barely provide for a superannuated footman once a year in the customs or excise. It is common for Strutwell to amuse strangers, run down by his jackals, with such assurances and caresses until he has stripped them of cash and valuables, often of their chastity, then left them to want and infamy. His servants receive no wages beyond their share of the spoils. The whole conduct toward Roderick follows this pattern exactly, and nobody versed in the ways of the world could have been imposed upon.
Utter Mortification
Roderick leaves the reader to judge how he relishes this information, which has precipitated him from the highest pinnacle of hope to the lowest abyss of despondence, nearly determining him to follow Banter’s advice and end his chagrin with a halter. He has no room to doubt his friend’s veracity, for upon recollection he finds every circumstance of Strutwell’s behavior exactly tallying with the character described. His hugs, embraces, squeezes, and eager looks are no longer mysterious, nor his defense of Petronius, nor the jealous frown of his valet-de-chambre, who it appears had been the favorite pathic of his lord.
CHAPTER LII
In Chapter LII, the narrator makes several unsuccessful attempts to recover the ring and watch lost to Strutwell and Straddle, eventually being reduced to pawning his gold-inlaid sword for subsistence. After exhausting this small supply and paying a debt to his landlord, he follows Banter’s advice to a Covent Garden gaming house, where he enjoys an extraordinary run of luck, winning 150 guineas. Strap’s ecstatic reaction to the windfall is only restrained by the narrator’s fear that joy has driven him mad. The chapter closes with the repentant Mrs. Gawky (formerly Miss Lavement) begging the narrator’s forgiveness and aid, which he freely grants.
Failed Attempts to Recover Stolen Watch and Jewel
Banter rebukes the narrator for squandering the diamond and watch on rascals instead of converting them into cash, and the narrator resolves to retrieve the valuables by stratagem rather than force. He visits Straddle under the pretext that the diamond has loosened in its setting and offers to have it reset by a Parisian jeweller; Straddle, however, is not deceived and replies that he has already sent it to his own jeweller. He then devises a scheme to recover the watch from the Earl of Strutwell by dropping it to damage the mechanism, justifying a request to take it away for repairs.
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