The Adventures of Roderick Random

A Growing Attachment

The rescuer escorted Miss Williams home, where her father thanked him profusely for saving his daughter and insisted he stay the night. Miss Williams was struck by the rescuer’s appearance (which she noted was nearly identical to the person she was addressing her story to) and his sensible, open, ingenuous conversation; she learned he was the eldest son of a wealthy local family, and spent the night consumed by romantic, chivalric fantasies of their connection, imagining herself a rescued princess bound to her heroic savior.

Courtship and Deception

The rescuer, whom Miss Williams later named Horatio, began visiting regularly, artfully flattering her intellect and feigning misapprehension of her arguments to give her opportunities to demonstrate her own sharpness, winning her full esteem. He eventually declared his ardent, sincere love, professing honorable intentions to marry her, and lamented that his greedy father had betrothed him to another woman against his will. Convinced by his apparent candor, Miss Williams entered into a secret relationship with him, and eventually yielded her innocence to him, believing he would uphold his promise to marry her.

The Rival Bride

After months of secret meetings, Horatio’s visits grew less frequent and his affection grew noticeably colder.

Betrayal and Despair

When Miss Williams pressed Horatio to fulfill his marriage promise to protect her reputation, he claimed he would find a clergyman to unite them, but never returned. A week later, she learned from a dinner guest that Horatio was preparing to travel to London with his new bride to buy wedding clothes for their upcoming nuptials. Enraged and devastated, she vacillated between violent thoughts of revenge and quiet sorrow, clinging to hope that he would return, until she received definitive news of his marriage. Consumed by grief and fury, she considered suicide before her desire for revenge took hold; her father, who guessed the cause of her distress, tried to comfort her without acknowledging her shame, which only increased her anguish and hatred for Horatio.

Elopement to London

With a small amount of money, Miss Williams fled her father’s house in the middle of the night, arrived at a nearby town at dawn, and took a stage coach to London the same day, sustained only by her desire for revenge. She rented a secluded lodging under a false name to hide her identity and circumstances.

The Confrontation

Miss Williams quickly located Horatio’s London home and went to confront him, refusing to give her name to the porter and demanding to speak to Horatio privately about personal business. After waiting 15 minutes, a servant told her Horatio was occupied with guests and would not see her. Enraged, she pulled a hidden dagger from her clothing, rushed upstairs screaming that she would kill the “perfidious villain,” was seized and disarmed by footmen, and saw Horatio approach with his new wife before fainting from shock.

The Miscarriage

When she regained consciousness, she was in a cheap apartment with an old woman who informed her that Horatio had claimed she was mad and wanted her sent to Bedlam, while his wife, suspicious of her claims, had ordered her to be closely monitored. Miss Williams hired a chair to return to her lodgings, and the intense agitation of the confrontation triggered a fever that caused a miscarriage. She expressed relief that the child had not survived, as she believed her unhinged rage would have led her to kill the infant as revenge against Horatio.

A Stranger’s Offer

After the miscarriage, her rage cooled into calculated, deliberate hatred. Her landlady informed her that a stranger had come to see her, claiming he had information that would bring her peace. The stranger, who said he knew all the details of her situation from Horatio himself, told him he hated Horatio for prior dishonorable conduct toward him, and offered to kill Horatio that night in revenge for her, on the condition she would agree to his one unspecified request.