The Adventures of Roderick Random

Charmed with Conversation

Narcissa smiles with unspeakable sweetness and tells him there will be no want of opportunities provided he can maintain the good opinion her brother has conceived of him. The narrator, enchanted by her charms, seizes her hand and nearly devours it with kisses, but she checks his boldness with severity of countenance and reminds him not to so far forget himself as to endanger the esteem she holds for him. She emphasizes that they are almost strangers to each other and that she must know him better before taking any resolution in his favor. Her reproof contains so much good sense and complacency that the narrator becomes as much enamored of her understanding as he had been of her beauty. He asks pardon for his presumption with the utmost reverence, which she forgives with her usual affability, sealing his pardon with a look so full of bewitching tenderness that for some minutes his senses are lost in ecstasy. The conversation turns to more indifferent subjects, and Narcissa speaks of her aunt’s illness (a combination of dropsy and consumption) and of Mrs. Sagely’s good health. She explains how Sir Timothy Thicket had incensed her brother against the narrator and damaged her own character with scandalous insinuations, though Sir Timothy later confessed his brutal design before his death from apoplexy. Every word Narcissa speaks rivets the chains with which she holds him enslaved.

Detained to Supper

When Freeman returns, the opportunity is destroyed, though this enables the narrator to quell the rising tumult of his passion. Shortly afterward, the squire returns from his nap, rubbing his eyes, and calls for tea, which he drinks from a small bowl qualified with brandy. When Freeman and the narrator propose to take their leave, the foxhunter insists upon their spending the evening at his house with such obstinacy of affection that they are obliged to comply. The narrator would have welcomed the invitation for more of Narcissa’s company but fears risking her esteem by entering into a debauch he knows will occur. The squire begins drinking early, ordering the table furnished with liquor immediately after tea, but they absolutely refuse to drink so soon and prevail upon him to play whist for an hour or two. The narrator and the savage become partners at first, and because his thoughts are wholly employed in a more interesting game, he plays so poorly that the squire loses patience, swears bitterly, and threatens to call for wine if they will not grant him another associate. Their wish is gratified, and the narrator is paired with Narcissa. The squire loses again for the same reason that made him lose before. Time passes agreeably until they are told that supper is served in another room.

The Stratagem

The squire is enraged to find the evening so unprofitably spent and wreaks his vengeance upon the cards, tearing them and committing them to the flames with many execrations. He threatens to make them redeem their loss with a large glass and quick circulation, and after supper, when Narcissa withdraws, he puts this threat in execution. Three bottles of port are placed before them with as many water glasses, which are filled to the brim and emptied immediately to the best in Christendom. Though the narrator swallows his portion without hesitation or reluctance, he perceives his brain will not bear many more bumpers of this sort. Dreading the perseverance of a champion who began with such vigor, he determines to make up for the deficiency of his strength by a stratagem. When the second course of bottles is called for, he assumes a gay air, entertains the squire with a French catch on the subject of drinking, and asks if he has a bowl or cup that will contain a whole quart of wine. The squire produces a silver candle cup holding exactly that quantity. The narrator bids the squire decant his bottle into it, then nods deliberately and says, “Pledge you.” The squire stares in disbelief, but the narrator assures him they will do him justice. The squire applies the cup to his lips and empties it in a breath. The narrator then begins pouring his own bottle into the cup while speaking of drinking with the Cham of Tartary. The squire takes umbrage at these words, and after several attempts to spit, stammers out an indignant reply, declaring himself a freeborn Englishman worth three thousand a-year. He then drops his jaw, fixes his eyes, hiccups aloud, and falls upon the floor as mute as a flounder.