The Adventures of Roderick Random

O’Donnell’s Disgrace

The narrator arrived home before O’Donnell. On his way to a friend’s lodgings, O’Donnell was picked up by the watch and carried to the round-house, from whence he sent for clothes to his lodgings. The next morning he arrived at the door in a chair, wrapped in a borrowed blanket, his body so sore and swollen that he could not bear wearing his own clothes. He was treated with tenderness by the mistress and her daughter, who vied in their care and attendance. Mr. Lavement could not forbear expressing his joy by malicious grins while ordering the narrator to prepare an unguent for O’Donnell’s sores.

The story of O’Donnell’s attack and stripping appeared in the news, and those who found his clothes retrieved everything except a few letters, including the one the narrator had written in the apothecary’s name. These letters, all concerning love, fell into the hands of a female author famous for scandal, who embellished them and published them. The Chelsea apothecary commenced a lawsuit against the printer for defamation. As soon as the pamphlet appeared, the ladies’ care of their patient diminished considerably until it ended in total neglect. Conscious of deserving worse than contempt, O’Donnell was glad to come off so cheaply and muttered curses and threats against the apothecary, whom he imagined had taken revenge.

By the time he had healed, his character had become so notorious that he decided to decamp. He retreated in one night without announcement, having robbed his own servant of everything belonging to him except the clothes he wore.

The Empty Trunk

A few days after O’Donnell disappeared, Mr. Lavement took custody of a large old trunk O’Donnell had left, which was very heavy. He assumed the contents would indemnify him for what O’Donnell owed for lodging. After a month without news of the adventurer, the master ordered the trunk to be broken open in his presence. The narrator performed this task with the pestle of their great mortar and discovered, to his inexpressible astonishment and mortification, nothing but a heap of stones.

Strap’s Departure

At this time, Strap informed the narrator of an offer to go abroad with a gentleman as a valet de chambre. He assured the narrator that whatever advantage he might propose, he could not bear the thoughts of parting from him, so attached was he to the narrator’s fortune. Despite all the obligations the narrator owed to this honest fellow, ingratitude was so natural to his heart that he began to be tired of Strap’s acquaintance. Having contracted other friendships that appeared more creditable, he was even ashamed to see a journeyman barber inquiring after him with the familiarity of a companion. On pretense of consulting Strap’s welfare, the narrator insisted he accept the proposal. With great reluctance, Strap embraced it and in a few days took his leave, shedding floods of tears that the narrator could not behold without emotion.

Courtship

Now the narrator began to regard himself as a gentleman in reality. He learned to dance, frequented plays during holidays, became the oracle of an ale-house where every dispute was referred to his decision, and at length contracted an acquaintance with a young lady who made a conquest of his heart. After much attendance and solicitation, he prevailed upon her to give him a promise of marriage. As this beautiful creature passed for a rich heiress, the narrator blessed his good fortune and was actually on the point of crowning all his wishes by matrimony.

Abandoning Marriage

When the narrator was actually on the point of crowning his wishes by matrimony, he made a discovery that effectually turned him from his design, and he abandoned all thoughts of marriage for the future.

CHAPITRE XXI.

This chapter chronicles Roderick’s downfall after Squire Gawky becomes a lodger at his master, apothecary Lavement’s, home. After Roderick impulsively rescues Gawky from watchmen by mistake, Gawky secretly marries Lavement’s daughter Miss Lavement, and the pair conspire to frame Roderick for theft. Wrongfully dismissed and abandoned by all his friends, Roderick is forced to rent a cheap garret room in St. Giles’s, where he accidentally discovers the woman he previously courted living in destitute conditions and provides her with relief.