Strap’s Travels and Master’s Bequest
Strap recounts how he lived a year in Paris with his master, who traveled France and Holland, fell into a consumption, and recovered at Montpelier. Returning to Rheims, the master died of a looseness. On his deathbed, he recommended Strap to persons of distinction for his diligence, sobriety, and affection, and left him by will his wearing apparel, gold watch, sword, rings, ready money, and all moveables in France, to the value of three hundred pounds. Strap offers this fortune to the narrator, who positively refuses, reminding Strap that he is a soldier and needs a discharge.
Securing Military Discharge
Strap, reminded of the narrator’s military status, declares they must procure his discharge, mentioning that he has some interest with a nobleman able to do that favour.
Journey to Paris and London
The chapter’s outline indicates that the friends take a trip to Paris and, by way of Flanders, set out for London, where they safely arrive.
第四十四章
Chapter XLIV of The Adventures of Roderick Random traces Random’s transformation from discharged soldier to gentleman. D’Estrapes secures his release from the regiment of Picardy, proposes a scheme for Random to woo a wealthy lady by passing as a gentleman, and the two travel to Paris to acquire the necessary apparel and accoutrements. After a month of fashionable life in the French capital, they continue by way of Flanders to London.
Schemes for the Legacy
Random and d’Estrapes spend an evening over a bottle of Burgundy trying to determine how to make themselves easy for life on the proceeds of the deceased gentleman’s legacy. Their canvassing produces no concrete resolution, and they part having only recommended the matter to each other’s serious future attention.
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