The Adventures of Roderick Random

Miss Snapper Discovers His Love for Narcissa

All the narrator’s powers being engrossed by Narcissa, he can scarcely entertain Miss Snapper, returns distracted answers, and cannot look at her without unfavourable comparisons. She observes his absence of mind, watches his glances, and, tracing them to the divine object, perceives his attachment through his confusion. She thereupon assumes a stateliness of behaviour and sits silent for the remainder of the evening. After Narcissa retires with her brother, Miss Snapper proposes to go home and, on the way, tells him she has too great a regard for him to keep him any longer in torment. The narrator feigns ignorance of her meaning, sees her safely to her lodgings, and returns home in an ecstasy to recount everything to Strap, who sourly observes that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Meeting Miss Williams, Narcissa’s Confidante

The next day, as the narrator goes to the Pump Room in hopes of news of Narcissa, he is met by a gentlewoman who exclaims at recognising him as Mr. Random. She proves to be Miss Williams, his old sweetheart and fellow sufferer from the London garret days, now decently attired. She reveals that she is at present unengaged, and they retire to his lodgings, where after an affectionate salutation she tells him she is happy in the service of a young lady, into whose family she was recommended by a former mistress now deceased. Miss Williams expresses a vehement desire to hear the vicissitudes of his life since they parted, and when he describes his situation in Sussex, she interrupts him with astonishment and begs him to continue—hinting at some surprising piece of information concerning Narcissa that the narrator already eagerly conjectures.