The Adventures of Roderick Random

Fleeing the Elderly Governess’s Unwanted Affections

Encouraged by the possibility of meeting the young Miss Sparkle, the narrator’s temper grows more serene. He talks en cavalier and makes love to this antiquated coquette, who seems extremely happy and spreads all her allurements. Tea and sweetmeats are served before the matron withdraws, leaving the narrator alone with Miss Withers, who begins talking of matrimony with increasing impatience. Though she promises to invite him to her mistress’s apartment where he might converse with the charming ward, the moment she flies upon him and presses her skinny lips to his, the garlic she consumed that morning explodes with such force that human nature cannot endure the shock. The narrator loses all patience, snatches his hat and cane, and runs downstairs as if the devil pursued him. Strap, waiting with impatience, sees him arrive in utmost disorder and dares not inquire the cause. After washing his mouth and recruiting his spirits with wine, the narrator recounts every particular. Strap observes that it is a thousand pities his organs are so delicate as to be offended by garlic, reflecting on his own low birth. When the narrator suggests Strap retrieve his miscarriage, he leaves shaking his head.

Abandoning All Matrimonial Ambitions After the Failed Ruse

Whether the old gentlewoman resented the narrator’s abrupt departure so much that her love changed to disdain, or was ashamed to see him on account of her infirmity, is unknown. The narrator is never troubled again with her passion, and this catastrophic discovery banishes all thoughts of matrimony from his mind, concluding the chapter with his complete abandonment of matrimonial ambitions.