The Adventures of Roderick Random

Well-Received

Narcissa, while the narrator speaks, conceals her face with her fan. When he finishes, she recovers herself from the most beautiful confusion and tells him she feels very much obliged by his favorable opinion and is very sorry to hear he has been unfortunate. Encouraged by this gentle reply, the narrator proceeds to declare that he is sufficiently recompensed by her kind compassion for what he has undergone and that his future happiness depends solely upon her. She responds that she would be very ungrateful if, after the signal protection he once afforded her, she should refuse to contribute towards his happiness in any reasonable condescension. Transported by this acknowledgment, the narrator throws himself at her feet and begs her to regard his passion with a favorable eye. She is alarmed, entreating him to rise lest her brother discover him in that posture and to spare her for the present upon a subject for which she is altogether unprepared. He rises, assuring her he would rather die than disobey her, and points out how precious the minutes of this opportunity are and what restraint he places upon his inclinations in sacrificing them to her desires.

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.