Даниэль Дефо - Roxana

It is only a loose Habit, my Lord, said I , that I may the better wait on your Highness ; he pulls me to him; You are perfectly obliging, says he , and sitting on the Bed-side, says he , Now you shall be a Princess, and know what it is to oblige the gratefullest Man alive; and with that, he took me in his Arms, — I can go no farther in the Particulars of what pass’d at that time; but it ended in this, that, in short, I lay with him all Night.

I have given you the whole Detail of this Story, to lay it down as a black Scheme of the Way how Unhappy Women are ruin’d by Great Men; for tho’ Poverty and Want is an irresistible Temptation to the Poor, Vanity and Great Things are as irresistible to others; to be courted by a Prince, and by a Prince who was first a Benefactor, then an Admirer; to be call’d handsome, the finest Woman in France , and to be treated as a Woman fit for the Bed of a Prince; these are Things, a Woman must have no Vanity in her, nay, no Corruption in her, that is not overcome by it; and my Case was such, that, as before, I had enough of both.

I had now no Poverty attending me; on the contrary, I was Mistress of ten Thousand Pounds before the Prince did any thing for me; had I been Mistress of my Resolution; had I been less obliging, and rejected the first Attack, all had been safe; but my Virtue was lost before, and the Devil, who had found the Way to break-in upon me by one Temptation, easily master’d me now, by another; and I gave myself up to a Person, who, tho’ a Man of high Dignity, was yet the most tempting and obliging, that ever I met with in my Life.

I had the same Particular to insist upon here with the Prince, that I had with my Gentleman before; I hesitated much at consenting, at first asking; but the Prince told me, Princes did not court like other Men; that they brought more powerful Arguments; and he very prettily added, that they were sooner repuls’d than other Men, and ought to be sooner comply’d with; intimating, tho’ very genteely, that after a Woman had positively refus’d him once, he cou’d not, like other Men, wait with Importunities, and Stratagems, and laying long Sieges; but as such Men as he Storm’d warmly, so, if repuls’d, they made no second Attacks; and indeed, it was but reasonable; for as it was below their Rank, to be long battering a Woman’s Constancy, so they ran greater Hazards in being expos’d in their Amours, than other Men did.

I took this for a satisfactory Answer, and told his Highness , that I had the same Thoughts, in respect to the Manner of his Attacks, for that his Person, and his Arguments, were irresistible; that a Person of his Rank, and a Munificence so unbounded, cou’d not be withstood; that no Virtue was Proof against him, except such, as was able too, to suffer Martyrdom; that I thought it impossible I cou’d be overcome, but that now I found it was impossible I shou’d not be overcome; that so much Goodness, join’d with so much Greatness, wou’d have conquer’d a Saint; and that I confess’d he had the Victory over me, by a Merit infinitely superior to the Conquest he had made.

He made me a most obliging Answer; told me, abundance of fine things, which still flatter’d my Vanity, till at last I began to have Pride enough to believe him, and fancy’d myself a fit Mistress for a Prince.

As I had thus given the Prince the Last Favour, and he had all the Freedom with me, that it was possible for me to grant, so he gave me Leave to use as much Freedom with him, another Way, and that was, to have every thing of him, I thought fit to command; and yet I did not ask of him with an Air of Avarice, as if I was greedily making a Penny of him; but I manag’d him with such Art, that he generally anticipated my Demands; he only requested of me, that I wou’d not think of taking another House, as I had intimated to his Highness that I had intended, not thinking it good enough to receive his Visits in; but, he said , my House was the most convenient that could possibly be found in all Paris , for an Amour, especially for him; having a Way out into Three Streets, and not overlook’d by any Neighbours, so that he could pass and repass, without Observation; for one of the Back ways open’d into a narrow dark Alley, which Alley was a Thorow-fare, or Passage, out of one Street into another; and any Person that went in or out by the Door, had no more to do, but to see, that there was no-body following him in the Alley, before he went in at the Door: This Request I knew was reasonable, and therefore I assur’d him, I wou’d not change my Dwelling, seeing his Highness did not think it too mean for me to receive him in.

He also desir’d me, that I wou’d not take any more Servants, or set up any Equipage, at least, for the present; for that it would then be immediately concluded, I had been left very Rich, and then I shou’d be throng’d with the Impertinence of Admirers, who wou’d be attracted by the Money, as well as by the Beauty of a young Widow, and he shou’d be frequently interrupted in his Visits; or, that the World wou’d conclude I was maintain’d by somebody, and wou’d be indefatigable to find out the Person; so that he shou’d have Spies peeping at him, every time he went out or in, which it wou’d be impossible to disappoint; [94] disappoint : deceive, thwart. and that he shou’d presently have it talk’d over all the Toilets in Paris , that the Prince de — had got the Jeweller’s Widow for a Mistress.

This was too just to oppose; and I made no Scruple to tell his Highness , that since he had stoop’d so low as to make me his own, he ought to have all the Satisfaction in the World, that I was all his own; that I would take all the Measures he should please to direct me, to avoid the impertinent Attacks of others; and that, if he thought fit, I would be wholly within-Doors, and have it given out, that I was oblig’d to go to England , to sollicit my Affairs there, after my Husband’s Misfortune; and that I was not expected there again for at least a Year or two: This he lik’d very well, only, he said , that he would by no means have me confin’d; that it would injure my Health; and that I should then take a Country-House in some Village, a good-way off of the City, where it should not be known who I was; and that I should be there sometimes, to divert me.

I made no Scruple of the Confinement, and told his Highness , no Place could be a Confinement, where I had such a Visiter; and so I put off the Country-House, which would have been to remove myself farther from him, and have less of his Company; so I made the House be, as it were, shut up; Amy , indeed, appear’d; and when any of the Neighbours and Servants enquir’d, she answer’d in broken French , that I was gone to England , to look after my Affairs; which presently went current thro’ the Streets about us: For, you are to note, that the People of Paris , especially the Women, are the most busie and impertinent Enquirers into the Conduct of their Neighbours, especially that of a Single Woman, that are in the World; tho’ there are no greater Intriguers in the Universe than themselves; and perhaps that may be the Reason of it; for it is an old, but a sure Rule; that

When deep Intrigues are close and shy,

The GUILTY are the first that spy. [95] When deep Intrigues… the first that spy : untraced.

Thus his Highness had the most easie, and yet the most undiscoverable Access to me, imaginable, and he seldom fail’d to come two or three Nights in a Week, and sometimes stay’d two or three Nights together: Once he told me, he was resolv’d I should be weary of his Company, and that he would learn to know what it was to be a Prisoner; so he gave out among his Servants, that he was gone to —, where he often went a-Hunting, and that he should not return under a Fortnight; and that Fortnight he stay’d wholly with me, and never went out of my Doors.