once more to that beneficence
which had never failed him, or of seeing Monimia starve, he chose the
first, as of two evils the least, and intrusted Fathom with a letter
explaining the bitterness of his case. It was not without trepidation
that he received in the evening from his messenger an answer to this
billet; but what were his pangs when he learned the contents! The
gentleman, after having professed himself Melvil's sincere well-wisher,
gave him to understand, that he was resolved for the future to detach
himself from every correspondence which would be inconvenient for him to
maintain; that he considered his intimacy with the Count in that light;
yet, nevertheless, if his distress was really as great as he had
described it, he would still contribute something towards his relief; and
accordingly had sent by the bearer five guineas for that purpose; but
desired him to take notice, that, in so doing, he laid himself under some
difficulty.

Renaldo's grief and mortification at this disappointment were
unspeakable. He now saw demolished the last screen betwixt him and the
extremity of indigence and woe; he beheld the mistress of his soul
abandoned to the bleakest scenes of poverty and want; and he deeply
resented the lofty strain of the letter, by which he conceived himself
treated as a worthless spendthrift and importunate beggar. Though his
purse was exhausted to the last shilling; though he was surrounded with
necessities and demands, and knew not how to provide another meal for his
fair dependent, he, in opposition to all the suggestions and eloquence of
Fathom, despatched him with the money and another billet, intimating, in
the most respectful terms, that he approved of his friend's new-adopted
maxim, which, for the future, he should always take care to remember; and
that he had sent back the last instance of his bounty, as a proof how
little he was disposed to incommode his benefactor.

This letter, though sincerely meant, and written in a very serious mood,
the gentleman considered as an ungrateful piece of irony, and in that
opinion complained to several persons of the Count's acquaintance, who
unanimously exclaimed against him as a sordid, unthankful, and profligate
knave, that abused and reviled those very people who had generously
befriended him, whenever they found it inconvenient to nourish his
extravagance with further supplies. Notwithstanding these accumulated
oppressions, he still persevered wi