of the former match--for, by this time, Fathom had given
him some hints, importing, that he was not ignorant of his treacherous
behaviour--roused, I say, by these considerations, he employed one of his
emissaries, who had some knowledge of Fathom's brother-in-law, to
prejudice him against our adventurer, whom he represented as a needy
sharper, not only overwhelmed with debt and disgrace, but likewise
previously married to a poor woman, who was prevented by nothing but want
from seeking redress at law. To confirm these assertions, he gave him a
detail of Fathom's encumbrances, which he had learned for the purpose,
and even brought the counsellor into company with the person who had
lived with our hero before marriage, and who was so much incensed at her
abrupt dismission, that she did not scruple to corroborate these
allegations of the informer.

The lawyer, startled at this intelligence, set on foot a minute inquiry
into the life and conversation of the doctor, which turned out so little
to the advantage of his character and circumstances, that he resolved, if
possible, to disunite him from his family; and, as a previous step,
repeated to his sister all that he had heard to the prejudice of her
husband, not forgetting to produce the evidence of his mistress, who laid
claim to him by a prior title, which, she pretended, could be proved by
the testimony of the clergyman who joined them. Such an explanation
could not fail to inflame the resentment of the injured wife, who, at the
very first opportunity, giving a loose to the impetuosity of her temper,
upbraided our hero with the most bitter invectives for his perfidious
dealing.

Ferdinand, conscious of his own innocence, which he had not always to
plead, far from attempting to soothe her indignation, assumed the
authority and prerogative of a husband, and sharply reprehended her for
her credulity and indecent warmth. This rebuke, instead of silencing,
gave new spirit and volubility to her reproaches, in the course of which
she plainly taxed him with want of honesty and affection, and said that,
though his pretence was love, his aim was no other than a base design
upon her fortune.

Fathom, stung with these accusations, which he really did not deserve,
replied with uncommon heat, and charged her in his turn with want of
sincerity and candour, in the false account she had given of that same
fortune before marriage. He even magnified his own condescension, in
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