Thus I ventured myself again among men, and began
to play a part in the world. I was obliged, it is true, to assume many
peculiarities and humors, but such become the rich, and, so long
as the truth continued to be concealed, I enjoyed all the honor and
respect which were paid to my wealth. I looked more calmly forward to
the promised visit of the mysterious unknown, at the end of the year
and the day.
I felt, indeed, that I must not remain long in a place where I had
once been seen without a shadow, and where I might easily be betrayed.
Perhaps I yet thought too much of the manner in which I had introduced
myself to Thomas John, and it was a mortifying recollection. I would
therefore here merely make an experiment, to present myself with more
ease and self-reliance elsewhere, but that now occurred which held me
a long time riveted to my vanity, for there it is in the man that the
anchor bites the firmest ground.
Even the lovely Fanny, whom I in this place again encountered, honored
me with some notice without recollecting ever to have seen me before;
for I now had wit and sense. As I spoke, people listened, and I could
not, for the life of me, comprehend myself how I had arrived at the
art of maintaining and engrossing so easily the conversation. The
impression which I perceived that I had made on the fair one, made
of me just what she desired--a fool; and I thenceforward followed her
through shade and twilight wherever I could.
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