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The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom

by Tobias SMOLLETT (1721 - 1771)

Chapter 49

You can call me Dr. Fathom. Or Count Fathom. But I'm not who I say I am. And can you blame me? My mother was a soldiers' harlot who pocketed extra loot by wandering through the battlefield stripping the dead and dying of valuables. I don't even know who my father was, except he must have had my handsome looks. People liked looking at me. And people liked how I talked too. Early on, I learned that telling the truth didn't get you the same quick reward as telling them what they wanted to hear, being assiduously charming, dissimulating. In a word, lying. I became good at it. And I became the favorite of a rich Hungarian count who took me in and coaxed his pathetically naïve son to look up to me and learn to be like me. Ha! How I wanted to sell my soul to trade places with Renaldo! I wanted his money. I wanted his beautiful life. I wanted his beautiful wife -- at least for an extra notch on my belt. This is the story of how I went about achieving those things. It was easy, especially at first. Because, to tell the truth, people secretly yearn for tall tales. - Summary by Arthur Krolman

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Listen next episodes of The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom:
Chapter 50 , Chapter 51 , Chapter 52 , Chapter 53 , Chapter 54 , Chapter 55 , Chapter 56 , Chapter 57 , Chapter 58 , Chapter 59 , Chapter 60 , Chapter 61 , Chapter 62 , Chapter 63 , Chapter 64 , Chapter 65 , Chapter 66 , Chapter 67