menu_book Chapter 25

dangerous connections by pierre coderlo de la clau section twenty five letters one hundred and twenty one to one hundred and twenty five letter the hundred and twenty first the marquise de merteuil to the chevalier d'ancenie i have received your letter my too youthful friend but before i thank you i must scold you and i warn you that if you do not correct yourself you shall have no more answers from me quit then if you will believe me that tone of flattery which is no more than jargon when it is not the expression of love pray is that the language of friendship no my friend every sentiment has its befitting speech and to make use of any other is to disguise the thought which one expresses i am well aware that our frivolous women understand nothing that is said to them if it be not translated in some way into this customary jargon but i confess that i thought i deserved that you should distinguish between them and me i am truly grieved and perhaps more than i ought to be that you have judged me so ill

you will only find then in my letter the qualities which yours lacks frankness and simplicity i will certainly tell you for instance that it would give me great pleasure to see you and that i am vexed to have only tiresome people round me instead of people who please me but this very phrase you translate thus teach me to live where you are not so that i suppose when you are with your mistress you will not be able to live unless i make a third the pity of it and these women who always fail in being me perhaps you find that your cecile also fails in that that however is the result of a language which owing to the abuse made of it nowadays is even lower than the jargon of compliments and has become no more than a mere formula in which one no more believes than in a most humble servant my friend when you write to me let it be to tell me your fashion of thinking and feeling and not to send me phrases which i can find without your aid more or less well turned in any novel of the day

i hope you will not be angry at what i am telling you even if you should detect a little ill-humour for i do not deny i feel some but to avoid even the shadow of the fault for which i reproach you i will not tell you that this ill-humour is perhaps somewhat augmented by the distance at which i am from you it seems to me that all considered you are worth more than a lawsuit and two advocates perhaps even more than the attentive belleroghe you see that instead of despairing at my absence you ought to congratulate yourself upon it for i have never paid you so pretty a compliment i believe your example is catching and i too am inclined to flatter you but nay i prefer to keep to my frankness it is that alone then which assures you of my tender friendship and of the interest which it inspires in me it is very sweet to have a young friend whose heart is occupied elsewhere that is not the system of all women but it is mine it seems to me that one abandons one's self with more pleasure to a sentiment from which one can have nothing to fear

thus i have passed with you early enough perhaps into the rle of confidant but you choose your mistresses so young that you have made me perceive for the first time that i begin to grow old you have acted well in preparing for yourself a long career of constancy and i wish with all my heart that it may be reciprocated you are right in yielding to the pure and tender motives which according to what you tell me delay your happiness a long defence is the only merit left to those who do not resist always and what i should find unpardonable in any other than a child like the little volange would be the lack of knowledge how to escape a danger of which she has been amply forewarned by the confession she has made of her love you men have no idea of what virtue is nor of what it costs to sacrifice it but however incapable a woman may be of reasoning she ought to know that independently of the sin which she commits a frailty is the greatest of misfortunes to her and i cannot conceive how any one can ever let herself be caught if she has time for a moment's reflection on the subject

do not proceed to dispute this idea for it is this which principally attaches me to you you will save me from the perils of love and although i have known well enough hitherto to defend myself without your aid i consent to be grateful to you for it and i shall love you for it the more and better upon this my dear chevalier i pray god to have you in his good and holy keeping at the chateau de twenty second of october seventeen letter the hundred and twenty second madame de rosemonde to the presidente de i had hoped my amiable daughter to be able at last to calm your anxieties and i see with grief on the contrary that i must still augment them be calm however my nephew is not in danger i cannot even say that he is really ill but something extraordinary is assuredly passing within him i understand naught of it but i left his room with a sentiment of sadness perhaps even alarm which i reproach myself for causing you to share although i cannot refrain from discussing it with you

this is the narrative of what passed you may rest assured that it is a faithful one for if i were to live another eighty years i should never forget the impression which this sad scene made upon me i visited my nephew this morning i found him writing surrounded by sundry heaps of paper which seemed to be the object of his labours he was so busy that i was already in the middle of his chamber before he turned his head to discover who had entered as soon as he recognised me i noticed clearly that on rising he made an effort to compose his features and it was this fact perhaps which further attracted my attention in truth he made no toilette and wore no powder but i found him pale and wan and above all of a changed expression his glance which we have known so gay and keen was sad and downcast in short between ourselves i should not have cared for you to see him thus for he had a very pathetic air and most fitting i dare believe to inspire that tender pity which is one of the most dangerous snares of love

although impressed by what i had noticed i none the less commenced the conversation as though i had perceived nothing i spoke to him first of his health and though he did not tell me that it was good he nevertheless did not say that it was bad thereupon i complained of his retirement which had almost the air of a mania and i tried to infuse a little gaiety into my mild reproof but he only answered in heartfelt accents it is one wrong the more i confess but it shall be retrieved with the rest his expression even more than his words somewhat disturbed my playfulness and i hastened to tell him that he had attached too much importance to a mere friendly reproach we then commenced to talk quietly he told me soon afterwards that perhaps an affair the most important affair of his life would shortly recall him to paris but as i was afraid of guessing it my dearest fair and feared lest this prologue should lead up to a confidence which i did not desire i put no question to him and contented myself with replying that a little more dissipation would benefit his health

i added that this once i would not press him to remain as i loved my friends for themselves at this single expression he grasped my hands and in speaking with a vehemence which i cannot describe to you yes aunt he said to me love love well a nephew who respects and cherishes you and as you say love him for himself do not grieve about his happiness and do not trouble with any regret the eternal peace which he hopes soon to enjoy repeat to me that you love me that you forgive me yes you will forgive me i know your goodness but how can i hope for the same indulgence from those whom i have so greatly offended he then stooped over me to conceal as i think the signs of grief which in spite of himself the sound of his voice betrayed to me

moved more than i can say i rose precipitately and doubtless he noticed my alarm for at once growing more composed pardon me he resumed pardon me madame i feel that i am wandering in spite of my will i beg you to forget my remarks and only to remember my profound veneration i shall not fail he added to come and renew my respects to you before my departure it seemed to me that this last sentence suggested that i should bring my visit to a conclusion and i went away but the more i reflect on it the less i can guess what he wished to say what is this affair the most important of his life on what ground does he ask my forgiveness whence that involuntary emotion when he spoke to me i have already asked myself these questions a thousand times without being able to reply to them i do not even see anything therein which relates to you however as the eyes of love are more clear-sighted than those of friendship i was unwilling to leave you in ignorance of anything that passed between my nephew and myself

i have made four attempts to finish this long letter which would be longer still were it not for the fatigue i feel adieu my dearest fair at the chateau de twenty fifth october seventeen letter the hundred and twenty third the pair to the vicomte de valmont i have had the honour of receiving your letter monsieur le vicomte and yesterday i betook myself in accordance with your wishes to the person in question i explained to her the object and the motives of the visit you had asked me to pay her determined as she was upon the prudent course which she had adopted at first upon my pointing out to her that by a refusal she perhaps incurred a risk of putting an obstacle in the way of your happy return and also of opposing in some manner the merciful decrees of providence she consented to receive your visit always on condition that it shall be the last and has charged me to tell you that she will be at home on thursday next the twenty eighth if this day should not be convenient to you will you be so good as to inform her and appoint another your letter will be received meanwhile m le vicomte

permit me to invite you not to delay without grave reasons in order that you may be able to abandon yourself the sooner and more entirely to the laudable dispositions which you display to me remember that he who hesitates to improve the moment of grace runs the risk of its being withdrawn from him that if the mercy of god is infinite yet the use of it is regulated by justice and that a moment may come when the god of mercy shall turn into a god of vengeance If you continue to honour me with your confidence, I beg you to believe that all my attention shall be yours, as soon as you desire it. However greatly I may be busied, my most important business will ever be to fulfil the duties of my sacred office, to which I am peculiarly devoted, and the finest moment of my life will be that in which, by the blessing of the Almighty, I shall see my efforts prosper. Weak sinners that we are, we can do nothing by ourselves.

But the God who recalls you can do all, and we shall owe alike to his bounty, you the constant desire to be reconciled to him, and I the means of being your guide. It is by his aid that I hope soon to convince you that holy religion alone can give, even in this world, that solid and durable happiness which in the blindness of human passions we seek in vain. I have the honour to be, with respectful consideration, etc., Paris. 25th october 17 letter the hundred and twenty fourth the president de tourvel to madame de rosemonde in the midst of the astonishment in which the news i received yesterday has thrown me madame i cannot forget the satisfaction which it must cause you and i hasten to acquaint you with it monsieur de valmont is occupied neither with me nor with his love he would only retrieve by a more edifying life the faults or rather the errors of his youth i have been informed of this great event by the pre anselme to whom he applied for future direction and also in order to contrive an interview with me the principal object of which i judged to be the return of my letters which he had hitherto retained in spite of the request i had made of him to the contrary

doubtless i cannot but applaud this happy termination and felicitate myself if as he states i am in any way responsible for it but why needed it that i should be the instrument and why should it have cost me my life's repose could not m de valmont's happiness have been secured by any other means than my misery o my indulgent friend forgive me this complaint i know that it is not mine to question the decrees of god but whilst i pray to him ceaselessly and always in vain for strength to conquer my unhappy love he lavishes it on one who has not prayed for it and leaves me without succour utterly abandoned to my weakness but let me stifle this guilty plaint do i not know that the prodigal son on his return obtained more favour from his father than the son who had never been absent what account have we to ask from him who owes us nothing and even were it possible that we had any rights before him what had been my own could i boast of a virtue that already i do but owe to valmont he has saved me and how should i dare complain if i suffer for his sake

no my sufferings will be dear to me if his happiness is the price doubtless it was needful for him to return to the common father the god who made him must have cherished his handiwork he did not create this charming being only to be a reprobate tis for me to pay the penalty of my audacious imprudence ought i not to have felt that since it was forbidden me to love him i ought never to have allowed myself to see him tis my fault or my misfortune that i held out too long against this truth you are my witness my dear and venerable friend that i submitted to this sacrifice as soon as i recognized its necessity but it just failed in being complete in that m de valmont did not share it shall i confess to you that it is this idea which at present torments me most insufferable pride which sweetens the ills we bear by the thought of those we inflict i will conquer this rebellious heart i will accustom myself to humiliations it is above all to obtain this result that i have at last consented to receive on thursday next the painful visit of m de valmont then i shall hear him tell me himself that i am nothing to him that the weak and fugitive impression i had made upon him is entirely effaced

i shall see his gaze directed towards me without emotion whilst the fear of betraying my own will will make me lower my eyes those same letters which he refused so long to my repeated requests i shall receive from his indifference he will give them up to me as useless things which have no further interest for him and my trembling hands receiving this deposit of shame will feel that it is given to them by a hand which is firm and tranquil and then i shall see him depart from me depart for ever and my eyes which will follow him will not see his own look back to me and i have been reserved for so much humiliation ah let me at least make use of it by allowing it to impregnate me with the sentiment of my weakness yes these letters which he no longer cares to keep i will religiously preserve i will impose on myself the shame of reading them daily until the last traces of them are effaced by my tears and his own i will burn as infected by the dangerous poison which has corrupted my soul oh what is this love then if it makes us regret even the risks to which it has exposed us if one can be afraid of feeling it still even when one no longer inspires it

let us shun this dire passion which leaves no choice betwixt misery or shame nay often unites them both let prudence at least replace virtue how far away is thursday still why can i not this instant consummate the grievous sacrifice and forget at once its object and its cause this visit troubles me i repent my promise of it alas what need has he to see me again what are we to one another now if he has offended me i forgive him i congratulate him even on his wish to repair his faults i praise him for it i will do more i will imitate him and i who have been beguiled by like airs shall be brought back by his example but since his intention is to flee from me why does he begin by seeking me out what is most urgent for either of us is it not that each should forget the other doubtless that is so and that henceforth shall be my sole care if you will permit me my amiable friend i will come to you in order to occupy myself with this arduous task if i have need of succor perhaps even of consolation i will not receive it from any other than you you alone know how to understand me and to speak to my heart

your precious friendship shall fill my whole existence nothing shall seem too difficult for me to second the care that you must take of yourself i shall owe you my tranquillity my happiness my virtue and the fruit of your kindness to me will be that at last i shall become worthy of it i have written very wildly i think in this letter i gather so at least from the trouble which has unceasingly harassed me whilst writing if any sentiments occur in it at which i ought to blush cover them with the indulgence of your friendship i rely upon it entirely it is not from you that i would hide any of the movements of my heart adieu my venerable friend i hope in a few days to announce the day of my arrival paris twenty fifth october seventeen blank letter the hundred and twenty fifth the vicomte de valmont to the marquise de merteuil ah behold her vanquished then this proud woman who dared to think she could resist me yes my friend she is mine mine entirely since yesterday there is nothing left for her to grant me

i am still too full of my happiness to be able to appreciate it but i am amazed at the unknown charm i have experienced can it be true then that virtue enhances the value of a woman even at the very moment of her fall nay let us relegate this puerile notion with other old wives tales does one not almost always encounter a more or less well-feigned resistance at a first triumph and have i found elsewhere the charm of which i speak yet it is not that of love for after all if i have sometimes had with some astounding woman moments of weakness which resembled that pusillanimous passion i have always known how to overcome them and return to my principles even if the scene of yesterday had carried me as i believe it did somewhat further than i counted on

even if for a moment i shared the trouble and intoxication which i caused that passing illusion would be dissipated by now and nevertheless the same charm subsists i should even find i confess a sweet enough pleasure in abandoning myself to it if it did not cause me some anxiety shall i be dominated at my age like a schoolboy by an unknown and involuntary sentiment nay i must before all combat it and understand it perhaps as far as that goes i have already caught a glimpse of the cause i am pleased with this idea at any rate and i would fain have it true in the crowd of women with whom i have hitherto played the part and performed the functions of lover i had never yet met one who had not at least as much desire to give herself as i had to persuade her to it

i was even in the habit of calling those women prudes who did no more than meet me half-way in contrast to so many others whose provocative defence did but imperfectly conceal the first advances they had made here on the contrary i met with a preconceived unfavourable prejudice which was subsequently strengthened by the advice and stories of a spiteful but clear-sighted woman a natural and extreme timidity fortified by an enlightened modesty an attachment to virtue directed by religion with already two years of victory to its account finally a vigorous course of conduct inspired by these different motives which all had for their aim escape from my pursuit it is not then as in my other adventures a mere capitulation more or less advantageous whereof it is easier to take advantage than to be proud

it is a complete victory purchased at the cost of a hard campaign and determined by cunning manoeuvres tis not surprising then that this success due to myself alone should seem all the more precious to me and the excess of pleasure which i experienced when i triumphed and which i feel still is no more than the sweet impression of the sentiment of glory i cherish this point of view which saves me from the humiliation of thinking that i can be in any manner dependent upon the slave whom i have subjected that i do not possess in myself alone the plenitude of my happiness and that the power of giving me the whole energy of pleasure should be reserved to such or such a woman excluding all the others

these deliberate reflections shall regulate my conduct on this important occasion and you may rest assured that i will not let myself be enchained to such a degree that i cannot always play with these new bonds and break them at my will but i am talking to you already of my rupture while you do not yet know the means by which i have acquired my rights read then and learn to what virtue is exposed when it seeks to succour folly i studied so attentively my conversation and the replies i obtained that i hope to be able to repeat them to you with a precision that will delight you you will see from the copies of the two letters enclosed what mediator i chose to reconcile me with my fair and what zeal the holy personage employed to reunite us

one thing more i must tell you which i learnt from a letter intercepted in the usual way the fear and the petty humiliation of being quitted had somewhat disturbed the austere puritan's prudence and had filled her head with sentiments which were none the less interesting because they were not common sense it was after these preliminaries necessary for you to know that yesterday thursday the twenty eighth the day settled and appointed by the ingrate i presented myself before her in the quality of a timid and repentant slave to leave her crowned with victory it was six o'clock in the evening when i came to the fair recluse for since her return her door has been shut to every one she attempted to rise when i was announced but her trembling knees did not allow her to remain in this position she immediately resumed her seat

she showed signs of impatience because the servant who had introduced me had some task to perform in the apartment we filled up the interval with the customary compliments but in order to waste no time when moments were so precious i carefully examined the locality and at once my eye fixed upon the scene of my victory i could have wished for one more suitable although there was an ottoman in that very room but i noticed that facing it was a portrait of the husband and i confess that with such a singular woman i was afraid lest one haphazard glance in that direction should destroy the result of all my labours at last we were left alone and i broached the question after having explained in a few words that the pere anselme must have informed her of the motives of my visit

i complained of the severe treatment i had been subject to and dwelt particularly on the scorn which had been displayed me she defended herself as i expected and as you would expect yourself i founded my proofs on the distrust and fear which i had inspired on the scandalous flight which had ensued her refusal to answer my letters even to receive them etc etc as she was commencing a justification which would have been very easy i felt bound to interrupt her and to obtain pardon for this brusque proceeding i covered it at once with a flattery if so many charms i went on have made so profound an impression on my heart the effect of so many virtues has been no less upon my soul led away in no doubt by my desire to approach them i dared to deem myself worthy

i do not reproach you for having judged otherwise but i am punished for my mistake as she maintained an embarrassed silence i continued it was my wish madame either to justify myself in your eyes or to obtain from you pardon for the wrongs you suppose me to have committed so that i can at least end with a certain tranquillity days to which i attach no more value since you have refused to embellish them here however she endeavoured to reply my duty did not permit me and the difficulty of completing the lie which duty required did not permit her to finish the phrase i resumed therefore in a more tender tone is it true that it is from me you have fled my departure was necessary and that you drive me away from you it must be so and for ever

i must i have no need to tell you that during this short dialogue the voice of the gentle prude was oppressed and that her eyes were not raised to mine i judged it my duty to give this languid scene a touch of animation thus rising with an air of vexation your firmness i then said restores to me all my own yes madame we shall be separated even more than you think and you may congratulate yourself at your leisure over the success of your handiwork somewhat surprised at this tone of reproach she sought to reply the resolution you have taken said she it is but the result of my despair i resumed with passion you wished me to be unhappy i will prove that you have succeeded even beyond your hopes

i desire your happiness she answered and the sound of her voice began to announce a strong emotion casting myself therefore on my knees before her and in that dramatic tone which you know is mine ah cruel one i cried can any happiness exist for me in which you have no share where can i find it away from you oh never never i confess that in abandoning myself to this extent i had counted much on the support of tears but either from ill disposition or perhaps owing to the constant and painful attention i was giving to everything it was impossible for me to weep luckily i remembered that in order to subjugate a woman all means are equally good

and that it would be sufficient to astound her by some great change of manner in order to produce an impression at once favourable and profound thus for the sensibility which proved lacking i substituted terror and for that merely changing the inflection of my voice and keeping in the same posture yes i continued i make this vow at your feet to possess you or die as i uttered these last words our eyes met i know not what the timid creature saw or thought she saw in mine but she rose with a terrified air and escaped from the arm with which i had encircled her it is true i did nothing to retain her for i had often remarked that scenes of despair rendered in too lively a key became ridiculous if they were unduly prolonged

or left one only such really tragic resources as i was very far from wishing to take however whilst she withdrew from me i added in a low and ominous whisper but loud enough for her to hear me well then death i then rose and after a moment's silence cast upon her vocif at random wild glances which were none the less clear-sighted and observant for their distracted air her ill-assured attitude her heavy breathing the contraction of all her muscles the half-raised position of her trembling arms all gave sufficient proof to me that the effect was such as i had wished to produce but since in love nothing ever finishes except at close quarters and we were still at some distance from one another it became necessary before all things to draw together it was in order to succeed in this that i passed as soon as possible to an appearance of tranquillity capable of calming the effects of so violent a condition without weakening its impression

this was my transition i am very miserable it was my wish to live for your happiness and i have troubled it i devote myself for your peace and i trouble it too then with a composed but constrained air forgive me madam little accustomed as i am to the storms of passion i know ill how to repress its movements if i was wrong to abandon myself to them at least remember tis for the last time ah be calm be calm i conjure you and during this long speech i insensibly drew nearer if you would have me be calm replied the frightened fair pray be more tranquil yourself

ah well yes i promise you said i i added in a fainter voice if the effort be great at least it is not for long but i continued with a distraught air i came did i not to return you your letters for mercy's sake deign to take them back this sorrowful sacrifice remains for me to perform leave me naught which may tend to diminish my courage and drawing the precious collection from my pocket behold said i the deceitful receptacle of your assurances of friendship it bound me to life take it back from me give me thus yourself the signal which must separate me from you for ever here my timorous mistress gave way entirely to her tender concern

but monsieur de valmont what is the matter with you and what is it you would say is not the step which you took yesterday a voluntary one is it not the fruit of your own reflections and are they not the same which led you yourself to approve the inevitable course which duty has made me adopt well then i answered that course is responsible for my own and what is that the only one which while it separates me from you can put an end to my pain but answer me what is it here i clasped her in my arms nor did she defend herself in any way and judging from the forgetfulness of the proprieties how strong and potent was her emotion adorable creature said i risking a little enthusiasm you have no conception of the love which you inspire in me you will never know to what an extent you were adored

and how much dearer this sentiment was to me than existence may all your days be calm and fortunate may they be adorned with all the happiness which you have ravished from me reward this sincere prayer by a regret a tear at least believe that the last sacrifice which i shall make will not be the most grievous to my heart farewell whilst i spoke thus i felt her heart throbbing violently i observed the changed expression of her face i saw above all that her tears were choking her and yet were few and painful in their flow it was not till then that i resolved to feign departure when retaining me forcibly

nay listen to me she said quickly leave me i answered you shall listen to me it is my wish i must flee from you i must no she cried at this last word she flung herself or rather fell swooning into my arms as i was still doubtful of so fortunate a success i feigned the utmost alarm but alarmed as i was i led her or carried her to the spot i had originally fixed upon as the field of my triumph and in truth she did not return to herself until she was submissive and already abandoned to her happy conqueror ah thus far my lovely friend you will find i believe a purity of method which will give you pleasure

and you will see that i departed in nothing from the true principles of that war which as we have often remarked so strongly resembles the real war judge me then as though i had been frdric or turenne i was forced to combat an enemy who would do nothing but temporize by scientific manoeuvres i obtained the choice of positions and of the field i was able to inspire the enemy with confidence in order the more easily to catch up with him in his retreat i was able to add terror to this feeling before the fight was engaged i left nothing to chance except in my consideration of a great advantage in case of success and the certainty of resources in case of defeat in short i did not engage until i had an assured retreat by which i could cover and preserve all that i had previously conquered

that is i believe all that one can do but i am afraid at present lest like hannibal i may be enervated by the delights of capua now for what has passed since i fully expected that such a great event would not be accomplished without the customary tears and despair and if i noticed at first somewhat more confusion and a sort of shrinking i attributed both to the character of the prude thus without concerning myself with these slight differences which i thought purely local i simply followed the high road of consolation thoroughly persuaded that as happens ordinarily sensations would assist sentiment and that a single action would do more than any speech which last however i did not neglect

but i met with a really alarming resistance less indeed from its excessive character than from the form under which it was displayed imagine a woman seated of an immovable rigour and an unchanging face having the air neither of thinking hearing nor understanding whose fixed eyes give issue to a continuous stream of tears which fall however without an effort such was madame de tourvel whilst i was speaking but if i tried to recall her attention to me by the caress by even the most innocent gesture this apparent apathy was at once succeeded by terror gasping for breath convulsions sobs and at intervals cries but with not an articulate word

these cries were resumed several times and always more loudly the last even was so violent that i was entirely discouraged by it and feared for a moment that i had won a useless victory i fell back upon the customary commonplaces and amongst their number found this one and you are in despair because you have made my happiness at this word the adorable woman turned towards me and her face although still rather wild had nevertheless resumed already its celestial expression your happiness she said you can guess my answer you are happy then i redoubled my protestations and happy through me i joined praises and tender speeches whilst i was speaking all her limbs grew supple she sank down languorously leaning back in her armchair

and yielding to me a hand which i had ventured to take i feel said she that that idea consoles and relieves me you may judge that thus shown the way i no longer left it it was really the right and perhaps the only one so that when i would fain attempt a second success i met at first with a certain resistance and what had passed before rendered me circumspect but having summoned this same idea of my happiness to my aid i soon perceived its favourable effects you are right the tender creature said to me i can no longer support my existence except in so far as it may serve to render you happy i devote myself entirely to that from this moment i give myself to you and you shall meet on my side neither with refusals nor regrets

it was with this candour naive or sublime that she abandoned to me her person and her charms and enhanced my happiness by participating in it the intoxication was reciprocal and complete and for the first time mine survived the pleasure oh i only left her arms to fall at her knees and swear an eternal love to her and to tell the whole truth i believed what i said and even after we had separated the idea of her never left me and i was obliged to make an effort in order to distract myself why are you not here at least to counterbalance the charm of the action by that of the reward

but i shall lose nothing by waiting is that not so and i hope i may consider as settled the happy arrangement which i proposed to you in my last letter you see that i fulfil my word and as i promised you my affairs will be sufficiently advanced to enable me to give you a portion of my time hasten then to dismiss your heavy bellerush and leave the mawkish d'incigny where he is to occupy yourself only with me but what are you doing so long in the country that you do not even answer me do know that i should like to scold you but happiness tends to indulgence and then i do not forget that in entering once more the ranks of your adorers i submit anew to your little fantasies remember however that the new lover will lose no whit of the former rights of a friend

adieu as of old yes adieu my angel i send thee all the kisses of love p s do you know that prvent after his months of prison has been obliged to leave his regiment it is the news of all paris to-day truly he is cruelly punished for a sin which he did not commit and your success is complete paris twenty ninth october seventeen End of section 25