Fool that I was! I used to regret the time that I sacrificed to the customary ceremonies.
How should I now be punished, by being obliged to return to Paris!
Fortunately there must be four to make a whist party; and as there is no one here but the curate of the place, my eternal aunt has pressed me much to sacrifice a few days to her; you may judge, I did not refuse her.
You can't conceive how much she caresses me ever since; and above all, how much she is edified by seeing me so regular at mass and at prayers.
But little does she imagine the divinity I adore there.
Thus, in the space of four days, have I given myself up to a violent passion.
You are no stranger to the impetuosity of my desires, and how readily all obstacles fly before me: but I'll tell you what you don't know, that solitude adds immensely to the ardour of desire.
I have but one idea; I cherish it by day, and dream on't by night.
I must possess this woman, lest I should be so ridiculous as to be in love; for whither may we not be led by frustrated desire?
Oh, delicious enjoyment! I implore thee for my happiness, and, above all, for my repose.
How happy it is for us, that the women make so weak a defence!
Were it otherwise, we should be but their cowardly slaves.
I feel myself at this moment penetrated with gratitude towards complaisant ladies, which, naturally leads me to you, at whose feet I prostrate myself to obtain my pardon, and finish this already too long letter.
Adieu, my charming friend!
Castle of ——, Aug. 3, 17—. _____
LETTER V.
The MARCHIONESS DE MERTEUIL, to the VISCOUNT VALMONT. _____
Do you know, Viscount, your letter is wonderfully insolent, and has almost made me angry?
But it plainly proves that you have lost your reason; and that consideration alone suppresses my indignation.
Like a tender and generous friend, I forget my own injury, and am wholly taken up with your danger; and irksome as it is to enter into argument, I yield to the necessity of it at this time.
You possess the Presidente Tourvel!
What a ridiculous extravagance!
I here plainly perceive your downright folly, whose nature is to desire that you cannot obtain.
But let's examine this woman.
She has regular features, it's true, but a total want of expression; a tolerable shape, but without the least elegance; dresses most horridly, with a bundle of ruffs about her neck, and her stays up to her chin.
I tell you as a friend, two such women would be quite sufficient to ruin your reputation.
Do you remember the day she collected for the poor at St. Roch, when you thank'd me so much for the view of so curious an exhibition.
I think I see her still giving her hand to that great looby with the long hair, ready to fall at each step with her calash of four ells over every one's head, and blushing at every courtesy.
Who then would have dared to tell you, you will sigh for this woman?
For shame, Viscount! Blush yourself, and return to reason.
I'll promise to keep this matter secret.
Let us now examine the disagreeable consequences that await you.
What rival have you to encounter?
A husband.
Don't you feel yourself humiliated at that name?
What a shame if you fail! and if you succeed, where is the glory?—I go farther: pleasure is out of the question; for who ever had any with a prude?
I mean, with a sincere one: reserv'd in the very bosom of pleasure, they give you but half enjoyments.
The entirely devoting one's self, that delirium of voluptuousness, where pleasure is refined by excess—all those gifts of love are strangers to them.
I'll prognosticate for you: suppose your summit of happiness, you'll find your Presidente will think she has done enough in treating you as a husband; and, be assured, that in the most tender conjugal tete-a-tete, the numerical distinction two is always apparent.
But in this case it is much worse; your prude is a devotee, and of that sort you are in a perpetual state of childhood; perhaps you may get over this obstacle: but don't flatter yourself that you'll annihilate it. Should you conquer the love of God, you'll not be able to dispel the fear of the devil; and though in holding your charmer in your arms, you may feel her heart palpitate, it will be from fear, not love.
You might, perhaps, had you known this woman sooner, have made something of her; but she is now two-and-twenty, and has been married almost two years.
Believe me, Viscount, when a woman is so far incrusted, she must be left to her fate; she will never be any thing more than an undistinguishable individual of a species.
And for such a curious object you refuse to obey me; you bury yourself in your aunt's sepulchre; you abandon a most delicious adventure that is marked out for the advancement of your reputation.
By what fatality is it, that Gercourt must always have the advantage of you?
I declare I am not out of temper: but at this instant I am inclined to think you don't deserve the reputation you possess; and I consider your conduct with such a degree of indignation, as tempts me to withdraw my confidence from you.
No, I never can bring myself to make Madame de Tourvel's lover the confidant of my secret designs.
I will tell you, however, that the little Volanges has made a conquest.
Young Danceny is distracted for her.
He has sung with her, and she really sings better than belongs to a convent boarder.
They have yet many duos to rehearse together, and I am much mistaken if she would not readily get into unison with him; it is true, Danceny is but a boy yet, who will waste his time in making love, but never will come to the point.