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Les liaisons dangereuses, volume 1 (of 2) / or, Letters collected in a private society and published for the instruction of others cover

Les liaisons dangereuses, volume 1 (of 2) / or, Letters collected in a private society and published for the instruction of others

Chapter 78: LETTER THE SIXTY-NINTH CÉCILE VOLANGES TO THE CHEVALIER DANCENY
By Choderlos de Laclos
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About This Book

The narrative is assembled from letters exchanged among members of an elite social circle, each voice disclosing private schemes and motives. Two seasoned manipulators orchestrate seductions and betrayals that draw in a devout woman, an inexperienced young woman, and a hopeful young musician, treating intimacy as a tool of influence. The correspondence lays bare hypocrisy, sexual politics, and the fragile value of reputation while shifting perspective between conspirators and victims. As secrets accumulate, the letters trace the widening harm of calculated deceit and leave readers with unresolved questions about responsibility and moral consequence.

LETTER THE SIXTY-NINTH
CÉCILE VOLANGES TO THE CHEVALIER DANCENY

(A note written in pencil, and copied out by Danceny)

You ask me what I am doing; I love you and I weep. My mother no longer speaks to me; she has taken pens, ink, and paper away from me; I am making use of a pencil which has happily been left to me, and I am writing on a fragment of your letter. I needs must approve all you have done; I love you too well not to take every means of having news of you and of giving you my own. I did not like M. de Valmont, and I did not know he was so great a friend of yours; I will try to get used to him, and I will love him for your sake. I do not know who it is that has betrayed us; it can only be my waiting-maid or my confessor. I am very miserable: we are going to the country to-morrow; I do not know for how long. My God! to see you no more! I have no more room: adieu, try to read me. These words traced in pencil will perhaps be effaced, but never the sentiments engraved on my heart.

Paris, 10th September, 17**.