LETTER THE SEVENTY-THIRD
THE VICOMTE DE VALMONT TO CÉCILE VOLANGES
(Delivered with the preceding)
The friend who serves you knows that you have no writing materials, and he has already provided for this want. You will find in the ante-room of the apartment you occupy, beneath the great press, on the left-hand side, a supply of pens, ink, and paper, which he will renew when you require it, and which, so it seems to him, you can leave in the same place, if you do not find a surer one.
He asks you not to be offended with him, if he seems to pay no attention to you in public, and only to regard you as a child. This behaviour seems to him necessary, in order to inspire the sense of security of which he has need, and to enable him to work more effectively for his friend’s happiness and your own. He will try to find occasions for speaking with you, when he has anything to tell you or give to you; and he hopes to succeed, if you show any zeal to second him.
He also advises you to return to him, successively, the letters which you may have received, in order that there may be less risk of your compromising yourself.
He concludes by assuring you that, if you will give him your confidence, he will take every care to alleviate the persecution that a too harsh mother is using against two persons of whom one is already his best friend, whilst the other seems to him worthy of the most tender interest.
At the Château de ..., 14th September, 17**.