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

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

Chapter 81: LETTER THE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVENTH ANONYMOUS TO M. LE CHEVALIER DANCENY
By Choderlos de Laclos
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

French LiteratureNovels

About This Book

A sustained correspondence among members of aristocratic society chronicles calculated schemes of seduction, rivalry, and revenge. Two former intimates manipulate others to assert power, exploiting youthful innocence and social expectations while a devoted suitor and a devout woman suffer from deceit. The epistolary structure exposes competing perspectives and private rationalizations, revealing hypocrisy, shifting alliances, and the corrosive effects of vanity and desire. As letters multiply, reputations are weaponized, emotional wreckage accumulates, and moral consequences lead to tragic outcomes, offering a portrait of interpersonal power struggles and the performative nature of social life.

LETTER THE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVENTH
ANONYMOUS TO M. LE CHEVALIER DANCENY

Monsieur,

I have the honour to inform you that this morning, in the corridors of the Court, there was talk amongst the King’s officers of the affair which you had a few days ago with M. le Vicomte de Valmont, and that it is to be feared that the Government will take proceedings against you. I thought that this warning might be of use to you, either to enable you to seek out what protection you have, to ward off these vexatious results; or, in the event of your being unable to succeed in this, to put you in a position to take measures for your personal safety.

If you will even permit me to give you a piece of advice, I think you would do well to show yourself less often than you have done during the last few days. Although, ordinarily, affairs of this sort are treated with indulgence, this respect nevertheless continues due to the law.

This precaution becomes all the more necessary in that it has come to my ears that a certain Madame de Rosemonde, who, I am told, is an aunt of M. de Valmont, wished to lodge a complaint against you, in which event the public officers could not refuse her requisition. It would not be amiss, perhaps, if you were able to communicate with this lady.

Private reasons prevent me from signing this letter. But I am acting on the consideration that you will not render less justice to the sentiment which has dictated it, because you know not from whom it comes.

I have the honour to be, etc.

Paris, 10th December, 17**.