Episode 1: The Proposal (Part 1, Letters 1–25) · Gefährliche Liebschaften

The publisher must warn the reader that, despite the title of this work and what the editor says in his preface, we cannot guarantee the authenticity of this collection, and we even have strong reasons to believe it is only a novel. In our enlightened century, it is hard to believe that such behavior could exist.

Cécile Volanges to Sophie Carnay, at the Ursuline convent

You see, my dear, I keep my word: bonnets and pompons do not take up all my time, and I shall always have some left for you. I have a room of my own, a maid of my own, a writing desk with a key, and a harp. I have seen more finery today than in the four years we spent together. But Mamma has told me nothing, nothing at all, about why I have been brought home, though I am sure it is to be married.

Just now a gentleman in black came in, and Mamma said, "This is my daughter." He knelt down before me and took hold of my foot. I was so frightened that I screamed, and everyone laughed. It was the shoemaker. I could have died of shame. Write to me soon, and tell me what everyone at the convent is saying.

The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont, at the Château de ——

Come back, my dear Vicomte, come back at once. What are you doing with an old aunt whose whole fortune is already promised to you? I need you. I have an idea that will please you, and it is worthy of a hero: you shall serve love and revenge at the same time.

You know the Comte de Gercourt. He left me for the Intendante, and you know that I have not forgotten. He is going to marry little Volanges, who has just come out of the convent, fifteen years old, a rose-bud, and as stupid as she is pretty. Gercourt has the most ridiculous ideas about the education of women: he believes that a girl raised in a convent is a guarantee against everything. I want you to undeceive him. Teach her, before her wedding, everything he imagines she does not know, so that he becomes the laughingstock of Paris on the very day after.

Come quickly. When you have succeeded, you shall have your reward.

The Vicomte de Valmont to the Marquise de Merteuil

Your orders are charming, and the way you give them is more charming still. But I cannot obey. I am engaged in the greatest enterprise of my life.

You know the Présidente de Tourvel, wife of a judge who is away at the courts in Burgundy, and who is spending some weeks here with my aunt. She is devout, she is faithful to a husband she does not love, and she has no idea of her own charm. That is the woman I want. Not to win her quickly, like the others, but to have her give up everything for me, God, virtue and duty, knowing exactly what she is losing, and feeling every step of it. To seduce a little convent girl who knows nothing — any schoolboy could do that. What I want is to make this woman believe in virtue and sacrifice it to me.

Do not laugh at me. I am in love, or at least I want her as I have never wanted anything.

The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont

Your Présidente! What do you see in her? She dresses as if she were going to church, she has no wit, and she wears her famous virtue like a cloak against the cold. If you succeed, what will you have won? A woman who will weep, pray and make you feel guilty. And if you fail, think how Paris will laugh: the great Valmont, defeated by a bigot.

I will not quarrel with you. But do not ask me to admire your choice.

Cécile Volanges to Sophie Carnay

There is a gentleman who comes to the house, the Chevalier Danceny. He sings with me, and he plays the harp very well, and he is teaching me new songs. He is very handsome, and very polite. When we sing together, I feel something I do not understand. I do not think I am in love, Sophie. But I like it very much when he comes.

The Chevalier Danceny to Cécile Volanges

Mademoiselle, I must tell you, though I tremble as I write: I love you. I have tried to hide it, and I cannot. I do not ask you for anything, only that you allow me to love you, and that you do not hate me for having told you so.

Cécile Volanges to Sophie Carnay

He has written to me! He loves me! And now I do not know what to do. A well-brought-up girl must not answer. But if I do not answer, he will think I am angry, and he will be unhappy, and that would be cruel. Tell me what to do, Sophie. I must not ask Mamma. Madame de Merteuil is very kind to me; perhaps I shall ask her.

The Vicomte de Valmont to the Marquise de Merteuil

I have discovered that my Présidente has set one of her servants to follow me when I go out hunting, to learn what I do. A spy! Very well; I shall give her something worth reporting.

I made inquiries, and learned that in a village nearby a poor family was about to have its furniture seized for taxes it could not pay. I went there, with my servant, and with her spy close behind. I paid the debt, gave them money besides, and was surrounded by a whole family on its knees, weeping and blessing me. I confess, Marquise, that a tear came to my own eyes, and I was surprised to feel a kind of pleasure in doing good. Perhaps the virtuous are not so foolish as we suppose. Whatever the case, the effect on the Présidente that evening was all I could wish.

The Présidente de Tourvel to Madame de Volanges

You warned me against Monsieur de Valmont, and I have been watching him carefully. But today I learned something that has changed my opinion. He went himself to a poor family in the village, paid their debts, and saved them from ruin, without telling anyone. A man capable of such an action cannot be wholly wicked. Perhaps he has been slandered. Perhaps he only needs a friend to bring him back to virtue.

Madame de Volanges to the Présidente de Tourvel

Be careful, my dear. You do not know this man. His charm is his most dangerous weapon. He has ruined more women than I could name, and he takes pleasure not in loving them but in destroying them, and then he boasts of it. If he has been generous before your eyes, ask yourself whom that generosity was meant to impress. I beg you, keep him at a distance.

(End of Episode 1 — continued in Episode 2: The Declaration)