Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) Part 4, Letters 171-175 Summary

Letter 171: Madame de Rosemonde to the Chevalier Danceny

Madame de Rosemonde will refrain from lodging a complaint against Danceny, but she asks that she be allowed to keep the letters in her possession unless he needs them for some legal defense.
She won't disclose their contents to anyone.
She also asks that he give her all Cécile's letters; she doesn't want to cause any more pain to Madame de Volanges.

Madame de Rosemonde tells her friend that the rumors about the Marquise don't come close to the full truth. The truth is "a pack of horrors." Trust her.
She advises not to reject her daughter's vocation and not to inquire into the reasons for her advice.

Not content to be kept in the dark, Madame de Volanges tries to piece the puzzle together and asks confirmation from Madame de Rosemonde.
What she's imagining is so bad that the truth can't be any worse.
She tells Madame de Rosemonde what she already knows, that Cécile was hot for Danceny.
She's afraid that the two of them might have sneaked some time together when she wasn't around to stop them.
She's afraid her daughter's made a huge mistake by taking vows at the convent, and her only hope is that Danceny might do right by her and marry her.
Madame de Volanges has heard some shocking news about Madame de Merteuil.
She went to the theater and sat in her usual box. She was totally ignored by everyone.
At the after-party, people started to murmur when she showed up. Several women got up with the Marquise sat down next to them, and all the men applauded that.
Then, to her bad luck, Prévan enters the room and everyone cheers.
When Madame de Merteuil's carriage arrives, she leaves, and the murmurs turn to jeers.
That evening she comes down with a fever. And develops smallpox.
Madame de Volanges is convinced it would be a good thing for Madame de Merteuil if she died from it.
All the disclosures of her wicked ways aren't going to help one bit in her lawsuit, either.
So the wicked are punished, but Madame de Volanges doesn't see that it helps their victims at all.

Danceny accepts the terms that a Madame de Rosemonde set down regarding the letters.
He's furious with the Marquise for corrupting Cécile.
He doesn't love Cécile any more, but he can't hate her. Any innocent young girl could be as easily led astray by the likes of the Marquise and Valmont.
He asks Madame de Rosemonde if she thinks he's done everything he should regarding this situation.
When she's assured him of it, he plans to travel to Malta and take vows that will shut him off from the world. He just wants to forget everything.

Madame de Volanges thinks she was right to believe that the Marquise de Merteuil would have been better off dying from smallpox.
She recovered, but she's been left horribly disfigured. She even lost an eye to the disease and apparently looks pretty hideous.
Someone mentions that her soul is now visible on her face.
She also loses the lawsuit brought against her, and she's now heavily in debt.
She flees to Holland, taking her diamonds, jewels, and whatever else she can get her hands on so her creditors can't get anything.
All her servants refuse to go with her.
Her relatives are left to try to pay off her debts.
Madame de Volanges, as a distant relative, plans to help with that, but first she has to go to the convent to watch her daughter take her vows.
She knows that Danceny has left for Malta and wishes there were still time to bring him back.
She wishes she knew the extent of her daughter's guilt; it's hard for a mother to imagine her daughter involved in such terrible things.
But she knows that thinking about couldn't have prevented it, and it sure won't be of any help in getting over it.
"Publisher's" note: This is all there is. He's not prepared, for reasons of his own, to tell what eventually happened to Cécile and Madame de Merteuil. Inquiring minds might want to know, but they'll have to wait.