To Papon Lomini, Law student, Hôtel d’Anjou, rue Serpente, Paris

June 18, 1818

Dear sir,

Perhaps you haven’t understood me. The tone of your writing is very different from what you have said.  Haven’t you very often taken my side, regarding the unworthy behavior of your cousin, Etienne Priur? How many times have you chided him, in front of myself and your friends, for his impertinence? Haven’t you urged him to leave me alone and give me back my life, and hasn’t he promised to do just that? 

That’s how you’ve always spoken, but now, not at all what you’ve written. Do you think that this subterfuge will make me forget your poor behavior toward me, or Etienne’s, who left Paris without telling me, so that I wouldn’t be able to find him in his retreat? No, none of this will fool me. 

You tell me this young man wants to devote himself to God, and, unable to serve two masters at once, he had abandoned some portion of his power to you, unwilling to part with that which his own. So why do you break the promise you made to me, to rescue me from this terrible predicament you constantly keep me in, one of you or the other? After all, I must belong either to you or to him. This morning, I had another visit from you, or some other member of your society. You and your friends must derive some great enjoyment from all this! And not content with tormenting me, you also make my poor Coco suffer. You are, truly, redefining wickedness. 

I don’t see any benefit to sending you a duplicate of the letters I wrote to Etienne, I’d hoped you’d show them to his father when the holiday takes you to Moulins. I don’t think it would lead to any conclusion that benefits you. Thinking back on your last letter, you’ve never spoken to me in this manner. Why the change in tone? You sang a different tune when I did some small favors for your cousin, and now, like you, he calls me crazy. How many other people could he have found who would have treated him like a friend. And now, you want to pass me off as crazy. 

Your servant, 

M.B. 

P.S. Based on your response, I’ll be moderating my conduct toward Etienne. I’ll write to him indirectly, if I must write to him.