to be all the more
redoubtable, as he is the sort of a man I have been advising you to
be. I know the Chevalier; nobody is more competent than he to carry a
seduction to a successful conclusion. I am willing to wager anything
that his heart has never been touched. He makes advances to the
Countess in cold blood. You are lost. A lover as passionate as you
have appeared to be, makes a thousand blunders. The most favorable
designs would perish under your management. He permits everybody to
take the advantage of him on every occasion. Indeed, such is his
misfortune that his precipitation and his timidity injure his
prospects by turns.

A man who makes love for the pleasure he finds in it, profits by the
smallest advantage; he knows the feeble places and makes himself
master of them. Everything leads his way, everything is combined for
his purpose. Even his imprudences are often the result of wise
reflection; they help him along the road to success; they finally
acquire so superior a position that, from their beginning, so to
speak, dates the hour of his triumph.

You must be careful, Marquis, not to go to extremes; you must not show
the Countess enough love to lead her to understand the excess of your
passion. Give her something to be anxious about; compel her to take
heed lest she lose you, by giving her opportunities to think that she
may. There is no woman on earth who will treat you more cavalierly
than one who is absolutely certain that your love will not fail her.
Like a merchant for whose goods you have manifested too great an
anxiety to acquire, she will overcharge you with as little regard to
consequences. Moderate, therefore, your imprudent vivacity; manifest
less passion and you will excite more in her heart. We do not
appreciate the worth of a prize more than when we are on the point of
losing it. Some regulation in matters of love are indispensable for
the happiness of both parties. I think I am even justified in advising
you on certain occasions to be a trifle unprincipled. On all other
occasions, though, it is better to be a dupe than a knave; but in
affairs of gallantry, it is only the fools who are the dupes, and
knaves always have the laugh on their side. Adieu.

I have not the conscience to leave you without a word of consolation.
Do not be discouraged. However redoubtable may be the Chevalier, let
your heart rest in peace. I suspect that the cunning Countess is
making a play with him to worry you. I