Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/12

 arrested and sent to the Chateau of Vincennes. There is no record of his crime, but it seems certain that some of the young women who had been entertained in his forest retreat complained to the police about the cruel treatment they had received.

As a result of this escapade, the marquis was banned from Paris. He and his bride went to live with her mother in Normandy. This was at a chateau far from any town and the marquis' mother-in-law, Madame de Montreuil, had dismissed all the young woman servants and replaced them with old and unattractive women. The indifferent husband was forced to be attentive to his wife.

The only incidents of interest to the marquis were occasional plays which were given at the chateau and invitations to attend festivals given in nearby estates.

After a year in Normandy, the marquis was able to convince the king that he was a changed man and was allowed to return to Paris. He became much more discreet about his activities, and, instead of having wild parties, he limited himself to entertaining young actresses and dancers from the Opera.

At Easter time, in 1768, de Sade met a woman named Rose Keller who was begging in the street. He took her to his little house in the suburbs and after forcing her to undress, beat her with a whip. The woman escaped from his house and went to complain to the police. She made up a fantastic story in which she claimed that Sade had beat her, cut her, and threatened several times to kill her and bury her in the garden, and had poured hot sealing wax on her bruises and cuts. Her story was believed, but Madame de Montreuil paid the woman, and she withdrew her charges.

The marquis was obliged to leave Paris again. He spent most of the next three years in Normandy and then took his family, which now consisted of his wife and three children, to his chateau of La Coste in southern France. Soon his sister-in-law came to live with them, and it seems fairly certain that the amorous advances of the marquis were successful.

In June 1772, another great scandal occurred in the life of the marquis. He and his valet went to Marseilles, some miles to the south of his chateau, and a party was arranged in