Sade's encounter with the young prostitute was his first debauch to become fodder for public gossip since his marriage, and the first sign that the young charmer whom the "Presidente" had come to love and trust was indeed the sexual deviant she had first feared he was. Within ten days of the incident, Sade was arrested by Inspector Marais and imprisoned within the dungeon of Vincennes, a historic Parisian fortress.
His father, who was only just beginning to see his son in a kinder light thanks to the praise and affection of the "Presidente," was livid. While outraged, the "Presidente" sought to shield her daughter from the nature of Sade's offense, even while Pelagie was fully aware that her husband had been arrested. Print of Fortress of Vincennes. Sade himself, startled to find himself imprisoned for behavior he had thought to be commonplace among the nobility, donned a most contrite face and pleaded for mercy from the police:.
Be kind enough to reconcile me with a beloved person Pelagie whom I am weak enough to have offended so grievously I beg you, monsieur, do not refuse me the privilege of seeing the dearest person I have in the world. If she had the honor of being acquainted with you, you would realize that her conversation Thanks in part to the seeming authenticity of Sade's entreaties, but mainly to the lobbying of the de Montreuil family, Sade was released from Vincennes after three weeks of imprisonment.
While sternly admonishing the Marquis for his outlandish conduct, the "Presidente" also stated her belief that he was still possessed of a wholly redeemable and trustworthy character. Of this she would be continually proven wrong over the next several years. Indeed, within a year of this first scandal, Sade had taken up with a ravishing young French actress in Paris, Mlle.
Inspector Marais, the police official who had imprisoned Sade after the Testard affair in Paris, had been charged with the task of keeping Sade under official police surveillance since his release from Vincennes. He kept a detailed report of the frequency and location of his trysts with Mlle. Colet, a report he shared with the Presidente, among others.
