                          THE NINETEENTH DAY

       That morning, after having made some observations upon the shit
the subjects were producing for lubricious purposes, the friends
decided that the society ought to try something Duclos had spoken of
in her narrations: I am referring to the suppression of bread and soup
from all the tables save Messieurs'. These two articles were
withdrawn, and replaced by twice the former quantity of fowl and game.
They hoped to remark some improvement, and in less than a week an
essential difference in the community's excrements was indeed
perceived: they were more mellow, softer, dissolved more readily, had
an infinitely more subtle flavor, and the friends discovered that
d'Aucourt's advice to Duclos had been that of a consummate libertine
thoroughly penetrated with an appreciation of such matters. It was
pointed out, however, that this new diet might have some effect upon
breaths:
       "Well, what does that matter?" asked Curval, to whom the Duc
had addressed his objection; "'tis very faulty reasoning to maintain
that, to give pleasure, a woman's mouth or a youth's must be
absolutely clean and sweet smelling. Setting aside all idiosyncrasy
for a moment, I most willingly grant you that he who requires stinking
breath and a foul mouth is moved by depravation only, but for your
part you must grant me that a mouth entirely bereft of odor gives not
the slightest pleasure when kissed. There must always be some kind of
spice to the thing, some flavor there, for where's the joy if it's not
stung alive? the joy's asleep, I say, and it's only waked by a little
filth. However clean may be the mouth, the lover who sucks it
assuredly does an unclean thing, and there is no doubt at all in his
mind that it is that very uncleanness that pleases him. Give a
somewhat greater degree of strength to the impulse and you'll want
that mouth to be impure. If it fall short of smelling of rot or the
cadaver, well, be patient, the taste will develop, but that it have
nothing but an odor of milk and honey or infancy, that, I tell you, is
insufferable. And so the diet we're going to subject them to will, at
the worst, lead not at all to corruption, but only to a certain
alteration, and that is all that's necessary."
       The morning searches brought nothing to light . . . the
youngsters were keeping strict watch over their conduct. No one
requested toilet permission, and the company sat down at table.
Adelaide, one of the servants at the meal, having been enjoined by
Durcet to fart in a champagne glass, and having been unable to comply,
was directly entered in the fatal book by her unfeeling husband who,
since the beginning of the week, had been continually endeavoring to
find her at fault.
       Coffee came next; it was handed round by Cupidon, Giton,
Michette, and Sophie. The Duc thigh-fucked Sophie, and while so doing
had her shit upon his hand; the nobleman took that pretty little
packet and smeared it over his face, the Bishop did precisely the same
thing with Giton and Curval with Michette, but as for Durcet, he
popped his little device into Cupidon's mouth as that charming boy
squeezed out his turd. There were, notwithstanding, no discharges and,
having risen from their nap, Messieurs went to hear Duclos.

       A man we had never seen previously, said that amiable whore,
came to the house and proposed a rather unusual ceremony: he wished to
be tied to one side of a stepladder; we secured his thighs and waist
to the third rung and, raising his arms above his head, tied his
wrists to the uppermost step. He was naked. Once firmly bound, he had
to be exposed to the most ferocious beating, clubbed with the cat's
handle when the knots at the tips of the cords were worn out. He was
naked, I repeat, there was no need to lay a finger upon him, nor did
he even touch himself, but after having received a savage pounding his
monstrous instrument rose like a rocket, it was seen to sway and
bounce between the ladder's rungs, hovering like a pendulum and, soon
after, impetuously launch its fuck into the middle of the room. He was
unbound, he paid, and that was all.
       The following day he sent us one of his friends whose buttocks
and thighs, member and balls had to be pricked with a golden needle.
Not until he was covered with blood did he discharge. I handled that
commission myself, and as he constantly shouted to me to thrust
deeper, I had almost to bury the needle in his glans before seeing his
fuck squirt into my palm. As he unleashed it, he thrust his face
against mine, sucked my mouth prodigiously, and that was all there was
to it.
       A third - and he too was an acquaintance of his two
predecessors - ordered me to flail every bit of his body with nettles.
I soon had him streaming blood, he eyed himself in a mirror, and it
was not before he saw his body reduced to a scarlet shambles that he
let fly his fuck, without touching anything, fondling anything,
without requiring anything else of me.
       Those excesses entertained me hugely, I took a secret delight
in participating in them; and all my whimsical clients were equally
delighted with me. It was at about the period of those three scenes
that a Danish nobleman, having been sent to me for pleasure parties of
a very different character, which others have been designated to
discuss, had the imprudence to arrive at my establishment with ten
thousand francs in diamonds, as much in other gems, and five hundred
louis in cash. The prize was too handsome to be allowed to get away;
between the two of us, Lucile and I managed to rob the Dane of his
last sou. He thought to lodge a complaint, but as I used to pay a
heavy bribe to the police, and as in those days one did just about
whatever one pleased with gold, the gentleman was ordered to put a
stop to his wailing, and his belongings became mine, or rather most of
them did, for, in order to assure myself of little clear title to that
treasure, I had to yield a few precious stones to the minions of the
law. Never have I committed a theft, and I would have you remark this
interesting fact, without encountering some stroke of good fortune the
next day; this latest windfall was a new client, but one of those
daily clients one may truly consider a brothel's bread and butter.
       This individual was an old courtier who, weary of the homages
he used unendingly to receive in the palaces of kings, like to visit
whores and enjoy a change of role. He wanted to start with me; very
well, said I, and we began without further ado. I had to make him
recite his lessons and recite his little speeches, and every time he
made a mistake, he had to get down on his knees and receive, sometimes
on his knuckles, sometimes on his behind, vigorous blows of a leathern
ferule such as the regents use in schoolrooms. It was also my task to
keep a sharp eye out for signs of emotion; once the fire had been lit,
I would snatch up his prick and shake it skillfully, scolding him all
the while, calling him a little libertine, a very scurvy fellow, a
worry to His Majesty, and other childish names which would cause him
to come very voluptuously. The identical ceremony was to be executed
five times each week at my establishment, but always with a different
and properly instructed girl, and for this service I received a
stipend of twenty-five louis per month. I knew so many women in Paris
I had no trouble promising him what he asked and keeping my word; I
had that charming pupil in my house for a decade, toward the end of
which period he decided to pack his bags and go off to pursue his
studies in hell.
       However, I too was aging with the passing years, and although I
had the kind of face which retains its beauty, I was beginning to
notice that my visitors were men more and more often conveyed to me by
whim and accident. I still had some staunch and dependable suitors
even at thirty-six, and the rest of the adventures in which I took a
hand belong to the period between that time and my fortieth year.
       Though thirty-six years old, as I say, the libertine, whose
mania I am going to relate in closing today's session, would have
nothing to do with anyone else. He was an abbot of sixty or
thereabouts, for I received no one but gentlemen of a certain age, and
every woman who would like to seek her fortune in our trade will
doubtless see fit to impose the same rules barring irresponsible youth
from her house. The holy man arrives, and as soon as we are closeted
together he begs to see my bum.
       "Ah, yes, there's the world's finest ass," he says admiringly.
"But, unfortunately, that is not the apparatus which is to provide me
with the pittance I intend to consume. Here, take hold," says he,
putting his buttocks into my hands, "that's the source whence all good
things do come. . . . Be so kind as to help me shit."
       I bring up a porcelain pot and place it upon my knees, the
abbot backs toward me, stoops, I press his anus, pry it open, and, to
be brief, agitate it in every way I think likely to hasten his
evacuation. It takes place, an enormous turd fills the bowl, I offer
it to its author, he seizes it, precipitates himself upon it, devours
it, and discharges after fifteen minutes of the most violent flogging
which I administer upon the same behind that shortly before laid such
a splendid egg for his breakfast. He swallowed it all; he had so
nicely judged the situation that his sperm did not appear until the
last mouthful vanished. All the while I plied my whip, I excited him
with steady stream of comments such as: "Well, then, little rascal,
what's this?" and, "Why, here's a nasty little chap, can you really
eat shit that way?" and, "I'll teach you, you funny little whoreson
bastard; perform such disgraceful things, will you?"
       And it was by dint of these actions and speeches that the
libertine attained the summit of joy.

       At this point, Curval was moved to give the company a
before-supper demonstration in fact of what Duclos had described in
words. He summoned Fanchon, she extracted shit from him, and the
libertine devoured it while the old sorceress drubbed him with all the
strength of her skinny but sinewed arm. That lubric exhibition having
inspired his confreres, they began hunting for shit wherever any might
be found, and then Curval, who had not discharged, mixed the rest of
his turd with Thrse's, whom he had excrete without further ado.
       The Bishop, accustomed to making use of his brother's delights,
did the same thing with Duclos, the Duc with Marie, little Durcet with
Louison. It was atrocious, why, it was unthinkable to employ such
decrepit old horrors when such pretty objects stood ready at one's
beck and call; but, oh how well 'tis known, satiety is born in the
arms of abundance, and when in the very thick of voluptuous delights
one takes an even keener pleasure in torments.
       These unclean stunts over and done with, and the doing having
cost only one discharge, and 'twas the Bishop who produced it, the
friends went to table. Having involved themselves in a series of foul
activities, they thought best not to change horses in midstream, and
for the orgies would have only the four old duennas and the four
storytellers; everyone else was packed off to bed. Their Lordships
said so many things, did so many more, that all four came like
geysers, and our libertine quartet did not retire until overcome with
drink and exhaustion.
