The Baron de Teroze has already successfully married off his older daughter to a colonel of the dragoons; now it is time for him to arrange his younger daughter's nuptials. A corrupt magistrate from Aix seems to him the ideal candidate, much to the disgust of the young Mlle de Teroze, who is in love with another man. Vowing to rid the beautiful marchioness of her odious old husband, her lover, sister and brother-in-law conspire in a series of hilarious manipulations that ultimately results in complete humiliation and defeat for their hapless guest.

This is among the more light-hearted of de Sade's works, and may prove more accessible to the new reader than the grim and heavily philosophical '120 Days of Sodom'. It was published with 'Emilie de Tourville' by Hesperus Press in 2006, in a volume entitled 'Betrayal'.