Voltaire begins by saying that it has been three or four years since he last cried and that he expected that he would not cry again until his death, however the secretary of the comte du Stadian found him in tears yesterday as he wept over Marie’s departure. He adds that the atrocity of what she had suffered lost its horror when she was with him, but after his departure he was no longer supported. He asks what her crime was as she had only travelled to lead her dying uncle, whom she thinks of as a father, to the Eaux de Plombières. He then turns to Frederick II of Prussia, noting that he had Voltaire arrested in order to get back the book of poetry he had given to him as a pledge of his kindness, and adding that if he had wanted it back he need only have asked. Voltaire recounts the services he has done Frederick II, and wonders how Frederick will undo the damage he has caused Marie and Voltaire. He then tells Marie of two letters for her: one from her sister and the other from the Abbot of Renel, adding that Madame de Fontaine’s is not comforting as it insists that Voltaire is Prussian.