If Madame de Merteuil had retained even a shred of conscience and compassion after learning of a baby's death, she would have told Valmont how to do the right thing. Though Madame Dewey had a judge husband who worked in the provinces year-round, that was simply the way society was at the time.
Instead, she provoked Valmont. The more someone tried to avoid looking ridiculous, the more ridiculous they would seem. It was Valmont himself who had said that nothing would ever bind him, which was why Madame de Merteuil had made a pact with him to complete this "game" of love and revenge together, becoming "partners" with shared interests.
"You don't dare make a clean break with her, do you? Just as the Sultan may love his favored concubines, he often prefers an ordinary slave girl. Only she can stir your desire."
"To win back that beauty's favor, you must have groveled and humbled yourself to the utmost! The moment you thought you had been forgiven, you abandoned me to busy yourself with that grand affair for your own purposes. You thought it incomparably important, yet you had the nerve to ask me whether we still had any common interests at all!"
The condition Madame de Merteuil had agreed to was that she would become Valmont's mistress once the matter was done. Even she could not fulfill their previous pact when she knew full well that Valmont clearly favored another woman. So, after provoking him, Madame de Merteuil brought up renewing their agreement and stressed that this was an ultimatum.
This was the "second time" Madame de Merteuil had been abandoned. She could not bear such a thing.
Between tyrant and slave, Valmont chose to be the tyrant. After meeting Madame Dewey again and obtaining both her body and