Another lover, Lafresnaye, whom she had induced to put all of his property in her name, shot himself, or was shot, at her house.  Although imprisoned on suspicion at the Chatelet, and later at the Bastille, she soon gained her liberty by the intervention of powerful friends.  That she could maintain her position in society as she did is a striking proof of its terribly corrupt condition.  In her declining years she sought to veil the disorders of her youth by more serious pursuits, and gathered about her a number of literary spirits of whom she spoke as her betes or her menagerie.

Marmontel gives the following description of the habitues of her salon and of the desire that pervaded all to show their wit:  “L’auditoire etait respectable.  J’y vis rassembles Montesquieu, Fontenelle, Mairan, Marivaux, le jeune Helvetius, Astruc, je ne sais qui encore, tous gens de lettres ou savants, et au milieu d’eux une femme d’un esprit et d’un sens profonds, mais qui, enveloppee dans son exterieur de bonhomie et de simplicite, avait plutot l’air de la menagere que de la maitresse de la maison:  c’etait la Mme. de Tencin ... je m’apercus bientot qu’on y arrivait prepare a jouer son role, et que l’envie d’entrer en scene n’y laissait pas toujours a la conversation la liberte de suivre son cours facile et naturel.  C’etait a qui saisirait le plus vite, et comme a la volee, le moment de placer son mot, son conte, son anecdote, sa maxime ou son trait leger et piquant; et, pour amener l’a-propos, on le tirait quelquefois d’un peu loin.  Dans Marivaux, l’impatience de faire preuve de finesse et de sagacite percait visiblement."[21]

Marivaux, in describing the feelings of Marianne upon being introduced into polite society at the home of Mme. Dorsin, makes an evident allusion to the salon of Mme. de Tencin, and shows how differently from Marmontel he regarded the spirit that marked those gatherings.  As though to answer the latter’s accusations, he exclaims:  “On accuse quelquefois Ses gens d’esprit de vouloir briller; oh! il n’etait pas question de cela ici.”  “Ce n’etait point eux qui y mettaient de la finesse, c’etait de la finesse qui s’y rencontrait; ils ne sentaient pas qu’ils parlaient mieux qu’on ne parle ordinairement; c’etaient seulement de meilleurs esprits que d’autres."[22] All that was said there, he adds, was uttered with so little effort, so naturally, so simply, and yet with so much brilliancy that one could see that it was a company of persons of exquisite taste and breeding.  Society, as depicted here, was not “full of solemn and important trifles, difficult to learn, and, however ridiculous they are in themselves, necessary to be known under penalty of being ridiculous.” [23] One was made to feel at home, and what one lacked in wit was supplemented by that of the company, without one’s being made to feel that what he seemed to utter was not all his own.