Chapter 5 Chapter 04 The Man About to Hang Himself

The figures recorded by Tarrou were correct.Doctor Rieux also had some information.After the janitor's body had been removed, he had telephoned Richard to inquire about the bubo. "I don't know anything about it," said Richard. "Two people lost their lives, one in two days and the other in three days. When I left the latter that morning, he was ill in every way. It all seems to be getting better." "Inform me of any other cases," said Rieux. He asked a few more doctors.The result of the investigation was that within a few days there were more than 20 similar cases, almost all of which were fatal.So he made a request to Richard, chairman of the Oran Physician Association: to isolate the newly discovered patient.

"I can't do it," said Richard. "It's up to the provincial government to take measures. Besides, who told you there was a risk of contagion?" "Nobody told me that, but the symptoms are worrisome." Richard, however, considered himself "not entitled" to the matter.The only thing he can do is to report to the governor. While we were talking, the weather turned sour.The day after the janitor's death was filled with fog.Sudden downpours hit the city; showers followed by sweltering heat.The sea has lost its deep blue color, and under the foggy sky, there is only a harsh silver-gray reflection.This hot and humid spring is not as comfortable as the summer heat.A melancholy and gloomy atmosphere prevailed in this sea-facing city that swelled like a snail on the plateau.Between these long rough-plastered walls, in the streets lined with dusty glass windows, and in the dirty yellow trams, one felt a little trapped by the weather everywhere.Only Rieux's old patient, who had not suffered from asthma, enjoyed the weather.

"It's unbearably hot," he said, "but it's good for the bronchi." The heat was indeed unbearable, as severe as a fever.The whole town was feverish, at least that was Dr. Rieux's impression at the time.That morning he had gone to the Rue Faiderbe to take part in the investigation into Cottard's attempted suicide.But he felt that his feelings were baseless.So he had this impression, which he attributed to restlessness and a great deal of preoccupation with him, and he felt that he must hurry to calm his head down. When he got there, the police officer hadn't arrived.Grand was waiting at the foot of the stairs, and they decided to go first to Grand's house and leave the door open.The city clerk lived in two rooms, furnished very simply.The only things that are noticeable are a white bookcase with two or three dictionaries on it, and a blackboard with the words "Flowering Path" and so on that are still recognizable though half wiped off.According to Grand, Cottard slept well last night.But when I woke up in the morning, I couldn't move because of the pain in my head.Grand, weary and disturbed, walked up and down the room, opening and closing a large folder full of manuscript paper on the table.

He told the doctor that he didn't know Cottard very well and just thought he had a little savings.Cottard was an odd man.For a long time, the only relationship between them was to say hello when they met on the stairs. "I've only spoken to him twice. A few days ago I knocked over a box of chalks, red and blue, which I brought home on the landing. Cottard went up to the landing and helped I picked it up. He also asked me what I would use the chalks of different colors for.” Grand then explained to him that he wanted to learn some Latin again.Since leaving middle school, he has almost forgotten it.

"Yes!" he said to the doctor, "I have been assured that it will be useful for a better grasp of the meaning of French words." He just wrote the Latin words on the blackboard, and copied the inflections of the endings—gender, number, case, and conjugation—again with blue chalk, and again with red chalk the parts that didn’t change. "I don't know if Cottard understood, but he expressed interest in it and asked me for a red chalk. I thought it was a bit strange at the time, but it was after all... Of course I didn't expect him to use it to finish his work. the plan of."

Rieux was asking him what the second conversation was about, but the inspector arrived with the secretary.He wanted to hear Grand's statement first.The doctor noticed that Grand always referred to Cottard as a "desperate."He even used the phrase "fatal decision" at one point.They discussed the reasons for the suicide, but Grand seemed to be talking about words.In the end, everyone agreed to use the term "inner pain".The police officer asked whether Cottard's so-called "decision" had not been revealed at all in advance. "He knocked on my door yesterday," said Grand, "and asked me for matches. I gave him my box. He apologized and told me about the neighbors... and then he assured me Be sure to return the match. I told him to keep it."

The officer then asked the clerk if Cottard was behaving unusually. "I think the strange thing about him is that he seems to want to talk to me. But I have something to do." Grand turned to Rieux, and went on, a little embarrassed: "A personal matter." The police officer then went to see the patient.But Rieux thought it best to prepare Cottard before the visit.When Rieux entered Cottard's room, clad only in a gray flannel suit, he stretched himself up on the bed and turned to look at Monge with a disturbed expression. "Is it the police station?" "That's right," said Rieux, "and don't get excited. After two or three formalities, you'll have nothing to do with yourself."

But Cottard replied that it was useless, and that he did not like the police.Rieux became impatient and said, "I don't like them either. If you want to finish the job at once, you must answer their questions quickly and correctly." Cottard fell silent, and the doctor turned towards the door, but the fat little man stopped him and took his hand as he approached the bed: "They don't hurt the patient, a man who has been hanged, Are you right, doctor?" Rieux looked at him for a moment, then assured him that nothing like this had ever happened, and that he had come here only to protect the patient.The sick man seemed relieved, and Rieux called the policeman in.

He had read Grand's testimony to Cottard, and had asked him if he could explain clearly his motives for this action.Without looking at the officer, he simply replied that "inner pain" was the motive at the time.The officer pressed him if he wanted to commit another crime.Cottard became agitated and replied that he didn't want to do it any more, he just wanted to be left alone. The police officer said angrily: "I want to remind you that now you are looking for trouble for others." Rieux immediately made a gesture, and the conversation ended there. The Inspector went out, sighed, and said, "You know, we've had a lot to do since everyone was talking about this high fever..."

He asked the doctor if the fever was serious, and Rieux said he had no idea. "It's all about the weather and nothing else," concluded the officer. Indeed, it is weather related.During the day, things became more and more sticky, and Rieux's anxiety increased with each visit.That afternoon, the neighbor of the old patient in the suburbs pressed his groin with his hands, talking and vomiting.Lymph nodes are much larger than janitor's.One of them began to ooze pus, which soon festered like a rotten fruit.As soon as Rieux got home, he called the provincial drug store.His work log for that day read: "They replied no".And elsewhere he was called to deal with the same ailment.It was obvious that these abscesses had to be opened.Make a cross with a scalpel, and the lymph nodes will overflow with bloody pus.The patient was bleeding, with sprawled limbs and spots on his abdomen and legs.Some lymph nodes stop pus, and then re-swell.In most cases, the patient died in a foul smell.

The papers made a big deal about the rats, but said nothing about them, because the rats died on the roads and the men died in the houses, and the papers were only about the roads.But the provincial and municipal governments began to negotiate.With only two or three cases per doctor, of course no one would think of taking action.In fact, as long as one thinks of adding these figures together, one will find that the total is astonishing.In less than a few days, the number of deaths increased significantly.Anyone who cares about this strange disease can be sure that this is a real plague.One of Rieux's colleagues, Castel, who was much older than himself, had chosen this time to come to see him. He said to Rieux: "Rieux, of course you know what's going on?" "I'm waiting for the test results." "I know, I don't need tests. I used to be a doctor in China for a while, and I saw a case like this in Paris about twenty years ago. It's just that no one dared to speak out at the time of the onset of the disease. Just name it. Don’t be alarmed by public opinion: don’t panic, don’t panic. And as a colleague said: ‘This is impossible, everyone knows that this disease has disappeared in the West.’ Yes, everyone knows , unless it is a dead person. Come on, Rieux, you know as well as I do what it is." Rieux thought.From the clinic window he looked out at the sheer cliffs that hid the bay in the distance.The sky, though blue, was dull in colour, fading away as night fell. Rieux said: "Yes! Castel. It's unbelievable. But it looks like the plague." Castel stood up and walked towards the door. "You know what we're told: it's been extinct in temperate regions for 'years,'" said the old doctor. Rieux shrugged his shoulders and said: "Extinction? How do you understand that?" "Yes, and don't forget: it happened in Paris about twenty years ago." "All right. Let's hope it's not worse this time than it used to be. But it's hard to believe it's true."