These Violent Delights

The next morning, Marshall and Benedikt clean up the corpses of men who died from the madness and identify the victims. On the ground, they notice the same insects that they found at the port. Marshall realizes the insects might be in the victims’ hair. He examines one of the victim’s heads, discovering the bugs have burrowed into the man’s scalp. Marshall tugs on one of the insects and finds that it is buried so deep into the man’s skull that when he pulls it out, the man’s brains come out too. Benedikt remarks that they have found the source of the madness.

Juliette visits a brothel in Scarlet territory with her cousins, Rosalind and Kathleen. She has heard that the madam of the brothel, whom she calls Madame, is allowing the Communists to meet under her roof. Juliette asks Madame for information about the Communists and their involvement in the madness. Madame denies the rumors that she is working with the Communists.

Juliette pretends to give a brothel owner named Madame a necklace and then tightens a garrote wire around her throat. She chokes Madame until the woman cooperates. She says that there is a rumor that the Secretary-General of the Communists, Zhang Gutai, has been “planning it all” (106)—referring to the insects and the deaths.