Short Fiction · Chapter
XXII: In Which the Doctor Discovers That His Monkey Resembles Him Even More Than He Thought explained
Doctor Heraclius Gloss wakes to a commotion in the kitchen, where his housekeeper Honorine has tied his monkey to a table leg and torments it by tempting it with food just out of reach.
What happens
Doctor Heraclius Gloss wakes to a commotion in the kitchen, where his housekeeper Honorine has tied his monkey to a table leg and torments it by tempting it with food just out of reach. The monkey breaks free, and the Doctor intervenes to prevent it from devouring the delicacies.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when Leuillet receives news of Souris’s sudden death and experienc…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Cruelty and Suffering
Honorine deliberately torments the monkey by tying it up and tempting it with food, taking pleasure in its frustration and rage.
Characters to notice
- Doctor Heraclius Gloss
The Doctor is awakened by noise and rushes to the kitchen to stop his housekeeper's cruel game with his monkey.
Key passages
“One morning the Doctor was woken up by an unusual noise. He jumped out of bed, dressed hurriedly and made for the kitchen, from which came extraordinary sounds of shouting and kicking.”
The Doctor is startled awake by a strange racket, quickly dresses, and heads to the kitchen where the commotion is coming from.
Sets the scene for the conflict between Honorine and the monkey.
“The perverse housekeeper roared with laughter and invented further refinements of torture such as would only occur to a woman.”
The malicious housekeeper laughs and devises increasingly cruel torments that only a woman could think of.
Highlights the theme of cruelty and the housekeeper's deliberate malice.
