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11
By
now
,
it
will
be
easy
to
accept
that
nothing
could
lead
the
people
of
our
town
to
expect
the
events
that
took
place
in
the
spring
of
that
year
and
which
,
as
we
later
understood
,
were
like
the
forerunners
of
the
series
of
grave
happenings
that
this
history
intends
to
describe
.
To
some
people
these
facts
will
seem
quite
natural
;
to
others
,
on
the
contrary
,
improbable
.
But
a
chronicler
cannot
,
after
all
,
take
account
of
such
contradictions
.
12
His
task
is
merely
to
say
:
"
This
happened
"
,
when
he
knows
that
it
did
indeed
happen
,
that
it
affected
the
life
of
a
whole
society
and
that
there
are
consequently
thousands
of
witnesses
who
will
weigh
up
in
their
hearts
the
truth
of
what
he
is
saying
.
13
Moreover
,
the
narrator
,
whose
identity
will
be
revealed
in
due
course
,
would
not
have
any
claim
to
authority
in
an
enterprise
of
this
kind
if
chance
had
not
made
it
possible
for
him
to
gather
a
considerable
number
of
testimonies
and
if
force
of
circumstance
had
not
involved
him
in
everything
that
he
describes
.
This
is
what
entitles
him
to
act
as
a
historian
.
Of
course
a
historian
,
even
if
he
is
an
amateur
,
always
has
documents
.
The
narrator
of
this
history
has
his
documents
:
first
of
all
,
his
own
testimony
,
then
that
of
others
since
,
by
virtue
of
his
role
in
this
story
,
he
came
to
collect
the
confidences
of
all
the
characters
in
it
;
and
,
finally
,
he
has
written
texts
which
he
happened
to
acquire
.
He
intends
to
borrow
from
them
when
he
sees
fit
and
to
use
them
as
he
wishes
.
He
intends
But
perhaps
it
is
time
to
have
done
with
preliminaries
and
caveats
,
and
turn
to
the
story
itself
.
The
narrative
of
the
early
days
must
be
given
in
some
detail
.
Отключить рекламу
14
*
*
*
15
On
the
morning
of
April
16
,
Dr
Bernard
Rieux
emerged
from
his
consulting
-
room
and
came
across
a
dead
rat
in
the
middle
of
the
landing
.
At
the
time
he
pushed
the
animal
aside
without
paying
attention
to
it
and
went
down
the
stairs
.
16
But
once
he
was
in
the
street
it
occurred
to
him
that
the
rat
should
not
have
been
there
and
he
turned
back
to
inform
the
concierge
.
Old
M
.
Michel
s
reaction
made
him
still
more
aware
of
the
incongruity
of
his
discovery
.
To
him
the
presence
of
this
dead
rat
had
seemed
merely
odd
,
while
for
the
concierge
it
was
an
outrage
.
In
fact
,
the
man
was
adamant
:
there
were
no
rats
in
the
house
.
However
much
the
doctor
assured
him
that
there
was
one
on
the
first
-
floor
landing
,
probably
dead
,
M
.
Michel
s
conviction
was
firm
.
There
were
no
rats
in
the
house
,
so
this
one
must
have
been
brought
in
from
outside
.
In
short
,
it
was
a
practical
joke
.
17
That
same
evening
Bernard
Rieux
was
standing
in
the
corridor
of
the
building
,
looking
for
his
keys
before
going
up
to
his
flat
,
when
he
saw
a
large
rat
emerge
hesitantly
from
the
dark
depths
of
the
corridor
,
its
fur
damp
.
The
creature
stopped
,
seemed
to
be
trying
to
get
its
balance
,
stopped
again
,
spun
round
and
round
with
a
faint
cry
and
eventually
fell
,
blood
spurting
from
its
half
-
open
lips
.
The
doctor
looked
at
it
for
a
moment
,
then
went
upstairs
.
Отключить рекламу
18
He
was
not
thinking
about
the
rat
.
That
spilled
blood
brought
him
back
to
the
subject
preoccupying
him
at
the
time
.
His
wife
,
who
had
been
ill
for
the
past
year
,
was
due
to
leave
the
next
day
for
a
sanatorium
in
the
mountains
.
He
found
her
lying
in
bed
in
their
room
,
as
he
had
asked
her
to
do
.
She
was
gathering
strength
for
the
journey
.
She
smiled
.
19
"
I
m
feeling
fine
,
"
she
said
.
20
The
doctor
looked
at
the
face
that
was
turned
towards
him
in
the
light
of
the
bedside
lamp
.
To
Rieux
,
despite
its
thirty
years
and
the
marks
of
illness
,
this
face
was
still
that
of
a
young
woman
,
perhaps
because
of
the
smile
that
dispelled
all
the
rest
.