Thomas Covenant enters Bell Telephone Company and nearly collides with the lawyer from his and Joan's divorce in his head writing the poem Pale Deaths. He remembers the time he was diagnosed with Leprosy and the operation on his right hand as well as Joan leaving his life taking Roger with her. As well as the time he is taken to the Leprosarium and eventually allowed to leave after six months, returning home after seeing the effects of the disease after it has progressed.