In this chapter, the monster explains to the reader how he came to be in the cavern. He explains that he has come to the cavern to find a cure for the disease that has ravaged the village. He tells the reader that he is the only one who has been able to cure the disease, and that he will not be able to do so if he kills the patient. The monster explains that the patient's symptoms do not match the symptoms he saw in the villagers. He says that he cannot harm the patient even if he were to become one of the "calamities" that have befallen the people of the valley. He also explains that if the patient were to die, he would not have to eat the food of the village, and he would have no need to come into contact with its blood. He adds that he does not notice any signs of hyperemia or fever in the patient, nor does he notice any lumps in his body. He asks the patient why he is still burning up, and the patient replies that he had been with the monster all along, and had never left the cavern alone to meet anyone. He then tells the audience that the smell of the poison that he inhaled when he opened the door to the cave was the same odor that he smelled when he first entered the cave. The smell was that of the person who had been the first to enter the