Leprosy

Leprosy becomes the cause of a sudden and unresolved separation between the narrator and Louison. Diagnosed after a doctor notices a mark on her arm, the disease overturns their life together in Bangui: Louison begins treatment and is eventually sent away, while the narrator is left with uncertainty about her health and whether he will ever see her again.

Diagnosis and denial

Louison’s diagnosis follows a medical examination arranged after the narrator notices her slight cough. Dr. Vignes, the squadron’s medical officer, says the cough is insignificant but becomes concerned by a mark on her arm. He tells the narrator that Louison has leprosy and that they must part. The account makes clear that this is the doctor’s diagnosis; it does not provide an independent confirmation or a detailed medical explanation.

The narrator refuses to accept what he has been told. He says nothing can persuade him that the separation is necessary, and he spends the night with Louison before she begins treatment. Dr. Vignes does not press the matter or blame him, but the diagnosis continues to govern what happens next. The narrator’s denial is therefore not a resolution: it delays his acceptance while leaving the medical decision in place.

Treatment and separation

The narrator finds support for resisting an immediate, permanent parting in a report about a new remedy for Hansen’s bacillus. The article describes trials at Leopoldville and results suggesting that the disease might be stabilized and perhaps cured. He does not entirely trust the publication, but it gives him grounds to hope that separation need not mean the end of their relationship.

Louison is put aboard an aircraft flown twice a month between Brazzaville and Bangui by Warrant Officer Soubabère. She leaves for care, and the narrator remains behind. His later effort to travel to Brazzaville is delayed first by an aircraft crash and then by Soubabère’s disappearance; the narrator is ultimately ordered to rejoin his squadron on the Abyssinian front. These obstacles postpone the visit until the order to return to duty makes it impossible.

News, uncertainty, and aftermath

For a time, the narrator receives news of Louison through friends in Brazzaville. He is told that she is being looked after and that there are hopes of a cure; she asks when he will come back. Then the reports stop. He writes letters, makes inquiries through official channels, and sends angry telegrams, but the military authorities do not cooperate. The account gives no later confirmation of Louison’s recovery, continuing illness, or death, and the narrator says he never sees her again.

The episode also follows the narrator to Libya, where he is examined for symptoms of leprosy. He has none, a finding that offers little comfort because it does not answer what has happened to Louison. The disease thus remains both a medical diagnosis affecting her and a lasting source of uncertainty for him.

Narrative significance

Leprosy marks a sharp reversal in the Bangui narrative: the narrator’s happiness gives way to separation, postponed attempts at reunion, and silence. The account stays close to what he can know—Dr. Vignes’s diagnosis, the report of a possible remedy, intermittent news, and his own negative examination—without resolving Louison’s fate. That absence of closure is central to the episode: the narrator’s search continues, but the outcome remains beyond his reach.