The Cloven Viscount

The narrator enters Pratofungo searching for Sebastiana. When he finds her, she reveals that she isn’t actually afflicted with Hansen’s disease; she uses herbs and resin to fake the symptoms. She then provides the narrator with a preventative tisane.

Later, the narrator encounters a kind version of Medardo, who saves him from a poisonous spider but gets bitten on his left hand—a hand that the narrator recalls the Viscount no longer has. This “good” Medardo gives the narrator a valuable family ring before departing.

Soon after, the “bad” Medardo reappears and tricks the narrator into disturbing a wasps’ nest. Dr. Trelawney recounts being saved from drowning by the kind Medardo, which inspires him to resume practicing medicine. Meanwhile, Pamela meets the kind Medardo while hiding in a cave. He confirms that he is the good half of the original viscount, saved by hermits after being split by the cannonball.

The two halves become known throughout Terralba as the “Good ’Un” and the “Bad ’Un.” The Good ’Un collaborates with Dr. Trelawney to establish coded signs identifying the sick. The Bad ’Un sabotages these efforts by destroying the signs they place.