Chapter 39 Summary

After handing over the silkworm eggs to the silk manufacturers, Hervé Joncour is not seen again in town for several days (which is unusual behavior for him). He surprises everyone when he purchases the house of Jean Berbeck, the man who stopped speaking, and perplexes them when he does nothing with it.

Joncour brings Baldabiou to the house. They discuss why Berbeck might have stopped speaking. Joncour suggests that Berbeck had encountered something in his life that left him with nothing more to say about it. Baldabiou suggests that the house was too grim to tolerate, much less speak of.

Joncour busies himself with his plans for a garden, and makes sketches of a strange structure. His wife asks what they are. He answers that they are plans for an aviary to fill with birds, and then to open when something good happens...