These Violent Delights

In her bedroom, Juliette complains to her cousins Rosalind and Kathleen about Tyler, but Rosalind reassures Juliette that Tyler does not have enough influence in the Scarlet Gang to cause trouble. The girls discuss the changing politics of the city, which is divided into several segments controlled by foreign powers. They lament the Scarlet Gang’s diminishing hold over the city.

The arrival of a servant reminds Juliette of Nurse, a woman who cared for her when she was growing up. Nurse died in a White Flowers’ bombing four years prior. The servant tells Juliette that there is a visitor here to see her. On her way to greet him, she overhears her parents discussing the possible source of the “madness” that caused people to kill themselves at the port. Her father believes that the Communists might be involved.

The visitor is Paul Dexter, Walter’s son. He repeats his father’s business proposition, but Juliette turns it down and refuses his flirtatious advances.

After visiting the lab, Roma returns home. Fellow gang-member Dimitri greets him, but Roma responds coldly because he views Dimitri as a rival heir to the White Flowers. Next, he sees Alisa wearing one of his mother’s necklaces, reminding Roma of his mother’s death in an explosion. His mother was sick before she was murdered, so the Montagovs lied to Alisa, telling her that her mother died of an illness. Although the Scarlet Gang was responsible for Lady Montagov’s death, Roma does not despise the Scarlet Gang because he views it as an understandable response to the gang’s rivalry: “After all, it was lex talonis—an eye for an eye—that was how the blood feud worked” (70).

As he presents the shoe of the dead man to Lord Montagov, Roma explains his theory that the “madness” that gripped the men who died at the port might be a disease, but Lord Montagov responds with anger and skepticism. He is preoccupied with the threat that the Communists pose to his gang’s rule. Like the Cais, the Montagovs view the Communists as enemies.

Lord Montagov orders Roma to continue investigating the cause of the deaths, suggesting that Roma visit the hospital morgue where the man from the club was taken to confirm that the shoe belongs to him. When Roma objects that he cannot easily visit that part of the Scarlet Gang’s territory, Lord Montagov tells him use his relationship with Juliette to gain entry into the hospital, pointing out, “She was your lover once, after all” (74).

After running an errand for her father, Juliette walks around the market of Chenghuangmiao. She hears people spreading rumors about the monster causing the madness. She also encounters an old man shouting about salvation. He claims a man called “the lā-gespu” (79) gave him a miracle cure for the madness. In Chapter 15, the narrator reveals that he is referring to the Larkspur. Juliette thinks he is crazy. She wanders around Scarlet territory, reassured that her reputation for being a dangerous killer will keep her safe. But when she is in an alley, Roma accosts her from behind, pressing a gun into her back.

Roma tries to force her to obey his directions, but she disarms him. Juliette recalls how she first killed a man when she was 14, shooting a White Flower who attacked her and her cousin Tyler. When Tyler shot their attacker first, her parents were disappointed in her.

Both Roma and Juliette agree to put their weapons down. Believing that the madness might be contagious, Roma tells Juliette that he needs to find the corpse of the man who died in the nightclub so he can confirm that the shoe he found at the port came from him. He claims to be altruistic in his motives, but Juliette points out that he only cares if the White Flowers are not harmed. Nevertheless, she agrees to take him to the hospital morgue.

Walking together through the streets of Shanghai reminds Juliette of when she and Roma secretly dated four years prior. They met in 1922 when Juliette arrived by boat from New York, where she was raised. He recognized her and tried to catch her attention by rolling a marble in her direction. They started to play marbles together by the port, falling in love.

Juliette believes that Roma betrayed her trust. She thinks he had a role in the explosion that killed her servant, Nurse. Despite her hatred of Roma, he still reminds her of the boy she fell in love with four years ago: “All he had become was… older. He looked at her and Juliette still saw the exact same eyes wearing the exact same stare—unreadable unless he let her through, unshakeable unless he allowed himself to let go” (93). Roma still acts chivalrous, grabbing her to prevent her from being run over by a rickshaw, but she brushes off his kindness.

At the hospital, Juliette uses her reputation as the Scarlet Gang’s heir to convince the doctor to let them into the morgue. They examine the dead man’s body and rifle through his belongings, finding the shoe that matches the one Roma found at the port. When they exit the morgue, they see that more Scarlet Gang members have succumbed to the madness and are currently tearing out their own throats.