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How does the "pale-faced man" gain access to the Bacteriologist and his laboratory in "The Stolen Bacillus" by H. G. Wells?

In "The Stolen Bacillus," the "pale-faced man" is an anarchist who gains access to the Bacteriologist's laboratory by means of deception. He does this by forging a "letter of introduction" which purports to come from an "old friend" of the Bacteriologist.


This ruse is successful because the Bacteriologist believes that he shares a mutual friend with the visitor. He also believes that this "pale-faced man" has a genuine interest in his research and in his profession, more generally, as we see from the text:



"The fitful yet keen interest of his visitor were a novel change from the phlegmatic deliberations of the ordinary scientific worker with whom the Bacteriologist chiefly associated."



In reality, however, the "pale-faced man" is an Anarchist intent on committing the mass murder of London, using one of the strains of bacteria grown in the Bacteriologist's laboratory. Cholera appears to offer the best chance of making his plan successful, but what he, in fact, steals is little more than a chemical to turn the skin blue. 

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