Part II, Chapter 10 Summary

Robert realizes that his isolated experiments are useless and that he needs to study the problem scientifically. He, the "last man on earth," visits the deserted Los Angeles public library to read all the medical books he can about blood. He dislikes the deathly still atmosphere of the library's interior and its stone gray exterior. He stares at the books that had "no power to save men from perishing." He imagines the chairs in the reading room were arranged precisely around the table by a maiden librarian who had never known the joys of loving and being loved in return, a "tragedy more terrible than becoming a vampire." He observes the clock that has stopped running at 4:37 and wonders whether it had stopped at a.m. or p.m. and on what date. He is annoyed at himself for...