Chapter 6 Summary

On the morning of the second day in the novel's primary timeline, Macgregor arises early and does his exercise routine, then goes for a morning walk. He has seen the slanderous article in the Burmese Patriot and attempts to maintain a cheerful disposition in spite of it. Flory watches Macgregor walk by and despises the other man's essential Englishness. Meanwhile, Westfield oversees an arrest and expedient interrogation. Flory then idles about the area, observing the incredible poverty of the many non-white inhabitants and inspecting some of the local squalor. He receives an anonymous letter and reads it—it states that Veraswami is not to be trusted, is the force behind the slanderous article in the Burmese Patriot, and should be avoided. Although Veraswami is his only friend, he immediately decides he will not be drawn into what he terms a "native affair...