Burmese Days: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

No houses are looted and no one else is killed. The next morning, Westfield and Verrall return with two men who will be executed for Maxwell’s murder. Meanwhile, Flory visits Dr. Veraswami, who exults that Flory’s quick actions in stopping the riot prevented U Po Kyin from taking credit and bolster Veraswami’s prestige as Flory’s friend. Flory admits that the other club members are treating him better now, though Ellis is annoyed that Flory ordered the police to fire over the crowd’s heads, not at them.

Thirty minutes later, Flory approaches the club in the rain and sees Elizabeth on the veranda. They exchange a few friendly, banal sentences about the weather, and Flory asks after her cut elbow. When she immediately gives him her arm to examine, Flory realizes that she sees him as a hero again, just like she did after the buffalo and the leopard. Taking courage, he reminds her of the letter he wrote her in which he told her he would always love her. Then he kisses her. She shakes her head, but not in anger, and enters the club.

Inside the club, Flory praises Dr. Veraswami’s conduct during the riot to Macgregor. They don’t vote on Veraswami’s election to the club, though, because Flory is returning to his camp in the jungle. He plans to return in 10 days for the next church service—and, hopefully, after Verrall, the one remaining obstacle in his relationship with Elizabeth, has left. Flory doesn’t believe that Verrall will propose to Elizabeth because men like Verrall don’t marry “penniless girls met casually at obscure Indian stations.”

U Po Kyin, furious that the riot has undermined his plans, writes more anonymous letters slandering Dr. Veraswami and summons his co-conspirators for a meeting. At the meeting, U Po Kyin concludes that they can’t harm Veraswami until Flory—a “miserable coward” who U Po Kyin never suspected would stay loyal to Veraswami—is out of the way. Because Flory is white, U Po Kyin can’t simply slander him: instead, Flory must experience some “public disgrace.” When U Po Kyin reveals his plan, the co-conspirators laugh.

Elizabeth and Verrall ride together every evening, but Verrall still doesn’t propose. She hears a rumor that he’s leaving soon. Then, one day, he doesn’t come to the club. Elizabeth waits in agony for Verrall to appear; meanwhile, Mr. Lackersteen sexually harasses her “unceasingly.” Three days after Verrall’s disappearance, a young, plump, blond British man appears at the club and introduces himself as Verrall’s replacement. When Mrs. Lackersteen, shocked, asks whether Verrall is going already, the man tells her that Verrall’s train leaves in 30 minutes.

 Elizabeth and Mrs. Lackersteen rush to the train station in a rickshaw. Throughout the ride, Elizabeth tells herself that Verrall must have written her a letter that didn’t arrive—or even if he didn’t, that surely, he’ll change his mind once he sees her at the station. Yet when the women arrive, the train has already left. According to the stationmaster, Verrall demanded that the train leave 10 minutes early. (It’s unclear whether Verrall was intentionally fleeing Elizabeth or the men he owed money for his horses’ hay and corn.) Later, Mrs. Lackersteen roundly criticizes Verrall’s behavior and mentions “almost lovingly” that Flory will return to Kyauktada soon.