CHAPTER 19

Summary

• The chapter is set in 1935 in Madras. The protagonist, Digby, is consistently thinking of a woman named Celeste, despite promising not to.
• Despite his constant thoughts about Celeste, Digby also focuses on his time with Esmeralda. Esmeralda provides him with comfort and company. They explore the city together.
• Digby's circle of friends is very small. It includes Honorine, the Tuttleberrys, and Ravichandran. He receives friendly letters from Lena, who is recovering well.
• Digby attends the Fall Ball with the Tuttleberrys, where he's dragged to dance by Jennifer. Jennifer’s brother Jeb also attends, breaking up with his long-term girlfriend Mary and expressing interest in another girl, Rose.
• Jeb is liked by the others despite his insensitive actions, and even becomes the center of attention at the party by dancing with various women, including Rose’s mother.
• Digby is fascinated by Jeb’s charisma and skill, though he's mostly preoccupied with thoughts about Celeste.
• The scene shifts to Digby at work in the operating theater, where he discovers that Jeb is scheduled for surgery to treat an abscess on his neck. When Digby observes the abscess, it doesn’t feel like an abscess but a pulsing aneurysm. Digby tries to warn the surgeon, Claude, about his suspicions but is dismissed.
• During the procedure, instead of draining pus, Claude accidentally slices open an artery, causing Jeb to lose a fatal amount of blood. Digby tries to stitch up the wound, but it's too late and Jeb dies.
• Alarmed and shocked, the crowd that has gathered watch as Claude, covered in Jeb's blood, stumbles out of the operating theater.