A letter summons Elsie back to Parambil because Baby Mol is wasting away and asks for her. Before leaving, Elsie tells Digby she intends only a visit and promises to return. He confesses his love and drives her to the gate. Monsoon floods sever contact for months, and Digby endures silence and despair.

Eight months later a letter arrives: Elsie has had a daughter and must flee to protect the child. She details a plan to float downriver and cross a bridge at Chalakura. Digby drives overnight, waits at dusk, and collects a soaked, exhausted Elsie, then spirits her back to Gwendolyn Gardens.

As Elsie bathes, Digby notices numb, blistered feet, fissured fingers, pale patches, and an emerging claw hand; he recognizes leprosy. He embraces her despite risk. Elsie explains pregnancy worsened her condition and that a newborn is vulnerable; she left their baby, Mariamma, with Big Ammachi and staged her own drowning. Philipose, sinking into opium, believes the child is his.

Elsie rejects any plan to keep the child near her, insisting secrecy is essential to protect Mariamma’s future. She resolves to disappear to Saint Bridget’s, the one place no one would think to look. Digby tends her wounds, bandaging her feet, and stays with her through the night.

At dawn, Elsie says she cannot remain even a night. Digby, clear about his path, promises to be with her always and decides to leave his former life to follow her to Saint Bridget’s.