Digby, hospitalized after the inferno that killed Celeste, relives the blaze and drowns in shame. On the sixth day, he strips his bandages and clinically assesses his burns: a painless third-degree burn on the dorsum of his right hand and painful mixed-depth burns on the left. Horrified by his reflection and self-condemnation, he begs Muthu to help him leave.

They slip out before dawn. After a harrowing rickshaw ride and a brief stop at a travelers’ lodge, Digby boards the Shoranur Express in a baggage car, escorted by Owen Tuttleberry. Owen laments that Claude Arnold may escape justice because the key witness was compromised. At dawn, Franz and Lena Mylin, with their driver Cromwell, collect Digby and hide him at AllSuch Estates.

In the guest cottage, Digby requests surgical supplies and absolute secrecy. He debrides the eschar on his right hand and performs agonizing “pinch” skin grafts on himself, using whisky for courage and declining assistance while Cromwell keeps vigil. He avoids conversation with Franz and Lena, but allows Cromwell to shepherd twice-daily walks through the estate’s shaded paths.

Weeks pass with little progress. When Cromwell alerts Lena, she finds Digby desolate, his right hand a “lava pit,” his tendons still trapped. She comforts him, and, sensing his need for expert help, proposes bringing a weekend visitor from the plains—a surgeon who specializes in hands—offering Digby a potential lifeline.