Burmese Days

The next morning, Flory sulks in his bath with a glass of gin, and then goes for a walk in order to avoid the daily fight between Ko S’la’s two wives. While walking, he passes Macgregor, who affects extreme cheerfulness in order to conceal that he has been hurt by the article. Flory’s clerk runs up to him and presents him with an anonymous letter that attacks Veraswami’s character, accusing him of taking bribes, extorting his patients, working with anti-colonial forces, and authoring the Macgregor article. The letter also includes a subtle threat to Flory if he continues to associate with the doctor. Flory immediately recognizes that the letter has come from U Po Kyin but is unconcerned: “no Englishmen ever feels himself in real danger from an Oriental” (66). Flory knows that the decent thing to do would be to show the letter to Veraswami, but he decides to not get entangled in native quarrels. If he brought the letter to an official inquiry, Flory would have to publicly side with Veraswami against U Po Kyin. Fearing a backlash from the other Europeans, Flory decides to pretend to have never received it, and tears up the letter.