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Summary
The Superintendent of Police Mr. McBryde was a cynic but all the same he was fair. He believed that all Indians were untrustworthy and criminals at heart. He told Fielding that Miss Adela Quested was assaulted by Aziz in one of the caves but she resisted and struck him with her field glasses. In the scuffle that followed, the strap of the field-glass broke and as a result, she got away. The strap of the field-glass had been found in one of the pockets of Aziz. Letters and photographs had been seized from Aziz's house but all this failed to convince Fielding that Aziz was guilty. Fielding expressed his desire to see Miss Adela Quested, still believing that she had committed a mistake somewhere. But he was refused permission to see her because she was not in her normal condition.
Vakil Mohammad Ali sent in a request to see the Superintendent of Police who granted him his wish and gave details of the charge. Hamidullah had also sent a card to McBryde to see him. The opposite party was also preparing for the defence. McBryde advised Fielding not to mix with the Indians and to stand with his own community. Fielding asked McBryde to allow him to meet Aziz but the latter expressed his inability to do so without the permission of the Magistrate, Ronny Heaslop.
Critical Analysis
The climacteric point in the story has been reached and the story now moves on to the solution of the problem, i.e. whether the East and the West can meet or not. McBryde is a typical British official who thinks that all Indians are unreliable and bad at heart. But, there is another Englishman, who thinks otherwise and has the knack to see through things and arrive at the truth. We are to see, whether between those two views, the West can reach an agreement with the East or not?