Williams is now in his early thirties and ready to forgo the prospect of love and marriage—he has his elephants and his dogs in the forest. A new dog, Molly Mia, becomes one of his most loyal and intelligent companions. As it happens, just as he is ready to settle into bachelorhood, he meets an extraordinary young woman, Susan Rowland, the cousin of one of the most famous Burmese forest men still working, Stephen Hopwood. She calls him Uncle Pop. It is apparent from their first meeting that there is a spark between them, especially as Molly Mia—usually attached only to Williams—takes an immediate liking to Susan.

Susan falls quickly for Williams’s devotion to his animals, as well as his indefatigable energy. But he is set to leave soon for the Andaman Islands, an untapped and untamed bit of land in the Bay of Bengal, where he will scope out whether logging there would be feasible. Susan is devastated to see him go. However, Williams decides to let Susan have Molly Mia since the dog seems so attached to her, and he cannot take her on the journey. Susan is delighted at the prospect: “It would solve a few things for me, too, Susan thought.