But Mason's biographer Roger Lancelyn Green, writing in 1952, was unable to agree. Literary significance and criticism ДЄt the time of its publication The Broken Road was considered second in excellence only to The Four Feathers. She is flaunting expensive jewellery, and is dining with a group of friends and her new husband, a wealthy but docile man. On leave in London three years later, Linforth by chance sees Violet across a crowded restaurant. Ultimately Sher Ali is arrested and is deported by the British authorities to Burma, where he ends up 'drinking himself to death with the riff-raff of Rangoon.' Once again the British need the road, and Linforth is finally able to start his long-delayed work. He escapes, and Linforth is sent in pursuit. The Prince, however, is not to be turned, and he leads a rebellion that is put down by British troops. Instead, he is instructed to persuade Sher Ali to return to the British side. That would now be dangerously provocative and would risk an uprising. Linforth at last receives his desired posting to Chiltistan but not, as he expects, to continue the road. Increasingly resentful, he finds a new role as leader of a group of local tribes who intend to expel the British entirely. Having been accepted in London society as an equal, and with ambitions to marry an Englishwoman, Sher Ali finds this impossible to submit to.

Sher Ali is summoned back to India where it is made clear to him that his role is to marry a local woman, settle down in Chiltistan, and to become a British figurehead who will keep the local tribes in order. The British Government becomes weary of the Khan's profligacy in Chiltistan, and decides to force him to step down in favour of his son, now fully English-Educated and Westernised. Feeling under pressure to return the necklace, she deceives the prince by having a copy made and sending that to him, keeping the original. Unknown to Linforth, Sher Ali also hopes to marry Violet, and gives her a valuable string of pearls which she is unable to resist in spite of knowing that she could never marry him because of his race. Linforth woos her but she is reluctant, aware of the comforts she would have to give up in Chiltistan. On a climbing holiday, Linforth and Sher Ali are introduced to Violet Oliver, a young widow with a penchant for jewels. Meanwhile, Sher Ali becomes a favourite of London polite society. The pair become firm friends, and during their schooldays and later at Oxford they imagine collaborating to continue the work of Dick's late father, extending the road right across Chiltistan and over the passes 'to the foot of the Hindu Kush.' Linforth joins the army and is sent to Chatham, where he waits interminably for an Indian posting that will take him to Chiltistan to start his intended life's work on the road. When Harry Linforth's young son, Dick, is old enough he is sent to Eton where he meets the Khan's son, Prince Sher Ali, who has been sent over to England to be educated. Work ceases and it is unclear whether it will ever re-start.

But the road increasingly infuriates the local people, and before it can be finished the workers and British troops are besieged and Harry Linforth is killed. Its construction is supervised by British army officer Harry Linforth. To enhance Chiltistan's defensibility, the Government decides to construct a road across the territory with support from the Khan who sees opportunities for increased trade and personal profit. During the period of British rule in India, the northern frontier region of Chiltistan had always been a potential flashpoint although the local tribes are kept in check by the Khan, a puppet ruler maintained in power by the British.

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