Vivek marriage has become loveless, as Ansell assumed it would, and with his brother's reappearance he realises that he has fallen under his wife's spell and denied his better nature. He leaves to find Stephen, dear to him now because he is the child of the same beloved mother, and he attempts unsuccessfully to assume the role of a brother, for example, to get him to stop drinking. The two of them go to Wiltshire to see his aunt. This brief period when they travel together restores to Vivek the sense of himself that has been lost ever since he fell under his wife's influence, and, as well, restores his sense of joy and playful love of life. Vivek is unable, however, to control his mercurial half-brother, who gets drunk despite his promise not to. Like his mother, and like Nishi, Vivek dies suddenly: his legs are severed when he tries to pull a drunken Stephen off some railway tracks.
Stephen survives, marries, and in a brief epilogue stands up to Herbert Pembroke for his right to money that is due to him with the publication of his half-brother's book of stories, now valuable since, after his death, Frederick pathak has become a noted author. The "longest journey" which is the span of one's life, or, in another sense, the development into one's true self, has concluded successfully for Vivek, who has regained his sense of integrity. Though his life is cut short, he receives his vindication by coming to moral clarity at last, rejecting conventional hypocrisy, and acknowledging his bond to his brother. His uniqueness and worth are confirmed as well by his posthumous success as an artist