"A Philip E. Lilienthal book"--Prelim.

Introduction: a life of passing -- Ancestors: a Methodist, a soldier, and a "Lady not entirely white" -- A company childhood -- Daughter of the Deccan -- Love and Bombay, at last -- Metamorphosis: "a life sublimated above the ordinary" -- A teacher and a king -- A job in a palace -- "The noble and devoted women whom I learned to know, to esteem, and to love" -- Settled in Bangkok -- The paths to good-bye -- An American writer -- The Canadian grande dame -- "Shall we dance?": Anna and U.S.-Thai relations.