has sex with one of them; a young man who feels insecure about his (comparatively) modest background and sexual inexperience. As a young man, Charles enters the Foreign Service and travels to Sudan to act as a regional administrator. He is enchanted by the land and powerfully drawn to African men but finds himself cut off by race, rank and position. Charles ruminates on the sense of devotion that homosexuality can foster between men and how that devotion aids duty and right action. Phil invites Will back to his lodgings in the hotel where Phil works as a waiter. Phil wants sex but is too shy so Will seduces him. Will goes to the opera with James and his grandfather. The opera is Billy Budd. Will is struck almost to tears by the homoerotic and emotional power of the work. During the conversation afterwards, the subject of Benjamin Britten’s own homosexuality arises and they talk about his relationship with E. M. Forster, who co-wrote the libretto. The relationship between gay sexual expression and art is gently explored. Will continues reading Charles's diaries. On the way to a boxing club financially supported by Nantwich, Will has an unpleasant encounter with a working class boy, who offers him sex for money. Will refuses; there are undertones of fear and violence. At the match, Will meets Bill: a man he knows from the Corry. Bill is a weightlifter; a large muscular man who coaches teenage boxers. Trapped inside his body, Bill seems a fearful man. He is devoted to Nantwich, his patron, and to the boys he coaches. He is also carrying a torch for Phil. From the diaries, Will learns that Nantwich has been to Egypt and then returned to London, where he met with Ronald Firbank: an extraordinary portrait of effete decrepitude, camp and alcoholic. Will takes Phil to visit Staines, a successful studio photographer who echoes Cecil Beaton. Staines is a gossipy queen and socialite. His lover is a "school tart" grown old; a kept man drinking too much. Staines poses Phil bare-chested and oiled, as pornography. This episode overtly deals with gay artifice, staging and the image. Phil is idealised and objectified. Staines reveals that Charles's brother was homosexually insatiable, exploited his servants and was subsequently beaten to death and that Charles's uncle was likewise into rough trade. At Nantwich's house, Will and Charles talk about Ronald Firbank. Charles