gives Will a beautiful edition of one of Firbank's novels as a gift. Afterwards, Will goes to Arthur's address in a working class area of London and calls but there is no answer. Returning, he encounters a group of skinheads who demand his watch, attack and queer-bash him, destroying the Firbank novel in the process. Will goes home, where James patches him up but beauty is temporarily ruined. He reads Charles's diary aloud to Phil: Charles describes a North African trying to covertly sell him gay pornography and is disturbed at being ‘outed’ in a foreign culture. Will returns to Staines's home with Nantwich. There are several other men there, including two youths and a black chef, Abdul, who works at Charles's club. Will is powerfully attracted to Abdul. It transpires that Staines and Nantwich are collaborating on the production of a pornographic film in which Abdul and the two youths are performing. The theme of voyeurism alienates Will, who finds it embarrassing and quietly leaves. Will takes Phil out clubbing at The Shaft. He has not been there for many months and there are vivid descriptions of a night on the gay ‘scene’. Will and Phil drink, dance and meet several gay ‘types’, including a Brazilian bodybuilder. He discovers Arthur, who has been working for his brother Harold, in the bathroom and attempts to have sex with him. Arthur is obviously quite upset, and they part ways. Will gets a telephone call from James; he has been arrested whilst seeking sex. This is ironic since James's sex-life is non-eventful compared to Will's. It appears to be a case of police-entrapment, with an undercover officer soliciting sex from homosexual men. Charles's diaries have entered the Second World War; he is entering middle-age and the tone is melancholy. He is passionately devoted to an African man; the beautiful boy whose portrait hangs in Charles's house. The boy is now grown and soon to marry. Will goes to an exhibition of photographs by Staines. The theme is soft-core homo-erotica. He is surprised to find Gavin there. Talking with Staines, he discovers that he and Charles have produced three pornographic films of the type that play in the cinema where Will first had sex with Phil. From the diaries, Will learns how Charles's life was ruined. The African man whom he loved gets married and Charles begins to visit anonymous sex clubs and