Part 2 (through page 216) Summary

In the meantime, Duncan begins to avoid his friends as much as possible. He is obsessed with his wife and her lover. He finds himself continually ruminating about all the events that transpired during their first love affair and the injuries he sustained in a fight with Crimond. He thinks that he should have destroyed his rival when he had the chance so many years ago. Tamar still comes to visit him just as she regularly visited their home when Jean was still his wife.

A few days later, the friends assemble together for the Guy Fawkes party at Gerard's home in Notting Hill. Lily and Gulliver have also been invited. Even Violet Hernshaw, Tamar's antisocial and perennially complaining mother, attends the party. Shortly after this party, Tamar leaves her office early one evening for Duncan's flat. He expresses...