- By now, Bradley and Julian are far from London, making their way toward the northern seaside cottage that Bradley rented for the summer.
- Bradley has rented a car, and as he and Julian drive, Bradley shares a pretty cynical view of how their love affair is going to end.
- Bradley's talk upsets Julian. She asks him to pull over for a moment, but he won't.
- In a reckless and dramatic attempt to prove her love for Bradley, Julian does something rash—she throws herself out of the moving car.
- Bradley pulls over immediately and goes to Julian; he finds that she isn't badly hurt. When they get back into the car and continue on, Bradley doesn't start in with his cynicism again.
- Soon, they two reach the cottage.
- Although it's dark by now, Julian says that she can hear the sea. She decides to go in and change, and then she wants to walk down to the beach.
- Bradley stands outside alone for a few moments, and when he goes inside to find Julian, he discovers that she's fallen asleep on the bed.
- Bradley pulls the covers over Julian, then sits and thinks about the day they've had, and the days that will come.
- One thought is giving him particular stress: When the time comes, will he be able to perform in bed?
- The next day, Bradley and Julian take their breakfast down to the seashore, then wander around collecting treasures to bring take to the cottage.
- Later that afternoon, Bradley and Julian have lunch together at the cottage, then drive around and visit an old and solitary-looking church.
- Later still, the two go back to the beach.
- As Bradley watches Julian brave the cold water, he thinks some more about the sexual consummation of their relationship—which he expects will happen later that night.
- After having supper together, Bradley and Julian go to bed for the first time.
- When it's over, Bradley is ashamed of his performance (things happened far too quickly for his liking, if you catch our drift), and he wanders outside into the garden to get some air.
- When Bradley returns, Julian tells him that she wants the two of them to get married, and, after chatting briefly, they both fall asleep.
- The next morning, the two of them make love again, but, once again, Bradley is disappointed with his—ahem—speedy arrival at the finish line.
- The next morning, Bradley and Julian go out and wander around a nearby village.
- Later, as they're nearing the cottage on their way back, Bradley notices that someone in uniform is just leaving.
- Bradley tells Julian to continue what she's doing down on the beach—collecting more treasures for the cottage—and he goes up to the house on his own.
- There, Bradley finds a telegram from Francis Marloe, asking him to telephone London immediately.
- Bradley tells Julian that he's going to take the car into the village to have it looked at by a mechanic, and to distract her and give her something to do, he asks her to hang around the cottage and pick some watercress for lunch.
- Julian agrees, and Bradley speeds off towards the village. There, he calls Francis from a telephone booth and learns that his sister, Priscilla, has killed herself.
- Bradley tells Francis to call Priscilla's husband and let him know, and he also tells him that he won't be returning to London immediately. Instead, he tells Francis, he'll come when he can.
- As Bradley drives back to the cottage, he considers his options. He doesn't want to head back to London without having made love to Julian properly at least once, and this thought quickly turns into an obsession.
- When Bradley returns to the cottage, he discovers that Julian has dressed up as Prince Hamlet as a bit of a joke.
- Bradley takes Julian to bed immediately, and, oblivious to Julian's pleas for him to slow down and stop being so rough, he "consummates" their relationship forcefully.
- Afterwards, Julian is frightened and upset, and she lies crying in the bed while Bradley takes pride in his success.
- Later on, the two "make love" (in Bradley's words) again.
- Later that night, Bradley and Julian sit together at the table and eat supper together.
- Both of them feel as if they've undergone a spiritual transformation, and the two seem closer than ever.
- Later that night, as they get into bed and get ready to sleep, Bradley thinks to himself that he'll tell Julian about Priscilla first thing in the morning, and then the two of them will head back to London together—inseparable now that they've consummated their relationship properly.
- In the middle of the night, Bradley hears crashing and smashing coming from the front of the cottage.
- After ordering Julian to stay in the bedroom with the door locked, Bradley goes out to see what's going on. When he opens the door, he finds Arnold Baffin.
- Arnold comes in and demands to see Julian. After a few moments, Bradley goes and gets her.
- In the conversation that ensues, Arnold demands that Julian come home with him. He also gives her a letter from her mother and informs her that Priscilla has killed herself.
- As if the news of Priscilla's death wasn't bad enough, the conversation also reveals that Bradley has lied about his age. For the first time, Julian realizes that her lover is fifty-eight years old, not forty-six.
- After a few moments of hasty, chaotic deliberation, Julian decides that she isn't going to leave with her father. Instead, she says, she'll spend the night at the cottage with Bradley, and the two of them will drive back to London together the next day.
- Reluctantly, Arnold leaves.
- Julian gets back into bed and asks Bradley to sleep somewhere else for the night. Bradley respects her wishes and settles down into an armchair in the sitting room.
- When he wakes the next morning, Bradley discovers that Julian is gone.
- Bradley skips ahead in his narrative and takes us to the day of Priscilla's funeral. He still hasn't had any word from Julian, and he's convinced that Arnold has her locked away somewhere, held prisoner against her will.
- Bradley pays little attention to Francis, Roger, and Christian as they try to talk to him at the funeral, and he soon retreats to his apartment and heads to bed.
- Francis lets himself into the apartment with a key and putters around despite the fact that Bradley has asked him to leave.