And then, in the middle of yet another joyfully adroit attack on his best friend’s renowned sense of style, Will recalls a visit to Highmere when he was but a boy and the girl he’d espied swimming in the High Mere early one morning—unclothed yet seemingly comfortable in the frigid water—and he begins to suspect that Miss Elizabeth Hendrix is peculiarly, innately connected to the estate in a way not even she understands.