Nick, Charlie, and Stephen, sons of an earl, a baronet, and a freshly knighted barrister, met at school and became fast friends. The young noblemen went on to university while Stephen read law in London. All three exchange letters and visits, even spending holidays together for the next thirteen years. Their terms of intimacy, while close, have been undefined: Nick and Charlie have a separate relationship, Charlie and Stephen another.   In November 1819, Nick invites his two friends for three weeks at his country lodge. He worries their bonds may be sundered by circumstance: he is to be married. While this was always inevitable, they must all now face up to the changes it will bring.   Mere days into their country retreat, all three have confirmed their desire for more, not less, intimacy. Ideas are exchanged, affections shared, wishes expressed. Their days together strengthen the mortar of their new connection, giving it time to set.   Along the way, they indulge in every kind of intimacy, safe in the privacy of the hunting box. Will their plans and promises hold once they must part?