Marina, still hanging on to the last traces of her It-girl status, is unsettled by the arrival of her 19-year-old cousin Bootie, who has dropped out of university to pursue a program of educating himself by his own design. Bootie reveres the Thwaites and looks up to his uncle Murray, in whose footsteps he wants to follow; but Marina is dismissive, calling him "Fat Fredrick," and finds that he has installed himself in the Thwaite home creepy. Despite this, things quickly fall in line for Bootie: Murray is impressed by both his desire to leave his small town and his desire to self-educate and offers him a salary and work as his private secretary. Through Marina, Bootie also is able to rent Julius's old apartment.