There could be no other reason for her sudden movement than that this was the King. He held a shiny leaf on which feasted a caterpillar, as fat as a carpenter’s thumb, heedless of its monarch. Awe possessed me like a devil, making me stare when I should have looked down. Although his clothes were a poor fit, his cap was magnificently jeweled and adorned with feathers tall enough to brush the ceiling. His countenance was unlovely, with drooping eyes and jowls, and his body encased in a doublet so thickly padded it resembled a turnip, but it mattered not for the King is appointed by God and stands as high as Him. His courtiers were more richly dressed, a host proclaiming the glory of their Lord, and I felt touched by divinity in my nearness to him; it is one of God’s mysterious workings that he should raise this small man above us even while all about are men of greater strength and beauty.

“Have we entered hell, after all?” Frankie whispered just as I was thinking myself in heaven.

“The noise we hear is their eating,” I whispered back, nodding toward trestles that stood between us and the King. These were piled with glossy leaves that the caterpillars were noisily devouring. Frankie’s face was a picture of revulsion.

“Lady Frances, this will interest ye!” said the King, ensuring all became aware of our late arrival. He spoke in a Scotch accent so strong that at first I thought it was a different language. “The clothes on yer back are spun by these wurrums. They pissed on yer ruff too, p’raps?”

At this, fifty pairs of eyes turned to Frankie. Women opened fans behind which they whispered; men grinned. The Countess of Suffolk stood very still, her rigid lips alone betraying distress at the great alteration in her daughter.

The King examined Frankie as one would a horse before laying bets. I did not breathe. George had told me that our monarch loved to create mischief in his Court, to keep his nobles on their toes. Ridicule is harder to survive than scandal. My jaw ached with fear. He began to clap. Slowly at first, then in a childish burst in which those around him were obliged to join. Frankie curtsied with such great dignity that the King nodded along with the applause.

As a hundred jeweled hands finally came to rest the King called out, “My commendations to yer tailor, Lady Frances. We like our Court to shine.” Frankie inclined her head but mine fair burst with pride. That morning I had never been to Court; by dinnertime the King himself was commending my work.

Frankie found my hand and squeezed it.