In the silence Hester could hear the household going about its business, the noise of the lad sweeping the yard, and the continual murmur from the rarities room where visitors came and stayed to study and to marvel. The bright yellow spring sun poured into the room.

‘Shall I close the shutters?’ Hester asked. ‘Is it too bright?’

John was looking at the Semper Augustus, with its radiant white petals and the glossy red dappled stripe. ‘It’s never too bright,’ he said.

He lay very still for a while and Hester thought he had gone to sleep. Quietly, she rose from her chair and tiptoed to the door. She looked back at the bed embedded in flowers. Above Tradescant’s sleeping head his chestnut tree was bursting into leaf.

The creak of the wooden door disturbed his sleep. He was awake, looking towards the door; but he did not see Hester. His gaze went a little higher than her head, and his entranced look of delight was that of a man who has seen the love of his life coming, smiling, towards him. He raised himself up, as if he would move lightly forward, like a young man greeting his love. His smile of recognition was unmistakable, his face was filled with joy.

‘Ah! You at last!’ he said softly.

Hester went quickly to the bed, her skirts brushing the banks of flowers, pollen and perfume swirling like ground mist as she ran to him, but by the time she touched his hand the pulse had stopped and John Tradescant had died in a bed of his flowers, greeting the person he loved most in all the world.

About the Author

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen’s Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

Also by the Author

The Tudor Court Series

THE CONSTANT PRINCESS

THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE

THE QUEEN’S FOOL

THE VIRGIN’S LOVER

THE OTHER QUEEN

The Wideacre Trilogy

WIDEACRE

THE FAVOURED CHILD

MERIDON

Earthly Joys

EARTHLY JOYS

VIRGIN EARTH

The Cousins’ War

THE LADY OF THE RIVERS

THE WHITE QUEEN

THE RED QUEEN

THE KINGMAKER’S DAUGHTER

THE WHITE PRINCESS

Standalones

PERFECTLY CORRECT

ALICE HARTLEY’S HAPPINESS

A RESPECTABLE TRADE

THE WISE WOMAN

FALLEN SKIES

THE LITTLE HOUSE

ZELDA’S CUT

Short Stories

BREAD AND CHOCOLATE

Copyright

Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1998

Copyright © Philippa Gregory Ltd 1998

Philippa Gregory asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library