The servant was an older woman, with a face like an axe and a steely eye. She obviously disapproved highly of Evelina. The woman assisted Evelina in discarding her old clothes and drying herself off. Then she showed her how to put on the new clothes, for with the chemise and the stockings and the underskirt and overskirt and bodice with sleeves that had to be tied on, Evelina would not have known where to begin. The woman brushed out her hair and, when Evelina said she was hungry, ordered a servant to bring up a tray.

The food was a disappointment, for Evelina had expected peacock’s tongues, and all she got was plain roast beef.

“And now I think I will go have a look about the palace,” Evelina stated.

“That is quite out of the question, Mistress,” said the axe-faced woman in an iron tone. “Her Majesty is coming to pay you a visit. You must wait here.”

Evelina felt a tingle of delight. The Queen, coming to see her. She sat down in one of the chairs to wait.

She waited.

And waited.

The axe-faced woman sat in a chair in steely silence, tatting lace. Evelina felt it beneath her dignity to converse with a servant, so she also sat in silence. She spent some time admiring her new clothes and her new shoes, but one could do that for only so long.

She went from being pleased to bored and from bored to irritated. And then she heard distant sounds—music! Somewhere people were feasting and dancing. She was thinking of defying Axe-Face and walking out, going to see if she could find Marcus, when she heard a rustle of silk and footsteps outside the door and smelled a fragrance as of spring roses. Axe-Face rose to her feet.

Evelina tried to calm her racing heart. Her future would be settled in this one moment.

The Queen came alone. She opened the door, entered, and said something to the woman, who curtsied deeply and went out. The Queen shut the door behind her. She glanced about the room, as though to make certain that all was well, then turned to face Evelina.

“Well, Mistress,” said the Queen, giving her a dimpled smile, “are you settling in?”

Evelina made an awkward curtsy, as the servant had instructed her. She started to sit down, then remembered just in time that the servant had also warned her that no one sat while in Her Majesty’s presence. Evelina remained standing, her head lowered, all the while studying the Queen intently from beneath her eyelashes.

Evelina had always considered other members of her own sex to be weak, stupid creatures, and the Queen was no exception. Evelina saw a plump, overfed, middle-aged woman clad in bejew-eled splendor, pampered and protected and silly. Evelina had no doubt at all about who would win this encounter.