“Sorry, Your Highness. I thought her saddle looked loose and was about to slip.” He turned, and just as he dashed to aid Princess Mary, Rose heard him mutter, “Fiendish thing!”

Rose’s eyes followed him. Again she was struck by the similarity between the way Andrew and Jamie both walked.

Then she headed off to change out of her riding clothes and into her servant ones.

A few minutes later she burst into the kitchen, where Franny was on her knees, scrubbing the stone floor. Rose dropped to her own knees, seized a rag, and began scrubbing.

“Rose, you can’t scrub in your serving kirtle. You’ll ruin it.”

“I don’t care,” Rose whispered. “I have news, Franny!”

“What news?” Franny rested back on her heels.

“He’s coming!” She paused. “Or I think he might be.”

“Your father?”

“Yes. Prince Edward told me that he has commanded some medallions to be made and presented on May Day.” Franny seemed unusually quiet. “Aren’t you happy for me, Franny?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” she replied in a subdued voice. The color had drained from Franny’s face. Her lower lip began to quiver.

“What is it, Franny? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Oh, no, nothing. Nothing at all.” But the smile she flashed was more of a grimace, and there was something. Rose was sure of it. Again Rose felt that Franny had a secret, a deep and very dark secret.

“Come on, I’m done here,” Franny said quickly. “Let’s go back and take a rest. I’ve got to be down here to help Cook pluck the geese and the swan.”

“I hate that,” mumbled Rose.

“Hate what?”

“Eating swan. They’re so beautiful. And haven’t you ever heard the story of the Ugly Duckling?”

“Never.”

Oh right, thought Rose. Hans Christian Andersen hasn’t been born yet.

Rose and Franny walked through the shadowy halls of Hampton Court toward their room off the kitchen, just as Nicholas Oliver was riding from the north on the King’s Highway. He had two missions: the medals, and to see if his daughter might be there in service to Princess Elizabeth. May Day was a favorite holiday of the young king’s, as there were jousts and masques and acrobats. It was also his favorite time to bestow medals. The court, of course, had been consumed with the festivities.

Whenever Nicholas came to court, especially if Princess Elizabeth was there, he always wondered if he might see the girl Rose. But in full court there were hundreds of people occupying the palaces. They were, in fact, like small cities.