“Not me; my mum was said to be one. You know about that?”

“Of course. Every kid knows about it. It’s a terrible part of our history. We learn about it in school.”

“It all started with these three awful girls.” Three awful girls. The words tolled like a death knell in Rose’s head. She knew three awful girls. Not much changed in four hundred years. “Their names were Abigail Williams, and her cousin Betty Parris, and her friend Ann Putnam. The meanest girls in the colony.”

“Yeah,” Rose said softly.

“You know mean girls too?”

“Oh yeah.” Rose rolled her eyes.

Epilogue

Shortly after Rose and her father had found each other and after the court had moved to Greenwich for the summer, word flew around the palace that King Edward was suffering from a congestion in the chest that the physicians called a catarrh. The mood at court became somber and then anxious. The king was not improving but getting worse. A steady stream of doctors and councillors filed into the king’s bedchamber.

Princess Mary, who’d been far away at Hunsdon House, which she had been given upon the death of her father, suddenly appeared at Greenwich. There was a palpable chill between the two princesses.

On the afternoon of July 6, the two princesses were called to the king’s bedside by Sir John Mason, first gentleman of the king’s bedchamber. Elizabeth grasped Rose’s hand before she left.

“Pray come with me, Rose. He likes you and I’m fearful of going alone. I have no stomach for death.” It was the only time Rose could recall seeing Elizabeth fearful. But was it death she feared, or was it her sister, Mary?

Rose had no stomach for death either, but they proceeded to the king’s chamber. At the door they met Princess Mary, who was clutching her rosary beads. Elizabeth nodded, and then her eyes fell on Mary’s beads.

“You think it wise, dear sister, to enter your brother’s chamber clutching the beads of the faith he has rejected?”

“He should thank me,” Mary replied. Elizabeth said nothing.

They proceeded into the chamber. The stench was terrible.

A nurse carrying a pan of vomit passed them. “It’s not the vomit you smell, dear. It’s the suppurating tumors,” she said, and rushed on.

The king was in a feverish state, but when one of his attendants whispered that his sisters, the royal princesses, had arrived, his mind seemed to clear a bit.

“Ahh, and did she bring the girl?’

Elizabeth and Mary exchanged glances. “Whom do you mean, dear brother?” Mary asked.

“Not you, sister.”

“Me?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, did you bring the girl? The one named Rose.”

“Indeed, sir, she is here.”

Rose stepped forward. She was shocked by his appearance. His skin was erupting in boils. His face was gray. His hands were bloated, and it appeared his fingernails were falling away.