Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

In chapter one, "The True Sister," Kate Sutton is talking with her sister, Alicia. Alicia says that the Queen won't be angry over a letter Alicia wrote complaining of the living conditions for the Queen's sister, Princess Elizabeth. Alicia and Kate are ladies-in-waiting in Elizabeth's household and the house is always cold, with never enough coal to warm the entire establishment and never enough blankets to go around to all the members of the house. Kate knows that complaining to the Queen could be disastrous and that the Queen knows very well everything that goes on in the household, but Alicia believes that the Queen will rectify the situation once she's aware. Kate eventually convinces Alicia that she could be in trouble for writing the letter. Alicia says that if Kate is a "true sister," she'll claim to have written the...