Mistress Bees is a thin, pale girl of thirteen eking out a living between selling food to the outdoor staff on the Fox grounds and scented tapers from the leftovers of beeswax candles that go up as rent. As an orphan without grandparents in the village, she is officially under her brother's guardianship and unofficially under that of Widow Sexton and Goodie Westcott.

Although she has been running the domestic side of the household a full five months now she often sports burns on her wrists and forearms, not always having the strength to keep a full skillet steady when taking it off the fire or out of the old-fashioned summer oven.