‘Even if he says he wants to return to your custody? That is what you want, is it not?’ More and more I noticed Jasper had changed in the years he had been in exile. He had become cautious in his dealings with others but at the same time more sensitive to their ideas and opinions, I assumed as a result of the wide variety of people he had been obliged to deal with. Moving from one court to the next, one country to another, he had become more of a diplomat than a soldier.

He beamed at me. ‘I believe you can read my mind better than my handwriting, Jane.’

I laughed. ‘And it is no wonder! Your handwriting is like snail trails in a garden – all over the place. St Catherine be thanked you have scribes to write for you again now.’

At that moment Davy gave a howl of frustration as his staff flew from his hands and Harri claimed victory by holding his weapon across his opponent’s throat. ‘My bout I think!’ he cried.

Davy dropped to his knees. ‘Pace,’ he said, proving that he had learned something in the Raglan Latin lessons.

‘But you are very good, Davy Owen,’ Harri panted, pulling him to his feet. ‘You should put up a pell post here and get one of the girls to shout directions. It would hone your reactions.’

Davy made a face. ‘I could not take orders from a girl, Harri. I can beat Will Gardiner easily but you are much better than him.’

‘Who is Will Gardiner?’

Davy grinned and pointed at Elin. ‘You should ask Elin; she natters away to him for hours, when he is not sparring with me.’

Elin was not abashed. ‘At least he has more to talk about than sword thrusts and vambraces, whatever they are!’ she shouted back.

‘Who is Will Gardiner?’ Jasper muttered in my ear.

This was the first Jasper had heard of him but Will had very quickly become a regular in our house. ‘His mother brought a basket of eggs to welcome us to Stepney, which I thought very kind, and Will came with her, a pleasant boy who attends a guild grammar school in the city. He is the Gardiners’ only son, and Elin, being Elin, seems to think him her particular acquisition.’

Will’s father was a Master of one of the city Companies and Jasper thought he would therefore almost certainly be a wealthy merchant. When I told him they had another house in the city but Philippa preferred to live in the fresh air of Stepney, Jasper raised an eyebrow at me.