Rose gasped. ‘So that “young filly” we heard him talking about at the party must have been your sister!’

‘No wonder Mrs Winters was so scared,’ said Akiko. ‘Sir Toby must have threatened her.’

‘If he’s laid one finger on my sister,’ said Jack vehemently, gripping the hilt of his katana, ‘I swear on my life that I will run Sir Toby Nashe through with my sword!’

‘Wait, did you say … Sir Toby Nashe?’ enquired Signor Horatio.

Jack nodded. ‘Why, do you know him?’

A sharp look of distaste flashed across Signor Horatio’s face. ‘Let’s just say I have crossed swords with him!’

‘Me too,’ said Jack with equal bitterness. ‘The pompous idiot challenged me to a duel, and despite all my years of samurai training he danced rings round me.’

‘No wonder,’ said Signor Horatio, glancing at the daishō on Jack’s hip. ‘With those swords you’ve little chance against a rapier.’

Jack stiffened. ‘A katana is the ultimate sword,’ he argued, feeling defensive in face of the insult to his prized weapons. ‘No steel is sharper!’

Signor Horatio shrugged. ‘Maybe in the Japans it is the ultimate sword, but here the rapier rules – as you discovered to your cost. That katana of yours would appear deadly when it comes to slashing and cutting, but it’s no match for the rapier’s speed and reach.’

Jack opened his mouth to argue further, then closed it. He had to accept the hard truth: he’d been resoundingly beaten in the duel and had yet to get over the shock. Setting aside his samurai pride, he muttered, ‘Well, if only I’d known that before I fought that knighted imbecile.’

Signor Horatio studied Jack closely, then seemed to come to a decision. ‘We share a common enemy, Jack Fletcher. When Sir Toby wounds one of my students, he wounds me too!’

Jack frowned. ‘But I’m not a student of yours.’

‘You are now!’ declared Signor Horatio, clapping a hand on Jack’s shoulder. ‘And as your sword master, it’s my duty to ensure you’re never at that low-life’s mercy again. So the next time you encounter him, to take back your sister, you’ll have the skills to defeat him in open combat. For I shall instruct you in the fine art of fencing!’

31: Horatio’s School of Fencing

‘Buongiorno! I hope you’re well rested, for your training now begins at Signor Horatio’s School of Fencing!’ announced Signor Horatio the next day, as Jack and his friends joined him in a cloistered courtyard of a large timber-framed building off the High Street. Galleries overlooked the paved area on three sides, and a path led behind the house through to a well-tended garden of herbs and vegetables.