‘That’s awful! But we couldn’t have done it,’ he protested. ‘We were on the road yesterday,’ he added, having to raise his voice over the hisses and jeers. ‘In fact, we stayed in the Fox and Pheasant Inn the previous night.’

The bailiff leant across the table and, like a poisonous toad, fixed Jack with his bulbous eyes. ‘Yet you slept in a barn last night. Why should I believe that penniless vagrants like you had the means to stay at an inn the night before?’

‘Ask the landlord,’ said Akiko, stepping forward. ‘He’s sure to remember us.’

The bailiff glowered, as if the audacity of a woman to speak out of turn was a sin. ‘The landlord’s not here to ask,’ he said sharply, spittle spraying out of his mouth. ‘And I’m not minded to waste my time or his for foreigners and thieves.’ He waved to the chief constable. ‘Lock them up, constable, and send word to the Justice of the Peace that we have apprehended the horse thieves. He will arrange to have them transported back to London for trial.’

‘NO!’ cried Jack. He struggled in the chief constable’s grip and was rewarded with a heavy blow of a cosh to his kidneys. He dropped to his knees, winded and bruised. As they were dragged away, Jack began to despair. They couldn’t be sent back to London. He had to find his sister. If they went back to the capital, he and his friends would hang for their earlier false convictions. Oh, how Sir Toby would be delighted to see him swing from the gallows again!

Then Jack spotted a familiar face in the crowd: Harold Westcott.

‘Harold!’ he shouted, but the charming gentleman from the Fox and Pheasant didn’t appear to hear him.

‘HAROLD!’ he shouted again, then pointing his bound hands in Harold’s direction, Jack appealed to the bailiff. ‘Please, sir – that man can vouch for us.’

All eyes turned to the young man in the plush velvet jerkin adorned with silver buttons and shoulder wings. Harold was pushed forward by the crowd and made to stand before the bailiff.

‘Is this true?’ demanded the bailiff. ‘Do you know these people?’

Jack looked imploringly at Harold, willing him to confirm their story. But it appeared their friendly traveller was reluctant to get involved. ‘Harold,’ Jack pleaded, ‘tell the bailiff we were with you the other night at the inn. You owe us this favour, remember?’

After what seemed like an age, Harold looked at Jack, smiled and nodded. ‘Yes,’ he announced, ‘I know them.’

Jack felt a wave of relief. They had their alibi confirmed.

Then Harold’s smile turned sour and he added, ‘They’re thieves, all right. They stole my purse and my precious locket.’

‘What?’ cried Jack in horror. Akiko and Yori stared in equal disbelief.