The Honour of Savelli

A charge of theft silences a military supper in early sixteenth-century Italy. Di Savelli, the narrator, finds himself publicly accused by D'Entrangues, a fellow soldier whose wife has become his friend. She once nursed Savelli through a wound, and their later meetings have made her troubles familiar to him. The scene moves from convivial talk to angry confrontation as officers intervene and demand an explanation.

Farther into the story, Savelli and Jacopo take lodging at a place that inspires little confidence. A lantern set to illuminate the stable entrance, a sword beside the bed and instructions to keep watch reveal the practical worries behind the adventure. When a clash awakens Savelli, his duty to deliver a letter shapes his response to the danger. S. Levett Yeats combines a soldier's concern for his name with tense encounters and hazardous errands, giving readers a historical romance driven by reputation, friendship and vigilance.