A Fencing Master who Isn't Quite a Fencing Master

 

cover at by Charles E Chambers

cover art by Sid Rosenbaum

"The Open Door," says the Castillian proverb, "will tempt a saint," which is only the Spanish way of saying that opportunity makes the thief."

Rafael Sabatini nearly always wrote great opening sentences. This one is from the short story "The Open Door," first published in the July 1935 issue of Redbook (which has the least swashbuckler-looking cover in the history of magazines, but what the hey). It was later republished in the December 1951 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. This was about a year after Sabatini's death, reprinted as a tribute to him.

The main character--a mediocre fencing master named Florimond--has set up a fencing school, claiming to be the student of the famous fencing master Guillaume Danet. But he loses most of his student quickly, as most of them quickly realize that Florimond is neither a good fencer nor a good teacher of fencing.

Florimond's Open Door to temptation comes when he ends up ticking off a traveler staying at the local inn. A duel is arranged for the next morning. But when the traveler learns the Florimond is supposedly a fencing master, he visits Florimond in the middle of the night and offers a bribe to be let out of the duel.

Florimond realizes he has stumbled upon a method to bring in a regular income, as long as he's not greedy and carefully picks his targets for luring into duels the victim will then pay money to get out of. For a time, his racket goes smoothly.

But of course he eventually gets greedy and challenges the wrong person to a duel. This leads to a plot twist that many readers will THINK they see coming, only for a second plot twist to turn this on its head. It's a great ending that highlights Sabatini's cynical take on artificial "Code of Honor" social mores.

It is a great story. You can read it yourself HERE.