Behind me, Quinn gasped, and I went still. He had opened his present.
“Mark, I can’t believe this.” He ran his fingers over the carefully crafted display case. In it was an actual 1796 pattern British Light Cavalry saber.
“Its provenance is in the envelope.”
“What?”
“This sword belonged to the last male Sebring in the British line, Captain Charles Sebring. He was killed at the Battle of Badajoz.”
“Badajoz? Of course. The Spanish Campaign. Family legend had it he rode with Wellington.”
“He did.”
“Oh, my.” He took out the envelope and removed the tattered letter that had been written more than a century and a half ago by Charles Sebring’s friend and fellow officer, Danny Weston.
“Yes.” The sword had been in Weston’s family’s possession since the brigade major had been killed in the W
