Her brother, Gianforte, had even as a boy been a good fencer.

He was devotedly attached to his only sister, and as she had not gone to the convent school until she had been fifteen years old, they had been constantly together until then, he being only a couple of years older than she.

One day she had taken up one of his foils, laughing at the idea, and had made him show her how to hold it; and he had forthwith amused her by teaching her to fence, on rainy days in Rome, when she could not ride.

It had seemed to do her good, and her father had allowed her to have regular lessons, until she could handle a foil very fairly, for a girl.

She herself liked it, but she rarely alluded to it, regarding it as a rather unfeminine amusement, and being, at the same time, a most womanly woman.
But in her villa she had a large empty room, admirably adapted for fencing, and three times weekly a famous master came and gave her lessons.