But--whatever the reason--she would have given much to have had him on her side.

Somehow it mattered to her, and mattered vitally.
But Monck had never joined her retinue of courtiers.

He was never other than courteous to her, but he did not seek her out.

Perhaps he had better things to do.

Aloof, impenetrable, cold, he passed her by, and she would have been even more amazed than Tommy had she heard him describe her as beautiful, so convinced was she that he saw in her no charm.
It had been a disheartening struggle, this hewing for herself a way along the rocky paths of prejudice, and many had been the thorns under her feet.