I did not mean it." She spoke like a child that is sorry for a fault and is fearful of being chidden.
And even though knowing full well by bitter experience all her naughtiness and hypocrisy, Sholto, gulping his heart well down into his throat, could not do otherwise than forgive a thing so pretty and so full of the innocent artifices which make mown hay of the hearts of men.
With a touch of his lips upon the hand of Margaret the Maid in token of fealty, Sholto MacKim turned on his heel and went away towards the fords of Thrieve, muttering to himself, "No, she does not mean it, I do believe.

But I have ever heard that of all women she who never means it is the most dangerous." And this is a dict which no wise man can gainsay..