But long before that chance meeting they had been companions in childhood, intimate companions, too.

The boy had been her servitor, but he had been more.

He had been her protector and friend.

In her memory she could recall incident after incident when he had helped her, shielded her.

Never once had he failed to show anything but devotion absolute and unbounded toward her.
The proposition of marriage he had made in the old hall, which she had laughed to scorn, had by no means escaped her memory.