'It is what I begin to fear,' he answered her, and resumed his pacing.
A silence followed, and remained unbroken until he went to plant himself, his feet wide, his hands behind him, before the logs that blazed in the cavernous fireplace.
She looked up and met his glance. 'You know what I am thinking,' he said. 'I am wondering whether you may not be right, after all, in your suspicions.'
Gently she shook her head. 'I dismissed them on that night when your bridges were destroyed. His vindication was so complete, what followed proved him so right, that I could suspect him no longer. He is just a mercenary fellow, fighting for the hand that pays. I trust him now because he must know that he can win more by loyalty than by treachery.'
'Aye,' he agreed, 'you are right, my Princess. You are always right.'
'I was not right in my suspicions of him. So think no more of those.'
Standing as he did, he was completely screening the fire from her. She rose and crossed to it, holding out her hands to the blaze when he made room for her beside him.
'I am chilled,' she said. 'As much, I think, by our want of progress as by these November winds.'
'Nay, but take heart, Valeria,' he bade her. 'The one will last no longer than the other. Spring will follow in the world and in your soul.'
She looked up at him, and found him good to look upon, so big and strong, so handsome and so confident.