She would have laughed with girlish scorn at the idea.

She liked him very much; she thought his nature beautiful in its simplicity and purity; in spite of his shyness she felt more delightfully at home in his society than in that of any other person she had ever met.

He was one of those rare souls whose friendship is at once a pleasure and a benediction, showering light from their own crystal clearness into all the dark corners in the souls of others, until, for the time being at least, they reflected his own nobility.

But she never thought of love.

Like other girls she had her dreams of a possible Prince Charming, young and handsome and debonair.