"At that clearing," he started, "did you not have enough sense to be afraid of me?"

He said it out of the silence. They hadn't been talking, nor had he made any reference to what he meant, but she immediately knew.

"I suppose not." She paused. "Have you always wondered that?"

"In a way."

"Hmm. I guess I was just a stupid girl. Or maybe not so stupid?"

He left the unsaid question about his character unanswered. "It doesn't really matter now."

She had followed him too many years for him to ask why she wasn't afraid of him now.