Strangers When We Meet

XI.

"Dammit, Goldenlake, why did you do it? She's not strong enough for a fall like that."

"You'll have to stop coddling her sometime, Cavall. She'll be fine. Baird said it himself."

"What if she wasn't fine, Raoul? What if she were killed? I can't believe you jousted with her…"

"She wanted to, Wyldon! Fine, I regret it, absolutely. She obviously wasn't ready to tilt with me."

"Obviously."

"But she'd just stuck her lance through a willow hoop, on her fourth try, and she clearly had no idea what she was doing. I wanted to see if she still packed the same punch through sheer instinct. I wish now I hadn't hit – it was foolish of me, and I apologize. But can you blame me?"

A pause. "No. No, I cannot. Were I in your place, I cannot honestly say that I would not have done it."

A longer pause. "Thank you."

"For what? Forcing you to acknowledge your weakness for the girl?"

"No. For acknowledging your own."

A pause. "Of course I'm fond of her. She's like one of my own daughters."

Raoul rested his large hand briefly on the other man's shoulder. "I know."