"It seems as though I have lived this life always. The world of books and bookish folk is very vague, more like a dream memory than an actuality. I surely have hunted and forayed and fought all the days of my life. And you, too, seem a part of it. You are -- " I was on the verge of saying, "my woman, my mate," but glibly changed it to -- "standing the hardship well."
Source: wiktionary