No woman, no man, no child ever was deeply intimate with my father. The closest
anyone ever came to casual camaraderie with the Padishah Emperor was the
relationship offered by Count Hasimir Fenring, a companion from childhood. The
measure of Count Fenring's friendship may be seen first in a positive thing: he
allayed the Landsraad's suspicions after the Arrakis Affair. It cost more than a
billion solaris in spice bribes, so my mother said, and there were other gifts
as well: slave women, royal honors, and tokens of rank. The second major
evidence of the Count's friendship was negative. He refused to kill a man even
though it was within his capabilities and my father commanded it. I will relate
this presently.