If the gale had lasted she would probably have been driven ashore.

Her only chance would have been to drop anchor." "You know all about ships and the sea, don't you ?" asked Maddalena, with a very little curiosity, but without any particular intention.
"Oh, no!" cried Corbario, as if he were protesting against something.

"I have made several long voyages, and I have a knack of remembering the names of things, nothing more." "I did not mean to suggest that you had been a sailor," Maddalena answered.
"What an idea! I, a sailor!" He seemed vaguely amused at the idea.

The Contessa took leave of him, after giving him her address in the north of Italy, and begging him to write if he found any clue to Marcello's disappearance.

He promised this, and they parted, not expecting to meet again until the autumn.
In a few days they had left Rome for different destinations.