Those rough southern sailors sometimes have a wonderful keenness in discovering the meaning of their masters' doings.

Ruggiero held the key to the situation.

He knew that San Miniato was poor and that the Marchesa was very rich.

He knew very well that San Miniato was not at all in love, for he knew what love really meant, and he could see how the Count always acted by calculation and never from impulse.

Best of all he saw that Beatrice was a mere child who was being deceived by the coolly assumed passion of a veteran woman-killer.