Then quite suddenly she looked at him once more, pressed his hand nervously and spoke.
"I love you, carissimo," she said, and rose at the same moment from her seat.

"Come--it is time.

Mamma will be tired," she added, while he held her hand and pressed it to his lips.
Her confusion had made it easy for him.

He would have had difficulty in ending the scene artistically if she had not unconsciously helped him.
Ruggiero clenched his hands a little tighter and tried not to breathe.
"It is a lie," he said in his heart, but his lips never moved, nor did he stir a limb as he listened to the departing footsteps on the ledge above.
Then with the ease of great strength he drew himself along through cranny and hollow till he was far from where they sat, and had reached the place where the boats were made fast.

It would seem natural to every one that he should suddenly be standing there to see that all was right, and that none of the moorings had slipped or chafed against the jagged rocks.