“Is that always best?”
“I think so.”
People were beginning to move towards the staircase. Below, the man stood ready to fling the rope.
“Let us go to the other landing and walk back across the stone bridge,” he suggested.
“There is not time; it is quite seven o’clock now.”
“But I shall not again be with you, and there is something that I must say.”
“You must say it here, then.”
The rope was thrown and caught, and every one aboard received the violent jolt that attends some boat-landings. Rosina was thrown against her companion and he was thrown against the stair-rail.
“Can you hear if I speak now,” he whispered.
“Yes.”