She deftly unfastened the bonds with which the wrists were fastened together.
The man, without waking immediately, stretched his arms, as though submitting himself to a familiar operation, not effected for the first time, which did not necessarily interfere with his sleep. Presumably he was released like this at intervals, perhaps in order to eat and at night, for he ended by muttering:
"So early? . . . But I'm not hungry . . . and it's still light!"
This last reflection astonished the man himself. He opened his eyes and at once sat up where he lay, so that he might see the person who was standing in front of him, no doubt for the first time in broad daylight.
He was not greatly surprised, for the reason that the reality could not have been manifest to him at once. He probably thought that he was the sport of a dream or an hallucination; and he said, in an undertone:
"Véronique . . . Véronique . . ."
She felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, but finished releasing his bonds; and, when he distinctly felt her hand on his own hands and on his imprisoned limbs, he understood the wonderful event which her presence implied and he said, in a faltering voice:
"You! You! . . . Can it be? . . . Oh, speak just one word, just one! . . . Can it possibly be you?" He continued, almost to himself, "Yes, it is she . . . it is certainly she . . . . She is here!" And, anxiously, aloud, "You . . . at night . . . on the other nights . . . it wasn't you who came then? It was another woman, wasn't it? An enemy? . . . Oh, forgive me for asking you! . . . It's because . . . because I don't understand . . . . How did you come here?"
"I came this way," she said, pointing to the sea.
"Oh," he said, "how wonderful!"