There was a sound across the way, the click of a receding bolt, the stealthy scraping of wood on stone. Then a shutter swung open, and out of the dark rough frame, like a flower breaking in snow from its rejected sheath, Giannella leaned out, a vision of whiteness mantled in falling gold, and raised her lovely face to the sky.
A cry broke from her lover's lips and startled her. She shook back her hair and straightened herself, resting both hands on the sill as her gaze explored the night, traveling slowly up to the higher level opposite. Then a cry of terrified joy rang out in the stillness, for she thought she saw a spirit—Rinaldo's.
The next moment she knew it was her lover, in the flesh, though how he came to be standing there seemed a secret between him and some kind archangel—for a word came to her across the dividing depth, a word so pulsing with passion that only living lips could have given it utterance, "Amore mio, amore mio!"
Rinaldo's hands were stretched out as if he would lift her over the abyss to his side. They two were alone in the world of the night; above them hung the gentle moon in calm, encouraging splendor; all barriers save that of the narrow empty space were left far below, and what was space to them? Each could hear the other's voice, see the other's eyes, and there was none between them. What more could the delicate young love desire as yet?
"Rinaldo, is it you?" came the tremulous, happy tones. "O my soul, I die of joy. It seemed as if I should never see you again."
"I have died a thousand deaths, Giannella," he answered. "They told me you were ill—I could not get to you. O Heaven give me wings. Call, call, my heart's love, and your sister angels will bring you over to me."
"To 'clausura?'" she replied. "Figlio mio, you stand on such holy ground that its guardians would chase the angels away, if they were sisters of mine. How did you get there? Is it safe for you? Oh, take care. If anything should happen to you—" She leaned further out and he could see all the tender anxiety in her eyes.
"How I came?" he repeated. "Cuore mio, I have been here so often watching for you as you came and went past that window—my feet would find the way in the dark, I think."
"But it is Fra Tommaso's loggia," she persisted. "I am afraid for you! The Fathers will be so angry if they find you there. They might send you to prison, and I should die of grief. Oh, go back now. I am frightened. Where is Fra Tommaso?"