Talk:The Royal Physician/@comment-222.154.232.126-20140915061441/@comment-16533050-20140915071515

You may not be... but it is this very 'superfluous' gesture that means so much.

Six+ months beforehand, Emily was witness to her mother's brutal murder. Afterwards, she was deposited into the hands of a pair of sinister aristocrats and held at a brothel where she attempted, unsuccessfully to escape.

Then finally, after depression and despondency, one of the few people she trusts in the world came to her rescue. She was still full of hope and assurance that this man may protect her and offer her some link to her former life... to when she was safe and secure. Not alone or frightened.

Through this simple gesture of 'about three steps' Corvo expresses so much more to Emily than mere words. By not offering his hand to her until AFTER she departed the ship, he basically let her know that he respects that she CAN do things on her own, but added the final reassuring gesture to remind her that he was there should she need him again.