The roar of the sea sounded awfully loud as it rose in sullen majesty, the flags of the stone terrace rang under her feet.

Panting, breathless, cold as death, she leaned against the iron railing, her hands pressed hard over her tumultuous heart.
It was light here.

A fitful midnight moon, pale and feeble, was breaking through a rift in the clouds, and shedding its sickly glimmer over the black earth and raging sea.

To her eyes, accustomed to the dense darkness, every object was plainly visible.

She strained her gaze over the waves to catch the coming boat she knew was to bear those she had come to meet; she listened breathlessly to every sound.