The embankment shut off this tiny wharf from view on either side.

Cornelia dared not leave the upper terrace.

Her heart beat faster and faster.

Below she heard the slap, slap, of the waves on the sea-wall, and a rattle of rings and ropes as some skiff was being made fast.

An instant more and Drusus was coming, with quick, athletic bounds, up the stairway to the second terrace.