Lucius was almost induced by his inward qualms to tell Pratinas to throw over the whole matter, and inform Dumnorix that his services were not needed.
It was at this juncture that Cornelia committed an error, the full consequences of which were, to her, happily veiled.

In her anxiety to discover the plot, she had made Lucius believe that she was really pining for the news of the murder of Drusus.

Cornelia had actually learned nothing by a sacrifice that tore her very heart out; but her words and actions did almost irreparable harm to the cause she was trying to aid.
"And you have never given me a kiss," Lucius had said one morning, when he was taking leave of Cornelia in the atrium of the Lentuli.
"Will you ever play the siren, and lure me to you?
and then devour, as it were, your victim, not with your lips, but with your eyes ?" "_Eho!_ Not so bold!" replied Cornelia, drawing back.

"How can I give you what you wish, unless I am safe from that awful Polyphemus up in Praeneste ?" When Ahenobarbus went away, his thoughts were to the following effect: "I had always thought Cornelia different from most women; but now I can see that, like them all, she hates and hates.

To say to her, 'Drusus is dead,' will be a more grateful present than the largest diamond Lucullus brought from the East, from the treasure of King Tigranes." And it was in such a frame of mind that he met Pratinas by appointment at a low tavern on the Vicus Tuscus.