It seemed a deed of daring to explore such hidden depths, but she was out to take risks that afternoon.
"Come along!" she commanded, bracing up the spirits of her more timorous comrades.
Holding one another's arms particularly tightly, the three entered the doorway and began to walk along the underground passage.

It sloped sharply downwards, and was rough under foot, but the farther they descended the brighter grew the light in front of them.

Presently they had stumbled out of the darkness, and were emerging from a tunnel at the foot of the cliffs, and stepping out on to the sandy shore of a little cove.
It had always been a great grievance at the Villa Camellia that the school had no bathing place, and the girls had greatly coveted the creek which was the exclusive property of their neighbor, Count Sutri.

To find themselves on a level with the sea, facing the lapping waves, was exactly what they had hoped.

They ran along the sand in huge delight, to the very edge of the water.