Off went Aurelia in solitude, within a large carriage, once gaily fitted though now somewhat faded and tarnished.  She was sorry to be parted from the Doves, whom she wanted to give her courage for the introduction to my Lady, and to explain to her the wonders of the streets of London, which she did not quite expect to see paved with gold!  She ate her extemporised meal, gazing from the window, and expecting to see houses and churches thicken on her, and hurrying to brush away her crumbs, and put on her gloves lest she should arrive unawares, for she had counted half-a-dozen houses close together.  No! here was another field!  More fields and houses.  The signs of habitation were, so far from increasing, growing more scanty, and looked strangely like what she had before passed.  Could this be the right road!  How foolish to doubt, when this was my Lady’s own coach.  But oh, that it had waited for Mrs. Dove!  She would beg her to get in when the riders overtook her.  When would they?  No sign of them could be seen from the windows, and here were more houses.  Surely this was Turnham Green again, or there must be another village green exactly like it in the heart of London.  How many times did not poor Aurelia go through all these impressions in the course of the drive.  She was absolutely certain that she was taken through Brentford again, this time without a halt; but after this the country became unknown to her, and the road much worse.  It was in fact for the most part a mere ditch or cart track, so rough that the four horses came to a walk.  Aurelia had read no novels but Telemaque and Le Grand Cyrus, so her imagination was not terrified by tales of abduction, but alarm began to grow upon her.  She much longed to ask the coachman whither he was taking her, but the check string had been either worn out or removed; she could not open the door from within, nor make him hear, and indeed she was a little afraid of him.

Twilight began to come on; it was much later than Mr. Dove had ever ventured to be out, but here at last there was a pause, and the swing of a gate, the road was smoother and she seemed to be in a wood, probably private ground.  On and on, for an apparently interminable time, went the coach with the wearied and affrighted girl, through the dark thicket, until at last she emerged, into a park, where she could again see the pale after-glow of the sunset, and presently she found herself before a tall house, perfectly dark, with strange fantastic gables and chimneys, ascending far above against the sky.

All was still as death, except the murmuring caws of the rooks in their nests, and the chattering shriek of a startled blackbird.  The servant from behind ran up the steps and thundered at the door; it was opened, a broad line of light shone out, some figures appeared, and a man in livery came forward to open the carriage door, but to Aurelia’s inexpressible horror, his face was perfectly black, with negro features, rolling eyes, and great white teeth!