The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 215: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CHAPTER XV THE EASTERN LADY THE scene changes to a small but exceedingly neat villa residence in the neighbourhood of Notting Hill. It stood considerably apart from the other dwellings that were nearest, and in the midst of a somewhat spacious garden, which was surrounded by a wall, with the exception of that part which fronted the road, and where there were iron railings. But within these railings the evergreens and shrubs were so thickly grouped and were so high as to form as complete a barrier against observation from passers-by as if the wall itself had been continued there. Two iron gates opened upon a semicircular carriage-sweep; the lawn, the gardens, and the gravel walks were in excellent order. On one side of the house were the stables, on the other side a large conservatory, filled with rare exotics. The windows of the dwelling had all Vene- tian blinds, and these, especially in the drawing and dining rooms, were usually kept closed throughout the day as well as the night. The villa was approached by a by-road leading out of the main one which intersects Notting Hill, and from which the villa itself was about half a mile distant. So few were the persons who ever passed along that by-road — unless it were labourers to and from their work — that Shrubbery Villa, as the place was called, was in a comparatively perfect seclusion on that particular outskirt of the multitudinous metropolis. Thus the occupants were sufficiently far removed from the observation of any curious neighbours, and for any one courting such seclusion, it was the very place to enjoy it. We have spoken of it as it might be seen in the daytime, but it is in the evening, when the veil of darkness was upon the earth, that we are about to introduce our readers to a | portion of its interior. 188 tt Mn GOnIGOOOKS (E(0)