CHAPTER SIXThe carriage wheels rattled gaily over the road as Dorianna, Mama and Step-papa were borne swiftly away from their familiar Hertfordshire countryside, travelling on southwards towards the County of Kent.
For most of the journey Dorianna felt calmer and almost happy.
She could not forget the powerful feeling she had experienced as she had heard the mysterious voice from the woodland garden or her dream that the statue of Aphrodite had come to life.
‘I am going to be loved,’ she whispered to herself, as she gazed out of the carriage window at the sunlit fields.
‘That is exactly what I want, more than anything in the world. I don’t know how it is going to come about, but I am going to be loved!’
After several hours they reached the River Thames and the carriage was driven ont
