Anonymous - First training

“You think so? But what of Vivian? He may come upon us at any moment.”

“Then you must treat him equally so. Do you wish ever to remain a simpleton and for me to read you all your lessons?”

“V… V… Vivian is my brother, though!”

“His prick will throb no less stiffly for that, my dear. Set him to housework-make him do your bidding. Have Edwin ever empty his purse before you. Keep them in control. This is the way of modern Woman with her males.”

“Do… do… do you do so, then?”

“It is not for you, Maude, to question my ways. Perhaps it were best that you saw to Edwin now while I am here. I shall not accompany you. Go-do it!”

“But, Clara, will you not…”

“Go, Maude, upon this instant!”

Robe floating all about her she was gone. Positioning myself at the foot of the staircase I listened. In her fervour or her nervousness, she was quick enough about the matter. Edwin’s groans and cries came clear to me. In a moment Maude descended again, her expression a daze, her hand exceedingly sticky.

“What a lot he comes!” she murmured as though to herself.

“Are you not Mistress of your domain?” I laughed and, drawing her to me, tied her robe about. Even so a sense of douleur seized me. I could no more control affairs in the next twenty-four hours than I could fly to the moon. For all I knew she might confess her own actions as sins to Edwin and be berated by him. In her then tearful state she would be fit prey for his wicked tool and would no doubt have him well sheathed up her that very night while Vivian palely loitered, as it were, and would never be seen to.

To be “seen to,” I might say, was a phrase well beloved of my stepmother and later by myself. It was understood that if a girl had been “seen to,” she had been put under. Few others understood the phrase in its inner meaning and so it could be used in company.

“You will attend to all that I have told you, Maude,” said I now in departing. She would have clung to me if she could.

“I shall do as you say, yes,” she said dolefully, for she wanted me much to stay. The moment must be taken on the instant, however, or all is lost. Even as I made my exit, Vivian was to be seen approaching on his horse across the field.

“Oh, I have only my robe on!” she exclaimed so foolishly that I could have whipped her there and then.

“Do you need to have more in order to receive your younger brother?” I asked coldly and then was gone even while her hand reached out to me and one bare thigh showed out between the folds of her peignoir.

“But Clara!” came her cry whereat I retreated swiftly down the drive where she could not follow and waited patiently the reining-in of Vivian’s steed, he gazing down at me uncertainly, then doffing his hat before he dismounted. Maude stared at us both like a wraith from a distance, peering foolishly from behind the Vicarage door.

“Your sister waits upon you, Vivian. See to her every need-obey her in all respects,” said I to his great and gaping wonder and then mounted my pony. I had no intention of seeking out the youth in the matter. He would be one of several in any event. Taking up the reins, I regarded Maude steadily, daring her to move ere her brother approached. Upon his reaching the threshhold, he stared back at me and then entered while Maude held the door.

I had much to tell my stepmother, but also much to berate myself with.

You cannot expect complete success upon every occasion, Clara,” was the response I received upon telling my tale. So saying she regarded me with a loving smile. “All that you have told me is to your entire credit. You achieved much in a short time. That Maude will waver, I have no doubt, nor that Edwin will put his prong to her and not in a submissive manner that you and I would wish: Even so, you have done her a service. Vivian will share the spoils, no doubt, once she has become accustomed to taking the cock. She may play them off one against the other, though may not come to our ways.”

“That is the pity of it,” I said, though feeling now that I had criticised myself overmuch.

“Do not fret, my sweet. One needs constant enclosures. We may play pretty games here within and have the males entirely to our whim, yet we are bound to limit ourselves by so doing. Even so…” She paused in order to tease me, I knew.

“Go on,” I said eagerly.

“This first period, if I may call it such, has been necessary, Clara, in order that I might train you all fully, but greater pleasures may now be in store for us. Under my guidance your Papa has acquired sufficient wealth not to require him to venture out very often. Our investments are secure, as is our future. There will henceforth be new arrangements here. The males are to be re-accommodated in smaller rooms, their furnishings made simpler-even spartan, I would say. Finding themselves resettled thus, they will know their future more firmly even than now. They are sufficiently docile to obey me, as you know. The larger bedrooms will now be put to other uses. Heaven knows that we have enough. I have, though you little know it, been making the most discreet enquiries as to the forms of entertainment most sought by the gentry. True, I have been taking risks in so doing, but it is surprising how one brings people out when they know that they can rely on one’s total confidence. The gentlemen are easiest to lure, of course. Why should they venture to Paris for entertainments they can find here?”

My expression showed plainly that I thought such words a betrayal, and she laughed.

“Come, come, Clara, let us have a little subtlety in the matter. I use my bait as well as does a fisherman. Wives know not that I have spoken to husbands, nor vice versa. It is a matter of guile, subterfuge, and the enchantment of promises.”

“Oh, you are a witch!” I laughed and hugged her. There was someone, too, I had not forgotten. Her name spilled from my lips.

“Miss Jennifer de Vere Lacey, yes,” responded Stepmama. “I, too, have had her very much in mind. Her history is interesting. She is, unfortunately, an orphan and was brought up by wealthy female relatives who had a penchant for nurturing young ladies. It may well be guessed therefore that she may have been imbued with a preference for the Sapphic pleasures of life, but this I have been unable to enquire into as yet. We shall see.”

“How?” I enquired eagerly, for some people leave an imprint on one’s mind and the young lady in question had unknowingly done so to me. A young female of outward remoteness is ever a challenge and infinitely more so than males of like ilk who turn within themselves, become bachelors and devote their withered lives to collecting butterflies, old coins and the like.

“In an interesting manner, Clara. I have acquaintance with the parents of her husband who revealed to me but recently that they intend to sojourn shortly in Nice where they have a residence. I ventured to declare that I had intended to France myself and, having so beguiled the mother, find myself invited to join them. Jennifer will be there as will her husband. You, my pet, will accompany me to improve your French.”

“Do you mean my French kissing or my French tonguing?” I asked impudently, being scarcely unable to contain myself at the news for I was eager to put the house behind me for the while.

“Those, too! It will be a useful period for Sarah, in any event, for she will have to prove herself here. I have told her that I wish to find alles in ordnung on our return and the males no less obedient to all female whims than they are now.”

“Oh, when are we to leave?” I asked excitedly.

“By steamer from Dover on Friday. We have but four days to prepare and many frills and furbelows to buy, for I am determined we shall not be outdone in fashion by the French ladies. Were I, of course, an ordinary wife who had to seek her husband’s permission-and one that I am sure would not be forthcoming-I might also have to beg him for the financial means to travel and sustain myself. What a joy that I do not have to do so!”