Anonymous - Eveline

During the edifying history, papa and I had found it very difficult to restrain our risible tendencies; we were quite relieved when the tender parent began once more to tumble and caress his charming daughter.

Her naive and innocent story had evidently had its effect, for his limb stood up wickedly in front of him as he pulled the girl roughly from the bed. He passed his lewd hands all over her Hebe-like figure. He was especially attracted by her rosy buttocks. Bending her face- downwards on the side of the bed, he pressed himself against her back. We saw his rampant member protruding beneath her soft little belly. Then he adjusted its nut to the pretty slit. Slowly and carefully he conducted his outrageous assault, till at last he contrived to sheath the greater part of the instrument in her vagina. Regardless then of her complaints, he pushed in until the spasmodic vibrations of his loins told that his climax had been attained. Whether he had broken an egg or no, we had no means of ascertaining; certain it was, however, that poor Lucy's legs were covered with something which might have passed for a very pale yolk.

Lord Endover was away still on his moor in the North. I was again at Chitterlings. It is true the fine air had done me good, but my residence had not been productive of unmixed advantages.

On the contrary, I suffered from a nausea for which I could only account in one way. The maids in the laundry I thought eyed me as I passed. I even caught two of them exchanging remarks which evidently concerned me. The old housekeeper took an unusual interest in my movements. I thought she looked upon me with a more patronizing smile than ever. What did it all mean? True, there was an irregularity which we were falsely taught became the mitigated inheritance of Mother Eve. The truth, I think, only very gradually dawned upon me-I own I was frightened as doubt became certainly, so that one morning I sat down at my writing table and penned these lines to the Earl:

You have so often and so pointedly asked for news-news which might very naturally be joyful to us both, and I have so often had to disappoint you that I tremble and hesitate on the present occasion lest I may raise hopes only to have the mortification of dispelling them in a subsequent letter. It will however, I know, be a source of keen satisfaction to you, my dear husband, to hear that I have the strongest possible reasons for believing that your wishes are likely to be gratified. That in fact I am in a condition, at length, to become a mother. So you see, gallant man, that you are a dangerous bedfellow. How shall I forgive you for the mischief you have wrought?

My letter brought a prompt reply. The Earl followed. The local medical attendant was consulted. It was soon an open secret that the Countess of Endover was likely-after all-to provide an heir, or at least an heiress, to the noble Earl, her husband. At first, the news was only whispered through the house. It spread to the domain. It reached the country town. It leaked out in a hundred different little undercurrents. At last it fell with a crash upon the expectant cousin and the three sisters of the Earl. They fairly groaned in vexation. Then they fell one upon another. At length all three turned round on the unhappy cousin. What might have happened I know not, but fortunately a paragraph in Society Peeps made the matter no longer a source of private inquiry. The necessity for the exercise of a dignity they really did not possess obliged them to show a bold front. They received the sarcastic congratulations of the crowd with calm. If they inwardly raged at the disappointment, they were too well-bred to let it appear.

The only one who could not be persuaded to open her lips to the outside public, or to show any particular interest in the event, was Mrs. Hodge, but she returned the warm pressure of my hand with a satisfied shake of the head, accompanied by an expression of stolid conviction which was irresistibly comic, as she whispered softly: "I knowed it, I did! Your ladyship did right to try my Jock!"

"Ah, my dear Lady Endover, I am so very glad to see you! You do me too much honor. And your excellent papa, Lord L also! Well! So you have come to hear all the interesting facts-all the truths, and I fear-between ourselves-a fair, or unfair, proportion of lies also-at Bow Street. You will both stay and take a chop with me when the court rises-a loin chop, of course! Not a chump chop. Ah! You are both so good-how jolly! So glad to see you again! Here, Williams, go off to Mrs. W at once and get six best loin chops. What! Not eat two? Well to be sure! But your unexpected visit has given me quite an extra appetite."

"Really, Sir Langham, it is deliciously refreshing to see you so sprightly and gay-it does one's heart good."

"Ah, my dear young lady-you are too kind! Pardon me-I mean Lady Endover. I don't think there is much crime on the list today. Some of the ordinary kind-a wife pounded to death-a case or two of bigamy. Ah, Lady Endover, if they were all like you, we should hear no more of bigamy. That is-well-it depends of course-on- who was first-ha, ha! I'm a sad dog! You must excuse me. Lord L- knows we were both boys once. Then there's a sad case-a young fellow charged with forgery. Then-let me see-oh-now that won't do for you. It's a nasty case, but it won't take long. My clerk tells me the evidence is very strong and I think the culprit will plead guilty. You must not be in court while that is on. I'll tell them to put it first on the list. It's a way I have sometimes just to disappoint that objectionable class of fashionables who come down here for such garbage as this."

Sir Langham Beamer drew papa a little aside-putting a fat finger in a buttonhole of his coat. Then he whispered hoarsely-so hoarsely that I heard all plainly:

"Case of indecent exposure-fellow has been at it for months. His plan was to stand at the entrance to a yard in a quiet street and then when a chance offered, he lugged out his-you know-and wagged it at any likely woman who passed."

"Did he really? How dreadful."

"Oh, we have lots of that kind of thing here. Why, only last year I had a really serious case before me and sent it for trial. It was a woman who stripped an unfortunate fellow down and then deliberately amputated his-well, his-you know-the whole bag of tricks. The man died, so there was no difficulty in the case, which went to the Assizes as murder."

"I remember that case. The wretched woman got twenty years penal servitude."

"When are we to go in, Sir Langham? I thought the court was open."

"So it is-the chief clerk is hearing the night charges; they will not interest you much. There is a case, Lady Endover, I want to dispose of, and then you shall both come and sit by me."

Just then the door of the magistrate's private room opened. A buzz of voices sounded across the corridor. A police sergeant whispered to the dear old man and Sir Langham betook himself away with a courtly apology for his absence.

A short ten minutes passed. Then we were summoned to take our seats. Just as we passed into the Police Court, a man was leaving the dock. A warden held the iron gate open for him to pass down the steps which led to the cells below. He stared vacantly into my face. All power of recognition had passed out of that blurred, besotted gaze. As I looked, my mind went back to the timber yard and the man in the cloak. It was undoubtedly he.

"A very bad case. He's one of those fellows who are old stagers at the game. He pleaded guilty and got six months-lucky for him! He'd have had two years or more if he'd been sent to the Assizes."

It was a police sergeant. He spoke to Lord L-.

While we were still in the throng, another voice whispered close to my ear:

"From all rowdy cousins, scheming hags, and wicked spinsters- good Lord deliver us!"