enough folds ter keep a guy guessin.'
'I'm glad you like me, Josh. Are you going to unlock me?'
'C'mon now, Miz Paisley, yo' knows yo' ain't gettin' loose nohow.' Josh got back to his feet and scratched a balding pate. 'They all tries it though, can't blame 'em really. They all wants Josh ter turn 'em loose.'
'You think it's O.K. for us to be chained like this?'
'Sure it is, maam. Yo' knows where yo' at. Hell, if I had a woman no way she'd git no chance ter romp over the hill.'
It had been a good try and a relief from boredom. Perhaps she could learn more.
'What does your boss lady do with the other girls she's had here, Josh?' She asked casually. 'Are they always chained?'
'Whups their little ass, Miz Paisley, same as she'll whup your'n. Hangs 'em up ter watch 'em wriggle? the way them gals carry on. . !'
'And you think that's O. K.?'
'Sure do, Miz Paisley. Money like Miz Woods got make any thin' O.K.' Josh beamed reassuringly. 'I think she got somethin' more interestin' up her sleeve for yo''
'Like what?'
'Dunno', maam. Jest a notion I got.'
'What happens to a girl when your boss lady tires of her?'
'They git sent overseas to a whore-house, maam. Or mebbe' she sell 'em ter some guy ter take home.' Josh cackled. 'They don't git wasted.'
'Don't you feel sorry for Nora, Josh? The poor girl's being made to walk around naked and with her feet chained.'
'That snooty little pullet! Hell, no!' Josh had evidently met with a coloured rebuff.
'Ah wants ter be there when she git her tight little ass blistered. Right now she got a job tendin' yo'.'
'I think you ought to help her escape?'
'Yo' crazy, maam?' Josh was shocked.
'I suppose if I offer you a lot of money you'l go and tell Cicely I tried to bribe you?'
'Sho' 'nuff, that what I do, Miz Paisley.'
Ilona sighed. She had expected nothing so was not disappointed. When he produced a piece of dirty string she eyed it with suspicion.
'Yo' mind if ah measures yo' neck, maam?'
'What for?' She knew, but had to ask.
'Ah gotta' forge yo' an iron collar, Miz Paisley. One what gits riveted on and stays awhile. Yo' seen the one little hoity-toity got on her neck. I make 'em real good.'
A crude iron slave collar! It would be just the thing to amuse Cicely, a deftly contrived humiliation. Seething with resentment, Ilona stood stiffly while string circled her neck and was duly knotted to mark the spot. Josh returned it to his pocket and offered a farewell grin. 'I gotta' go now, Miz Paisley. Be seein' yo' in the blacksmith shop.'
Ilona watched him go, feeling small and childish and silly standing there with one hand raised as though in greeting to someone who was not visible. Her shackled wrist imposed a demeaning loneliness as if she was a domestic creature of small account, securely fastened while its owner was elsewhere and had forgotten. She had seen dogs in this forlorn plight. But dogs were allowed to lay down and sleep away their tethered captivity. For her there was standing only. Suppose Cicely left her to stand there through the night! It was by no means improbable.
But in a couple of hours Cicely returned, so did the crop! The greeting was loaded with intent. 'Hold out your hand, darling.'
'Oh, Cicely, no. .! Please not my hand?'
'Five on your little palm, or ten on each breast, darling?'
Ilona held out her hand.
Unbelievable pain! A hand numb, throbbing and useless!
Its owner, in silent misery, watched her shackles unlocked from wrist and ankles.
Cicely radiated affection. 'There you are, dear, a free girl!'
'Oh, Cicely, what's the catch?'
'None, darling. Run. You're free as air. Or do you wish to assault me?'
'You've just made one of my hands useless, and I'm naked, and you've got that damn crop waiting.'
'Honey, think of it? freedom!'
But Honey hugged her hand. All she felt was pain.
Chapter Six
'I'm an absolute bitch, aren't I?' Cicely Woods suggested blithely. 'I've popped a real psychological test at you, darling. What does a girl do with freedom? You tell me.'
Ilona was still nursing her whipped hand. She was in no mood for anything except tears or hysterics. But it was true, there was not a restraint upon her! Why? 'If I run I'll be caught and punished: that's it, isn't it?'
'Who's to catch you, darling, 'cept me?'
'And you would. My feet are bare, and you can get the best of me in a tussle.
This hand won't work for a week.'
'Yes it will. Remember schooldays?'
'No kid ever got her hands punished with an awful thing like you're holding, or anywhere near as hard.'
'Ilona, dear, I'm not getting through to you. I actually do want you to go out there and see how you make out. Look, I'll stand right here so you can look back and see me until you're out of sight.'
'You'll come after me on a horse.'
'Don't quibble so.'
'I just know I can't escape? and there'l be some damn awful punishment waiting.'
'Hmmmm, don't trust me, eh? Can't say I blame you. Tell you what, darling, I'l give you an incentive. You run along like a good little girl, or else stick your other hand out for another five.'
The whipped hand of a girl was a beastly stomach turning kind of pain to which her sex glands made no response. Ilona wanted no more of it. Without volition, she fell to her knees and clasped her mistress's jodhpurs with bare arms she did not control, and frictioned the expensive cloth with a desperate cheek. She heard her voice from far away. 'Please no, oh, no. .! Cicely. . please!'
The Mistress was surprised. The surprise was pleasant. It encompassed a new dimension of Ilona Paisley. Cicely stood quite still and gazed down at a whipmarked bare back with speculative eyes. Her tone was interested.
'Darling, what are you doing down there?'
'I? I? I don't know. It just happened.'
'I like it. Ever done this act before?'
'No. And it's not an act.'
'What is it then?'
Ilona could not answer. She did not know what it was. The impulse had been basic and beyond her control. But she did know for sure her arms did not wish to leave the pulsing safety of the woman they embraced. Lamely, she pleaded: 'Don't hurt me any more, Cicely, you don't need to.'
'No fight left? Is that it?'
'I suppose so. . I couldn't possibly win.'
'But if you could, you would?'
'I'm not sure. This is all so. . impossible.'
