sight of Pauline's plump bare buttocks or Elaine's tomboy bottom-cheeks must be held to blame. Even the fact that you vaselined young Elaine would be no crime. Best of all, such moral discipline with bamboo and lash is not only sanctioned by the law in such places. It is rewarded by public esteem. The stricter the method- the more severe the chastisement of Julie or Pauline- the higher will be your reputation as a pillar of social order and probity. Can you be better employed than in dealing with such girls?
Now, tell me true, my dear, does not Julie belong to this class of delinquent? Might you not ease yourself of your present torment by having her confined in such a place and made available for whatever treatment you wished her to undergo at your hands? Far from being reproached by the world-as you will be if you continue with your present infatuation-you might earn the reward of virtue and esteem.
You will perhaps think me harsh and without finer sentiments in the matter. I beg you, though, to consider this. You desire Julie, do you not? Yet you have no present hope of attaining your goal. With equal longing, you wish to be esteemed in society as befits your rank. Yet your present conduct augurs ill for this and seems doomed to end with scandal and disgrace. The state of your nerves grows daily more hectic, for your letters show it. How better to attain your desires and avoid calamity than by the methods I have described to you? If it is apprehension which holds you back from having Julie detained in this manner, let me reassure you. No one in England has ever sunk in moral reputation by using the whip under such circumstances. Our greatest schools have thrived by its employment.
There is scarcely a man or woman of merit in England who would not wish Julie to be subject to the authority of the lash and the reformatory. By following the course I recommend, you would cast off the uncertainty of youth-in the eyes of society-and establish yourself as a man of consequence. Do, my dearest cousin, take this advice to heart. Only give the word and all shall be done for you so that you may have Julie however and whenever you choose. Your loving friend, Maude Anonymous Augustus and Lady Maude X. Augustus to Lady Maude Wight, 21 June, a.m. My dear Maude, How little you know me, after all, if you believe that I could consent to have the object of my affections dealt with in the manner you describe. It is not in the discipline-room of a reformatory among whips and straps that I wish to adore my bride-to-be. You tell me that Julie is not fit to be the lady of my estates. Surely it is your suggestion which would make her unfit. At present, nothing stands against my desires but her own lack of inclination. Yet how could I bring as my bride a girl who had been thrashed in a reformatory?
I have been obliged to take certain of the drops which Dr.
Raspail prescribed in order to maintain my equanimity under these trying circumstances. Your letter brought me no peace of mind. I dare not even imagine the scenes which you delineate respecting the two sisters. I daresay I should find such occasions an object of curiosity. But if you imagine that I could envisage them with Julie as the heroine, you mistake my character more than I had ever thought possible. I can write no more at present. I am so overwrought.
Your loving cousin, Augustus P.S. I have read, on your instructions, the pages which recount Elaine's ordeal. Is it possible to attend the reformatory as a spectator only? Can one obtain an introduction to the master?
XI. Lady Maude to Augustus
Lago di Garda, 25 June
My dearest Cousin, Only the postscript to your letter lightened somewhat the apprehension which I have long felt on your behalf. Lord Rupert will furnish you with all the necessary introductions you require and will esteem it a pleasure to do so. There are public disciplines attended by the justices which you might witness. Yet when the door is locked upon certain scenes, it is only the chastiser who is present with the girls. I am sure you will understand why! Your failing perhaps is one of moral resolve. Cannot you see what may be done in the name of moral discipline? We have had a charming example here in the past few days and, indeed, it is I who have helped to bring it about. Were you to join us here, you would find that I am now spoken of as the strictest duenna who ever watched over the girls of the Villa Lola.
And yet, I assure you, I have never enjoyed myself half so much in my life as I do now with Miss Jones and Marit Aas. By your outrage at the lewd little romps of Julie and Sian it is evident that you have much to learn about the amusements in which the female sex may indulge when there is no man present. I am as devoted to mankind as anyone could be, and yet I confess to a certain satisfaction which may be had in dealing with womankind. In short, I have long wanted to see young Marit's panties as her only covering, solely for the pleasure of stripping them from her. Were I a fool, which I trust is not the case, I had by now attempted a romantic seduction of our fifteen- year-old Scandinavian nymph. And what would have been the result? Outrage and scandal! The end of a pleasant summer by this warm Italian lake. What then was I to do? It was evident that I must become a moralist of the kind only found among the higher orders of English female society. Marit herself gave enough pretext for that.
She is not quite an immoraliste and yet her conduct is a little questionable. In her singlet, saucy little cap, and tight denim pants on her slender thighs and tightly rounded rear cheeks, she parades each day in the town. With her soft young face and the waves of her brown tresses lapping silkily over her collar, she is to be seen sitting at cafe tables with other girls and boys, smoking a cigarette with the studied manners of a little coquette. It is also evident that Marit plays with herself between the legs, furtively enough in the privacy of her own bed. Put all these things together and does she not call for the strictest moral supervision? I summoned her to my presence, with all Mr. Bowler's authority to support me. Marit will be a real beauty at seventeen or eighteen with her firmly rounded chin, wide and charming smile, her short pert nose and light blue eyes. How she blushed now when I spoke to her of her delinquencies, ending with the worst. “Stand up, Marit, and turn about so that I may see you. Such pretty legs for a girl of your age, in those tight denim pants! I'm sure your bridegroom will find them to be graceful and elegant when he undresses you on your honeymoon night! Narrow hips and tight young bottom-cheeks, Marit! Not quite a proper grown woman yet, perhaps! All the same, your backside begins to show a woman's shape!
Even in your wedding-dress, I'm sure those rear cheeks will still be taut and agile!” The velvety smoothness of Marit's lightly suntanned face coloured up a little at these compliments but she blushed far more deeply at my next words. “I think you like to make love to yourself, don't you, Marit? When did you last do it?”
Imagine the blushings, the stutterings of protest now! “Don't pretend to misunderstand, Marit. When did you last play with yourself?” Believe me, Gussie, I was the master inquisitor of our Nordic nymph. There was such shame-faced hesitation, a few gulps and whimpers. But I would tolerate no prevarication. To my delight Marit confessed to doing it twice the day before, once in the bathroom during the afternoon and then in bed at night! I shook my head, as if my heart were heavy with sorrow at the news. “I am more distressed, more disappointed in you, than I can say, Marit! So, if I did my duty as I should, it would be to send you home at once to your unhappy parents with a full explanation of your conduct. A girl so predisposed to these things is a moral danger to herself and to those with whom she associates. You know, I imagine, to what I refer.”
There is something so exquisite, Gussie, about true repentance.
Marit's knees pressed the carpet before my chair as she begged for anything-anything!-rather than the disgrace which now threatened her.
I was not easily moved, you may be sure. We had tears and weepings from her before I was softened a little. A fool would have gone too far. Not I. With great seriousness I explained that her moral welfare was my sole consideration. Against my better judgment, she might stay at the Villa Lola. There was, however, to be a condition.
Anything, Marit assured me. Anything! Very well, I explained. In order to maintain moral vigilance over this frail adolescent conscience, Marit was to be inspected twice a day for evidence of immoral conduct. In order to spare her blushes it would be done anonymously. There was a convenient hatchway between two rooms in the cellar. She would bend through it and the hatch would be lowered until it was locked in place, just touching the small of her back.
Marit would not be able to straighten up or free herself until the hatch was unlocked. We should be able to strip off her denim skirt or pants, pull Marit's knickers right down and fiddle with her all morning or all night if we wished to. Best of all, this was to be done in the name of the strictest moral supervision. A duenna of less imagination than I, would have fallen upon the girl at the first opportunity. I was struck by a more poetic notion. Miss Jones should carry out the examinations of Marit each morning and evening. I had no doubt that a randy and depraved young bitch of Miss Jones's sort would have an effect upon Marit. I should soon have two girls in a lewd and lascivious state rather than one. So it was that yesterday morning, Marit went slowly down the steps to the lower rooms. She hesitated long before the hatchway but then bent forward through it, the washed blue denim tight on her slender thighs and the tight little rounds of her bottom-cheeks. The hatch was lowered into place and locked.
