pleased that we did not have to resort to threatening Maurice as we had planned. For I was uneasy from the very start about the scheme which I knew was only a hair's breadth away from blackmail. Still, all's well that ends well, although as a precautionary measure, Joshua has insisted keeping the negatives from the photographs he took with his Gewirtz Waistcoat camera in case Maurice is ever tempted to revert to his bad old ways. Now on to fresh and exciting news. Charles came into the library this morning and passed me a letter he had received from his cousin Cassandra Morley. 'You'll find her letter far more interesting than that boring tome on political economy you've had in front of you since ten o'clock.' 'Nothing can be more tedious than marginal demand and the law of diminishing returns,' I grunted.
I took the letter out of the envelope which I noticed bore a postmark from South Devon, one of my favourite areas of England.
'Charles, this letter is marked Private and Confidential. Are you quite sure that you don't mind my reading it?' 'Not in the slightest,' he rejoined quietly. 'Before you begin, let me explain that my pretty cousin Cassandra is only eighteen, and though educated in a quiet girls' school on the outskirts of Torquay, has a far from demure disposition. The family gossips say that her wildness comes from her mother who is of Italian extraction, and she certainly possesses the physical attributes of my Aunt Elena, whose striking looks attracted His Majesty the King when he visited Morley Hall eighteen months ago. 'He was Prince of Wales then, of course,' added Charles and he lowered his voice still further and said: “There was talk amongst the servants that not only did he share Aunt Elena's bed, but that he also wanted to fuck Cassandra as well, but my aunt refused, saying that Cassie was only just sixteen-years-old and far too young for him.' 'I can quite believe it,' I murmured softly.
'The King really is an old devil, and I wouldn't put it past him to try and romp with both mother and daughter at the same time.'
'Quite so, old boy,' agreed Charles. “There can't be many monarchs who would have the nerve to fuck their hostess whilst her husband was snoring away next door – and before you ask, no, my poor Uncle Roger is not a man complaisant.' 'Actually, being only a distant relative of my father, Roger Morley is only an honorary uncle, although my brothers and I have always accorded him this title.
However, our families have always been very friendly and I've always been especially fond of Cassandra who was an enchantingly pretty child and is now a ravishingly beautiful eighteen-year-old girl, who is lusted after by all the young gentry of Devonshire. 'Anyhow, to return to my anecdote, according to his valet, either the Prince or my aunt slipped a small phial of chloral hydrate into Uncle Roger's final glass of port before they were due to retire. So after he staggered upstairs, he fell into bed and slept like a top whilst Aunt Elena rushed into the Prince's bedroom and stayed there for the best part of two hours. Anyhow, why don't you read Cassandra's letter and then meet me for a coffee in the common room in about fifteen minutes time?'
He hurried off and I unfolded the sheaves of paper and read the following:
Dear Charlie, I do hope you have settled in well at Brasenose and that you are enjoying yourself in Oxford. I must confess that J often wish I had studied harder. I might have been able to persuade Papa to let me leave Morley Hall and see something of the great wide world outside. Oh, I know he means well, Charlie, but life down here can be so crushingly dull! Do you remember how you described the boys you met at the Hunt Ball in June? You called them 'chinless wonders' and that perfectly fits most of the local young men who come weekly to Morley Hall at Mama's invitation as potential suitors. More of this later, but first let me tell you of a marvellous adventure Fanny Braithwaite and I had some three weeks ago. I'm sure you haven't forgotten Fanny, I know she made a great impression upon you at the Hunt Ball! You gave her a nickname as well, you naughty boy – what was it now? Oh yes, I remember, it was 'the firecracker'!
Well, if anything, Fanny looks even more gorgeous than ever, Charlie, and she says I should tell you that if you come down here for a weekend, she would let you see more than her titties which you so enjoyed fondling in the carriage which took you both back here after the ball. Don't even attempt to deny it, Fanny and I have no secrets from one another! Now I don't know what the weather has been like in Oxford, but we've been enjoying an Indian Summer down here in sunny Devon. Even though we are already into the last week of September, the thermometer has shot up to more than seventy degrees. Fanny and I decided to take our swimsuits and go bathing on Mudstone Sands, which you know is usually completely deserted. So we arranged for Polgrave to take us down to St Mary's Bay in the dog-cart and indeed the beach seemed deserted as we went into the bathing-machines to change. I instructed Polgrave to set up two deck-chairs and leave the hamper which Mrs. Hobart had packed for our tea by the chairs. 'You may leave now, Polgrave,' I said. 'Come back at half past four, but naturally if the weather changes for the worse, return here as soon as possible.' Fanny seemed to be in a very subdued mood, which is most unlike her for she is usually such a cheerful soul. When she undressed I admired her firm uptilted breasts and flat white belly which was decorated at the base with a fluffy moss of flaxen curls through which I could see the rolled pink pussey lips when she lifted one leg up on the bench to brush some dirt off her feet. I said nothing until we went outside again. Perhaps a suitor was giving her problems, I thought to myself. But once we had made ourselves comfortable in our chairs, I demanded to know what was troubling my dear friend, for she appeared to be in a very thoughtful mood.
'Tell me what's bothering you, darling, we're the best of chums aren't we?' I said warmly. 'You know that if there is something wrong and there is anything I can do to help…” My voice trailed off as I saw tears well up in her blue eyes. 'There's nothing you or anyone else can do to help me,' she quavered and to my great distress, poor Fanny burst into tears. Immediately, I scrambled across and wrapped my arms around her. 'Fanny, what on earth is the matter?
Whatever it is, you must not keep it to yourself. Remember how Miss Beublette always told us at school that a trouble shared is a trouble halved?' Fanny sighed and said: 'Not in this case, Cassie. Very well, I'll tell you what's on my mind, but you must promise not to breathe a word about it to your parents.' 'My lips are sealed,' I assured her. Then Fanny continued: 'Three years ago, my Papa was advised by one of his colleagues on the committee of his London club to invest all his money in certain shares in the New York Stock Market. At first, he made a lot of money, but last month we had some shocking news. The broker who was handling our business in America has absconded and taken all his clients' money with him.' My hand flew to my mouth. 'Oh my goodness, how dreadful! Has your Papa lost a lot of money?' I asked. Fanny whispered: 'Cassie, he's lost every penny he possessed, more than one hundred and thirty thousand pounds.
All we have left is the few hundred pounds which Mama keeps in the bank so she is going up to London next week to sell her jewellery.'
I enquired if anyone was hopeful of catching this wicked thief, but Fanny shook her head. 'It's most unlikely, and even if he were, he won't let on what he's done with all our money.' 'So there's no chance of recovering any money at all,' I mused. Fanny said: 'Thank the Lord that Papa's London stockbroker, who was against the plan from the beginning', took out insurance against malpractice, but we will only get back about a quarter of Papa's losses and it will take at least a year before that amount is paid out.' 'Well, that's something, at least. Surely your father could borrow some money until the insurance money arrives?' J cried. But Fanny informed me that her father had mortgaged their house and land to the hilt to buy the American shares and thus had no longer any security by which to obtain a loan: Although I have only a vague notion as to the exact size of our own family fortune, I was sure that if I told Papa about the Braithwaite's predicament, he would stump up at least fifteen thousand pounds as either a gift or as an interest-free loan.
'Do you really think so?' gasped Fanny when I said as much to her. 'Oh, that would be wonderful, but neither my father nor I would contemplate embarrassing our friends by making a request for financial assistance.' 'If we cannot fall back on a friend in bad times, then how strong can the bond between us be?' I said firmly as I took Fanny's hands into my own. 'Anyhow, the ball is now in my court and I will speak to Papa this evening about this matter. I cannot promise anything on his behalf, but I am certain that you no longer have to bother your pretty little head about this dreadful business. Now let's relax and enjoy what will probably be the last sunshiney day of the year.' I leaned over her deckchair and kissed her, Fanny returned my warm embrace, sliding her arms around my soft curves as we pulled our bodies closer together. Our lips brushed each other's cheeks and then met, pressing firmly against each other with undisguised passion.
Then we both slipped down on to the sand. 'Oh, Fanny darling, you are so beautiful,' I murmured as Fanny clasped me tightly against her, opening her mouth to allow my tongue to slide between her teeth. She responded with avid passion and moved my hands down towards her heaving breasts, Fanny whimpered with desire when I squeezed the soft globes and she herself slipped the arms of her swimsuit down from her shoulders. I helped her pull off her costume and she helped me take off mine so that we now lay completely naked together. I slid my
