It would not have been possible to find a statue whose beauty was at once so correct, classic, and at the same time so attractive, graceful, and harmonious. Supple and vigorous force was betrayed in every movement of the slender frame.
The girl's colour was pink and white. Her skin was incomparably smooth and transparent. It was the true British complexion, the tint of a delicate English rose.
Her hair was a wealth of gleaming burnished gold, Its Venetian tint is even rarer on the shore of the Adriatic than amid the fogs of 170
London. Her mouth was small, beautifully chiselled, and of a deep cherry-red. Her eyes were of a colour impossible to define, for it changed with every angle and degree of light. Sometimes they were grey as the sea beneath a cloudy wind-swept sky.
A moment afterwards, they would reflect the darkness of unfathomable watery depths.
But if her complexion was exquisite, what words shall describe her grace of symmetry?
Miss Virginia's body was at the same time elegant and charming and of the purest classicism. Her flesh was neither too abundant nor insufficient. In her proud young purity, she held her graceful head erect and the points of her firm breasts were turned skywards like wild strawberries on a bed of snow. Her neck was swan-like, and her arms would have matched those of a Spartan wrestling woman as revealed to us by the sculptors of Greece. Her legs were the noble limbs of Diana. In short, the girl's aristocratic beauty was that of the three goddesses who upon Ida's Mount disputed the vote of the shepherd and competed for the apple of discord. Miss Virginia's beauty was as moving and seductive as that of Venus and as unapproachable as that of Juno, while to her other charms seemed to be added something of the calm and repose of wise Minerva.
I employ these high-sounding terms because I am reporting the head-mistress's own eulogy of her pupil.
Lady Flayskin, during her careful examin ation of Miss Virginia, made use of all these expressions and of many others also which I shall not repeat. Her feelings became too much for her and in the exceedingly descriptive and familiar language in which she dwelt upon some of those charms of her pupil which are not usually alluded to, she forgot her usual hypocrisy.
Miss Virginia could only deeply blush, thus adding new charm to her beauty. She scarcely moved, except to show the lines of her figure to better effect, her long hair descending in a stream of glory almost to her little pink heels.
The mistress placed a hand affectionately upon the firm rounded haunches of her pupil and said:
'The marks do not show any more. It was far from my intention to spoil so incomparable a masterpiece. Now had I with this rough and heavy lash struck with all my strength, red scars would now mark this adorable flesh; frightful marks disfiguring your lily skin. I am content, quite content… Ah! Virginia, I wish you to be with me the happiest of girls. I wish to bring you to that perfection of which the Bible speaks… Yes, I wish…'
While speaking, she put her arms around the big, bare, supple body, and pressing her lips to those of her pupil, fanned her with burning breath.
Then she drew her towards a large sofa in order to talk more comfortably.
Lady Flayskin took off her own clothes also and remarked:
'You see I am not without beauty even as compared with you.'
Never had the had-mistress shown herself so affectionate with any of her pupils.
If she was wont to give free course to her vice, if she did not oppose the slightest check upon her passionate desires, she nevertheless 173
managed to do all with absolute self-control, both as regards actions and words. She would proceed to the worst Lesbian extremities while talking of the lofty claims of morality. Her victims did not know in the least what to think. Sometimes the girls would be con vinced that Lady Flayskin, who had just made some most moral discourse, must be a saint; while an hour afterwards her actions would render them as perplexed as ever.
In the present instance, Miss Virginia's physical feelings, under the treatment of the skilled and passionate mistress, became of a kind she had never previously experienced. Unconsciously she returned the burning kisses she was receiving.
Both mistress and pupil became possessed with extraordinary sensual exaltation. In the case of Virginia, little or attempt was made to control the tide of delirious, delicious sensa tions. Each would cast herself into the arms of the other and then for a moment they would slowly draw apart and look with glowing burning eyes at the spectacle of unveiled beauty before them. Then with the tips of their fingers they would lightly touch one another and kiss until almost frenzied with delight.
The mistress was the first to recover herself. In slow and measured tones, after her usual manner, she made the following hypocritical speech:
'Beauty, Miss, is not the only requisite. You cannot appear as you are usually dressed in a drawing-room. In our country, the first country of the world, we are not excessively prudish. In Society, low-necked dresses are more than tolerated. A young girl, no matter how pure and stainless she may be, is permitted to show nearly the whole of her bust. But this she must do with skill and as though seeking to conceal what a thin gauze covering reveals only too intoxicatingly to her dazzled partner in the waltz. His feelings are deeply stirred as there rises to his enraptured senses the fragrance of the breasts, this centre of feminine seduction. The arms may also be exposed. In my opinion, however, their allure ment is considerably enhanced when concealed by long close-fitting gloves of a dark tint. A little bare skin above the elbow, but only a little, should be shown. This partial exposure will be found sufficient to conquer admirers.
'If I frequently insist upon the importance of such matters, it is because the duty of a woman consists, if she would assure herself of happiness, in her ability to attach indissolubly the desires of men to her charms. Men have predominance over women as regards muscular or brute force, but we, with our powers of seduction, are able to crush their boasted strength to a pulp. Let us learn therefore to use our gifts nobly and well. You, dear Virginia, are of a becoming height. If the high heels which I oblige you to wear were designed solely for accentuating the height, in your case at any rate, they would be of no advantage. But they serve ultimately to give to the deport ment charming seriousness and well-bred dignity, fitting in well with that timidity of character which, in the eyes of the stronger sex, is not the least of our attractions. By curious contradiction, the style of deportment to which I allude, gives us at the same time a certain boldness of appearance which is a useful corrective to an air of timidity possibly so 176
pronounced as to inspire masculine admirers with fear to approach and disturb such coy and shrinking charms. The boot which reaches high up the leg conveys the impression of beauty of a proud imperious order, made for the crushing of hearts beneath our feet; and, at the same time, such a boot is symbolical of the slavery to which, of one's own will or through the energy of a man, we are momentarily sub,jected. Need I remark to you that your narrow, high-bred foot would profit by being adorned with a long tight boot? Your insted is already finely arched, but its line would gain in grace through the wearing of a exceed ingly arched boot with heels so high that the toes should be almost vertically beneath the level of the heel? She, too, how these heels are scooped out. Dubarry herself wore nothing more skilfully designed. These boots, intended for you use, are, you must acknowledge, veritable jewels or, to describe them better, perfect caskets suited for the treasures they will enclose. Here, dear Miss Malville, are your stockings. Your usual ones are pretty, but you must observe the rules of my academy.
Naturally, I have chosen excellent silk, in preference to any material of less value. See how soft they are! Put them on carefully, drawing them up properly, for one of the rules of this establishment is that stockings shall never show a wrinkle.'
The girl crossed one leg over the other, as she sat on the edge of the couch, and obediently began to put on a stocking. Lady Flayskin watched her with a look of graciousness and amusement, for truly, the homely position gave the girl additional attractiveness. The variety of her charms was not indeed Virginia's least attraction. She put on both stockings with the carefulness, as regarded creases, to which she had been enjoined, and then received the boots from her mistress's hands.
But now her task was not so simple. The mistress had characterised the little low shoes which Virginia was in the habit of wearing as flabby and shabby. They fitted her exactly with no room to spare. Lady Flayskin had, consequently, given instructions to the boot maker to make the footgear much narrower than the pattern entrusted to him. Poor Vir178
ginia had therefore now to wrestle with an insoluble problem, the insertion in a given space of a body greater than that space. But woman boldly faces what to the logician appears impossible, and she conquers. Virginia made many wry, but becoming grimaces, heaved some big sighs, uttered sundry little cries, appeared greatly at a loss,
