Thongs

indeed, I was beginning to realize, he wasn't.

'No, Mr. Oakes, I have not found a boyfriend and I am not in love, as you call it. I will never love a man. I love only one thing: pain! Pain is my religion and in pain I shall find my destiny, Mr. Oakes!'

I turned to look at him.

He looked startled.

This time looking at him, I continued: 'Do you not sense a change in me? Or are you insensitive? You pretend to know what pain is! Pain purifies.'

'You're too bold, Gertrude,' he said at last. But I could see he was impressed. He was looking at me with new eyes. And new eyes were necessary, for in my year of pain and pitiless humiliation, I had become a beauty. The curves of my body were superb. I had the body of a young Diana of twenty.

'Too bold, Mr. Oakes?' I said with a soft smile, and raising my skirt up over my right thigh, I said: 'Look here!'

He bent over my thigh.

A permanent dark red groove encircled it completely. My shoemaker had made it for me over a period of time by twisting a thin leather thong with a piece of wood as a lever.

Mr. Oakes touched it hesitantly with his fingertips. When he looked up at me, I saw fear play with lust in his eyes.

At that moment the car turned into the entrance of the big house.

'We'll see,' he said shortly, and got out of the car.

I stepped out after him and followed him into the house. He led the way straight to the basement. He locked the double doors behind us.

'Your clothes,' he said.

'And yours.'

He nodded. We both stripped naked. He was already rampant. He moved over to me and took me in his arms. I didn't resist. He kissed me on the lips. And then, slowly, he tried to ease his cock between my thighs. I pushed him away. 'Not that,' I said quietly.

He laughed. 'What is to prevent my taking you?'

'Try and see!' I said ominously.

'Gertrude,' he said, changing his tone, 'believe me, my dear, you are an amateur in the discipline of pain. I have had twenty years' experience. That is why I am the holder of the Holy Seal in these parts.'

'The Holy Seal?'

'A small mark of distinction in our Order. It carries with it the office of Painmaster in this Lodge.'

'Tell me all about the Order, Mr. Oakes!'

'I am not permitted to do that, Gertrude. What I know I cannot communicate to inferiors in the Order, and you are not even a Novice yet. You are simply what we call a Woman-Elect, a possible participant in our disciplines.'

'And what's Hazel?'

'Hazel is simply a paid Whipmistress. She in not a member of the Order. She is a paid retainer.'

'Is Painmaster a high office?'

'It is the highest in this part of the country. But you ask too many questions, Gertrude. And even if I wanted to answer most of them, I couldn't. Even a Painmaster has no direct knowledge of the upper echelons of our Order. But perhaps you have heard enough to realize that you are a mere child, an amateur, and that you must subject yourself to my will if you are ever to be accepted as a Novice. I received instructions a few days ago that you were to be initiated if you were still found worthy.'

'You mean others know of me?'

'Of course. Your name was submitted a year ago to the Holy Seat. It takes some time for the Holy Seal to be placed on the application of a Woman-Elect.'

'And that's why you kept me waiting a year?'

'It was inevitable. You did right, by the way, to give me back the money. That was a prescribed test. If you had kept the money, you would only have been admissible in the capacity of a retainer, a paid Whipping-girl in your case.'

'Why did you try to fuck me just now, Mr. Oakes?'

He smiled.

'That too was a test. And I shall fuck you if you prove unworthy.'

'If I prove unworthy you can fuck me any time you like.'

'Good girl! I am beginning to like you, Gertrude!'

'What do we do now?'

'First, my dear Gertrude, you will flog me. You have five minutes, during which time you will do your utmost to make me break down and cry for mercy. Then I shall flog you. I expect for the first time I shall have to cut you down after two minutes.'

I smiled inwardly. I would show this Painmaster who I was!

'Tighten the thongs at my hands and feet,' Mr. Oakes said. 'There is a clock on the wall over there. When the minute hand reaches five to four start flogging with any implement you care to choose. You see them all round the walls. Stop on the dot of four.'

I nodded and obeyed. I looked the implements over with a critical eye. There was nothing like my own terrible 'Five-Fingered-Spranger' but there was something quite like 'The Prick,' only it was made of thick rubber. I decided to concentrate for the whole period on his thighs and buttocks with that implement. He would not be likely to forget it!

I measured my distance and watched the clock.

Thwack! A shudder passed through his body with the first blow. It left a wide red weal on his buttocks. Thwack! Again. Again. I took my time. There was no need to tire myself. Five minutes was plenty of time. With each stroke now a little groan escaped him, but after three minutes he still hadn't screamed for mercy. He could certainly take punishment. At the end of the fourth minute he was whimpering like a little child. I put my whole weight into the last strokes, slashing the most tender part of the buttocks. With thirty seconds to go he screamed and he didn't leave off screaming until the clock struck four and I tossed the rubber prick away from me.

I helped him down gently.

He collapsed in my arms. 'Brandy!' he said hoarsely, pointing to his coat. I found a flask in one of the pockets and returned with it and held it to his lips. Ten minutes passed during which I sucked his penis gently and only then was he able to stand on his feet.

'You struck hard, Gertrude,' he said when he had sufficiently recovered himself.

'It would hardly have been worthwhile if I hadn't, Painmaster,' I said with a tone of mockery in my voice.

This angered him slightly. He led me by the arm over to the whipping board.

'And now we shall see if you will make a Novice!' he said.

A moment later my wrists and ankles were secured.

It was the cat-o'nine-tails which he took up.

'Are you ready, Gertrude?'

'Yes.'

I didn't flex myself. I wished to take the first stroke after the manner of virgins.

He struck and I shuddered with pleasure. He too took his time. After the twenty-forth stroke, a slight spittle gathered on my lips and I ceased counting. I was breathing heavily, sweating, and bleeding, but for five minutes I didn't utter a sound. He cut me down and collected me in his arms. I smiled at him and he stared back fearfully into my eyes. I could tell from his exhaustion that he had put his whole strength into the whipping. I slipped from his arms and stood naked before him. He hesitated, and then, falling to his knees, he thrust his mouth upward between my thighs. I allowed him to suck away the slime and sweat and then, grasping him by the hairs of his head, I thrust him away from me.

'No, Painmaster,' I said gently. 'I didn't scream. I felt no agony of dying. You are not worthy to lick my cunt!' I stood back and kicked him in the face with my bare foot. He fell on the straw. 'Tell your betters I have come,' I said.