'Yes,' I said. I smiled to myself. It had indeed been a frank, bemused scrutiny to which Miles of Vonda had subjected the lofty Lady Florence, the sort of scrutiny commonly reserved for, and accorded to, slaves. Such a scrutiny, of course, would be inappropriate, even scandalous, if applied to free women. On the other hand, it did not seem out of place to me if applied to property girls. Indeed, in their case, it is fully rational and appropriate, for such girls are only slaves, lovely items of purchasable livestock.
'But I am not a slave girl!' she said.
'Not legally,' I said.
'How could a mere legal convention make me a slave,' she asked. 'It is meaningless.'
'Tell that to girls who wear collars, and find themselves at the total mercy of masters,' I said.
'Miles of Vonda is a fool!' she snapped.
'Do not break position,' I warned her.
She looked up at me. 'Look at me, Jason,' she said.
I did. It was a pleasure.
'Do you think a woman such as I could ever be a slave?' she asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'Do I look like a slave?' she asked, angrily.
'Yes,' I told her.
She cried out in anger.
'Do not break position, Lady Florence,' I warned her.
'Very well, Jason,' she said, icily.
'You seem cold,' I said. 'Perhaps I can warm you.'
'Do not dare to touch me!' she cried.
'Perhaps you have forgotten that you are a prisoner,' I said.
She looked up at me, frightened. 'No,' she said. 'I have not forgotten.'
'On your back, Slut,' I said.
She obeyed. She threw the chain from her body to one side. 'Please do not speak to me in that way,' she said. 'Please do not call me a slut,' she said.
'You forget that I have held you in my arms,' I said.
'I am the Lady Florence,' she said.
'The Lady Florence,' I said, 'is a lovely slut.'
'No!' she said.
'Do not forget that I have held you in my arms,' I said.
'I am the Lady Florence,' she said. 'I am not a slut!'
'You wear the Ta-Teera of a stable slut,' I pointed out.
'It is meaningless!' she said.
'Then remove it,' I said. I tore it from her body. 'Yes,' I said, 'the Lady Florence is indeed a lovely slut.'
'Beast,' she said. 'What are you going to do with me?'
'I have fought well,' I said. 'I have won many bouts.'
'Beast!' she said.
'I think you are suitable,' I said.
'Suitable?' she asked.
'I have fought well,' I said. 'I have won many bouts.'
'Yes,' she said.
'It is customary to reward a successful pugilist,' I said.
'I denied you such rewards,' she said.
'Yes,' I said.
'But now you have decided that I myself, formerly your Mistress, am yet again to be your reward.'
'Yes,' I said.
'I am not a man's reward,' she said.
'How is it then,' I asked, 'that you lie chained in my stall?'
'I am not accustomed to thinking of myself as a man's reward,' she said.
'Grow accustomed to it,' I told her.
'Very well,' she said, angrily, 'I am a man's reward! You have decided it!'
'Yes,' I said.
'Do you really think I am pretty enough to be a man's reward?' she asked.
'I think so,' I said. 'I see that that thought pleases you'
'No,' she said. 'No!'
I looked upon her sternly.
'Yes,' she said, 'that thought pleases me. Please do not strike me.'
I smiled.
'It is only,' she whispered, 'that I am not accustomed, not accustomed, truly, to thinking of myself as a man's reward.'
'Yet,' I said.
'Yet,' she whispered.
'It is one of the many things that a woman such as you is good for,' I told her.
'I see,' she said.
'Smile,' I told her.
'Smile!' she cried.
'And lift your arms to me,' I told her. She tried to smile. She lifted her arms to me.
'Say, `You fought well. You won many bouts,'' I said.
'You fought well. You won many bouts,' she said.
'Say now, 'Your girl hopes to please you,'' I said.
'Your girl hopes to please you,' she said. I then crouched beside her, and took her in my arms. She gasped. 'Why are you doing this to me?' she asked.
'I have well earned you,' I told her.
'Collect your earnings, yet again,' she begged me.
'I shall,' I told her.
'Kiss and squirm well, Slut,' I said.
'Yes, I am a slut,' she wept. 'I am a slut!'
'Kiss and squirm,' I said.
'Yes,' she wept. 'Yes, yes!'
'In your arms, you have taught me that I, the Lady Florence, am a slut,' she whispered, bending over me. We were in the darkness. The lantern had again burned out. I felt her hair on my chest, the chain, too, depending from her-looped, iron collar.
'I did not know that I was a slut,' she said.
'Your excitement, your responses, have proved it,' I said.
'I did not know I could have such feelings, or behave in such ways,' she said.
I took her in my arms and threw her again beneath me.
'You must never let anyone know that I am a slut,' she said. 'You are the only man in the whole world who knows that.'
'For the moment,' I told her.
She stiffened in my arms, frightened. 'Let it be our secret,' she begged. 'Tell no one!'
'Why not?' I asked.
'No one must know that I am sexually responsive,' she said.
'Why not?' I asked.
'It would be the ruin of my reputation,' she said.
'Surely men have a right to know,' I said.
'No,' she said. 'No!'
I laughed.
