This grandiloquent gesture erased the final suspicion from Georgette's father's brain, for he burst into a torrent of French expletives, the gist of which was that in all his years as owner of this humble inn, he had never entertained so worthy and gracious a guest as Father Lawrence, no, not even nobility. “And it has been good for my wayward daughter, who is an only child, may heaven defend her,” he added effusively.
“Amen to that!” Father Lawrence interposed in his fluent French, sending a surreptitious glance towards the bridling hoyden, who pretended to busy herself with pouring out wine from an ewer.
“As I was saying,” her father obsequiously pursued, “the presence here of Votre Grace has brought great peace of mind to me, for, look you, this strapping and handsome demoiselle makes calf's eyes at every man that wears trousers. Ah, but Votre Grace, when you first entered my humble inn, I told myself that now Georgette would be under your protection and would be blessed as well as saved from any wrongdoing.”
“And so she has been, for she is a worthy girl, with only her father's best interests at heart. I have already given her my blessing, and that, too, was why she was delayed in responding to your parental summons.”
“You are much too kind, Votre Grace. Georgette, hasten to the kitchen and make certain that the repast Son Eminence has ordered for his three young wards will be brought to them directly. See to it also that he has the very best of what is cooking this eventide.”
“I would not give him anything that is not of the very best, mon Pere,” Georgette cooed. “Ah, I wish I could have seen her winsome face when she responded so ambiguously to her father. For of course the French term for 'father' is exactly the same that a reverent and dutiful demoiselle accords a man of the cloth such as Father Lawrence was! And she had certainly given the latter all of her best and most energetically and ardently as well, unless my sense of hearing had totally deceived me. That is how, by the way, I was able to discern that she was pouring from an ewer, because the splash of the liquid from such a container is more fulsome than from a mere bottle. You see, we fleas are not only the pestiferous creatures which you humans upbraid and swear at when we sting you; and remember that when we do, it is only to prolong our own lives, and that we take only a very tiny bit of blood, far less injurious to your systems than, if I may be precise, the vitality which Father Lawrence lost each time he jetted his bubbling spunk into the sweet cunt of a novice like Georgette. Not quite two hours later, supper had been partaken of by all concerned, Georgette's father had outdone himself in florid rhetoric to bid his worthy and distinguished guest adieu, and Louisette, Denise, and Marisia, demurely attired for their journey out upon the Channel this night, got into the carriage which the landlord himself had graciously summoned to take them to the wharf where their vessel awaited.
There was only a slight difficulty when they boarded the good ship Bonaventura. The captain, whose voice was gruff and surly, grudgingly explained that because the sailing had been delayed so long in view of the inclement weather, there were now more passengers bound for Dover than he had originally expected. He could not possibly assign cabins to the three charming demoiselles who accompanied the English ecclesiastic.
“Good captain,” Father Lawrence flatteringly replied in polished French, “I would not think to encumber you with the petty matter of providing bunks for your passengers, when you are burdened with the great responsibility of all our lives in keeping the wheel ever so straight upon the course and braving the angry gusts that seek to flounder your sturdy vessel! A single cabin will do, good captain. You see by my raiment that I am a man of the cloth, and these poor orphans are my wards whom I am taking back as neophytes to the Seminary of St. Thaddeus. As for me, I am yet vigorous with my years, and my flesh is not weak, so it matters not where or how I sleep.”
This little speech so impressed the surly captain that he barked an order to a seaman to escort “le bon et digne Pere” to a cabin which should be across from that occupied by the first mate. Father Lawrence then turned to his charges and said to them gently, “Do you not see, my daughters, that the Lord will provide even in the face of what seems insurmountable obstacles? Now we shall become snugly ensconced, and I am glad of this, for it gives me an opportunity to hold intimate converse with you and to fortify you for your entry as neophytes. It is an undertaking which must sober your most mature reflections, and that is why I am delighted to be so close to you this night that we may share the thoughts that undeniably must be passing through your young impressionable minds.”
A little later, the English ecclesiastic and his three delicious wards were safely quartered in the cabin, which he pronounced quite spacious for their needs. There were but two bunks, he said, so that Louisette and Denise, being sisters by blood, should not be separated and would take the lower bunk. Marisia would clamber to the upper bunk, while as for himself, if the ship did not toss and pitch and roll about too much, he could make do quite nicely by stationing himself on the floor and resting his back against the oaken chest apparently belonging to the second or third mate, since it was the practice of vessels of this kind, when there were more passengers than nominal, for the highest ranking of the vessel's personnel to give up their own cabins to the travelers.
Denise and Louisette changed into their shifts and got promptly into their bunk while Father Lawrence went to the porthole and peered out into the night, thus having his back to them and protecting their virginal modesty. Marisia also changed into her shift during this tender mark of propriety. The only light in the cabin was cast by an oil lamp near the bunks, but Marisia, who doubtless felt herself to be more a waif than ever in this ship's cabin and aloft in the air above the bed occupied by her two dear friends, quavered, “Do not yet blow out the lamp, mon Pere, for I am fearful, having never before boarded a ship to cross the sea!”
“Have no fear, my dear Marisia,” he said kindly, “by morning we shall be in Dover, and then we shall make a leisurely journey to London. The sea is calm now, and there is nothing to fear. As I mentioned to you, and to you too, Louisette and Denise, I wish to tell you something of this seminary where you will be housed, fed, and well looked after.”
(Oh, well looked after indeed, and looked into and at and by and much more, if I in my locket am still the same flea that once fled the venue where Julia and Bella entered as ingenuous novices and soon became precocious experts in the gentle art of fucking and sucking and being sucked as well!)
“Will we be happy there, mon Pere?” Denise, in her provocatively husky voice now asked.
“Happiness, my daughter, is an intangible substance. It cannot be measured, and it is not always material. It is a word that covers a multitude of joys, and, alas, sometimes a multitude of sins as well. For example, a naive child who had never tasted sweets might be handed a stick of barley candy by some lecherous old rogue who wished to take indecent liberties with her person. Yet in her guilelessness, sucking that candy, she might believe that she had attained a state of happiness, whereas the villainous old man, who lusted for her person, would not know happiness until he had tasted her in exchange. Do you see my parable, my daughters?”
“Oh yes,” Marisia giggled. “But you remember what you promised me, mon Pere!”
“And what was that, my daughter?”
Now surely whatever seaman had occupied this cabin before the good Father and his wards must never have heard in all his born days such a startling piece of conversation as the black-haired country demoiselle now expounded ever so merrily and hopefully: “Why, mon Pere, that before I became a novice you would fuck me with your great big prick!”
Father Lawrence coughed, possibly from an overdraught of the sea air from the porthole which he banged shut almost instantly upon Marisia's last word, then he approached the bunks, carrying me with him all this while, for he had not yet taken off his cassock. “Tut, tut, Marisia, haven't I told you that a gently bred girl does not blurt out such candid words? It is only when we are reasonably certain of not being eavesdropped upon by bigoted interlopers that we may allow our speech such liberties.”
“Oh, mon Pere,” Louisette's sweet clear voice now wished attention, “that would not be fair to fuck Marisia and to ignore your two new wards, Denise and myself! Why will you not fuck all three of us?”
“My daughters, there is something that I must tell you in all confidence, and you must swear upon your virginal honor not to reveal it to any other priest. It is this: as I have tried to explain, I am new to the Seminary, and although I have lived a great deal and preached many sermons of righteousness, I will not have the standing in this seminary that I had in my former bailiwick, nor even in Languecuisse, where there was only Pere Mourier to contest with me in the battle for saving souls. No, my daughters, there will be at least a dozen or even a score of stalwart priests at Thaddeus; and each, who is as zealous in his own faith as I am in mine, will doubtless seek to convert you to his argument. There is first of all the Father Superior, who has a kind of droit de seigneur over every novice.”
But the irrepressible Marisia, who had already seen the good Father's qualifications for his post, was not to be put off so readily; once again, her voice quivering with merriment as well as with anticipation, she urged: “But surely no one at the Seminary can have as big a prick as you do, mon Pere!”
