t stopped being soothing and started being extremely arousing pretty quickly.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘You girls need it, don’t you? You need to be kept in check and taught your place.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Tell me about your last whipping, Walters. Who administered it?’
Damn, he was going to make me use my imagination, just at the point where I was ready to sink into mindless sensation.
‘The housekeeper, sir, at my last place.’
‘Oh, the housekeeper. A lady. An older lady, I trust, of strict moral probity.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What was your transgression?’
‘There was no transgression, sir. She whipped all us maids before church every Sunday, just to keep us decent, as she said.’
‘What a marvellous woman. To keep you decent. Yes, that’s a very fine routine. I may well adopt it myself. If this woman is ever in want of a place, you must recommend me to her.’
‘I will, sir.’
‘Tell me how she organised these Sunday-morning affairs. What did she use and how did she go about her disciplinary business?’
‘For these, she used a stiff leather strap that hung in the scullery at all times. For serious misdemeanours, she inclined to the birch rod, but for regular whippings it was always the strap.’
‘Ah, yes, I am myself a keen aficionado of the birch rod.’
I knew that. I knew it very well.
‘She would line us up, sir, after the master’s breakfast things were washed up, in the kitchen. All the male staff were allowed to stay and watch, too, which was the worst of it. Much worse than the pain.’
‘Oh? I will bear that in mind.’
‘I’d rather you didn’t, sir.’
He tapped my bottom sharply.
‘Your preferences are irrelevant. If I decide that you need witnesses to your shame, then witnesses there shall be.’
I hoped that this was Cruel Film Bastard and not Jasper talking. I didn’t think I would ever be ready for that – bad enough during the summer when Will stumbled upon me, bound and thrashed, in Jasper’s grounds. I squirmed in protest, helping the little bloom of heat from the crop to fade.
‘Come on, then. You and your fellows lined up in the kitchen, with the male staff looking on. What happened then?’
‘We were called forward in reverse order of seniority. The scullery maid got it first. In turn, we bent over the big deal table and the housekeeper lifted our skirts and petticoats. The more senior you were, the more strokes you got. The scullery maid got ten, on the seat of her drawers.’
‘Drawers were kept up?’
‘Oh, yes. The men were there! But if it was a proper punishment, it was given in the housekeeper’s office and the drawers came down then.’
‘A private whipping on the bare?’
‘Not private, sir. The other maids were called in to watch, for purposes of instruction.’
‘Ah, very good. So – where were you in terms of seniority?’