by Jacqueline Scott
Elizabeth Lane glanced at her watch and realised that it was time to go. She shoved some papers into her brief case to read later at home, tidied up her desk a little, made sure that her desk was properly locked, collected her coat from the stand by the door and left the office. Her Secretary had left the best part of an hour before, but as a senior Civil Servant in the Foreign Office, Elizabeth was well used to working long hours. She said 'good night' to the security guard on the door of the building as she left, but instead of heading for her flat in Mayfair, she took a slightly different route and soon found herself 'buzzing' the entry-phone of a block of apartments not that far from her office. Within a minute or so, her friend Angela Playfair was greeting her at the door of the top floor apartment.
Angela, who was bisexual, and her husband, Matthew, had been introduced to Elizabeth by Sir John Shrewsbury and she had become good friends with Angela especially. Elizabeth's relationship with Sir John had been unusual to say the least and his death almost two months before had left a hole in her life that she found puzzling and somewhat frustrating. She had discussed briefly what she might do about that with Angela, and now they had arranged to meet again to take the matter further.
Ten minutes after she arrived, the two were sitting gazing out over the London skyline with a glass of white wine in their hands. Angela was the first to broach the subject,
"Have you thought any more about what we discussed?"
"Oh lots! Every night I think about it, Angela! But I'm still no closer to making up my mind. Somehow, without Sir John, it doesn't seem the same."
"Well, darling, I've been making some very discreet enquiries ... very, very discreet in fact. And I think there is a demand ... a very small demand I must emphasise, for what you had with John - but really with women only, and very well-connected and wealthy women at that. We agreed that without John, dealing with men could become far riskier."
Over a number of years Elizabeth had provided 'disciplinary' services to Sir John Shrewsbury and people that he knew, often through the diplomatic service. It had been a strange arrangement and one which she had grown to enjoy despite herself. In return, he had given her rent free use of the flat that she still occupied. His death had brought to an end the access that he had to individuals seeking such services, which was why she and Angela had started thinking about alternatives.
"A small demand shouldn't be a problem. After all I don't have all that time and couldn't cope with a large demand. With Sir John it was always occasional rather than regular evenings."
"From what I can gather, Elizabeth, there are ladies in high places who are interested in this sort of thing - ladies in politics, the aristocracy ... who would be interested. I think it could work."
"It sounds interesting, Angela. Mary Shrewsbury is coming to see me tomorrow ... to collect the month's 'rent' ... perhaps I should mention it to her?"
Her friend nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes! Yes, you should. If she thinks it's a good idea she could be another source of clients."
The next day was Friday and Elizabeth had arranged that she would be able to leave the office earlier than usual, just after four o'clock. She had told her secretary to make sure she had no appointments in the afternoon unless they were absolutely essential or a summons from the powers above her in the service. There were no problems and she was home and showered not long after 4.30. Instead of dressing again, she simply slipped on a clean pair of panties with a silk dressing gown on top. Then she made a few preparations to receive the visitor that she was expecting. She was just in time as she had barely completed these when the entry-phone rang and she 'buzzed' her visitor in.
"Lady Shrewsbury, welcome."
The short, dainty lady with an elfin face and blue eyes that made her look younger than the grey, almost white hair suggested, was the reality that smiled at her.
"Hello Elizabeth. Please call me Mary ... I've told you before ... next time I will add something to your rent if you forget!"
Elizabeth laughed.
"Oh, I will not forget again then, Mary. Would you like a cup of tea before ... well ... before you collect the rent?"
"That would be lovely my dear. I have been with my lawyer for over an hour and a cup of tea would be perfect."
Once they were sitting over tea and biscuits, and with the usual initial small talk out of the way, Elizabeth decided to broach the subject of her discussions with Angela.
"I'm not sure if I should raise this with you now or later, Mary, but I was hoping to ask your opinion about a possible venture."
"Go on my dear, I'm in no hurry!"
"Well, you know of course about your late husband and me. And you are probably aware that he arranged for others to visit here for the same or similar activities. All of these have stopped with Sir John's death of course, and although I miss them in some ways, the difficulties and potential risks that would be involved in trying to resume, outweigh any desires that I have in that direction. Am I making sense?"
"Oh yes, Elizabeth, perfect sense. I didn't know of the others but I assumed that there would be some. I know John arranged these things. And when you talk about risks I take it that you mean the difficulties of vetting the individuals concerned to make sure that you weren't faced with a maniac or similar?"
"Yes, exactly. However, a friend of mine ... a female friend ... has suggested that she and I might offer similar services to women. She thinks that there is a small demand for such things among ... well ... well-to-do ladies of varying backgrounds really. The fact that the demand would be small is not a problem as I don't have much time to devote to it. But I wanted to ask you about it for two reasons. Firstly, it is your apartment and I would not wish to do anything here that you strongly disapproved of. And secondly, we wondered ... if you had any thoughts on such a proposal. We thought that you might have some idea of whether there really is such a demand."
Lady Shrewsbury smiled, but remained silent for a little while. Then she looked up at Elizabeth.
"Thank you for giving me that consideration, Elizabeth. I suspect that I know who your friend is but we don't need to name her. I am sure she is correct in her estimate. It is not many ladies ... but yes there are some ... I can think of at least half a dozen right way. They would require absolute and total discretion ... but I have no fears about you ... or your friend if she is who I think ... on that front. I could direct some acquaintances to you ... I cannot ever reveal names but you don't need names. As for using the apartment ... goodness my dear, use it for whatever you want! But it is kind of you to ask me."
They talked briefly about what was required and eventually Lady Shrewsbury suggested to Elizabeth that she contact her again when she was ready to start. That she readily agreed to do and said how grateful she was for receiving such support. The older woman smiled.
"It is my pleasure, Elizabeth. And now I think I must collect my rent. Shall we go through?"
The civil servant also smiled. Then she rose and led the way through to what Sir John had described as 'The Punishment Room'. It was the one room in the flat that he insisted he was allowed to design; everything else he had left to Elizabeth's taste. This one room, however, had beautiful scarlet wallpaper, soft lighting but with two spotlights that could be aimed at specific parts of the room and mirrors on all four walls and the ceiling. It had previously been a bedroom and there was still a bed there but no other furniture that one would normally associate with a bedroom. There was a walk-in cupboard and it was there that a range of punishment implements and sex-toys were stored. The other feature of the room was a strong lock on the door to keep out any visitor who might be shocked by what was inside. Elizabeth's parents came into that category!
"I thought that this month I might use the flogger rather than the cane, my dear."
"Of course, Mary. The agreement is that you can use anything you wish after all."
Elizabeth opened the cupboard door and brought out a black flogger with leather 'tails'.
"Will this one do?"
"Mmmm ... ideal. Now I think you should kneel on the bed ... head down and bottom up."
Elizabeth slipped out of her silk robe, removed her panties and did as she was told. Very quickly she was kneeling on the bed, head down between her arms and with her knees about a foot apart to ensure that she was stable. That position inevitably raised her bottom, and as always she had an initial feeling of embarrassment at being so exposed.
Her mentor's widow gazed at the naked body for a little while, trailing the tails of the flogger across the bottom as she did so. The contrast between the black leather and the pale flesh was striking. Then eventually she raised her arm and brought it back down, stopping it just before it struck the kneeling woman. That had the effect of spreading the tails which stung as they found Elizabeth's unprotected flesh and several little pink marks appeared. Elizabeth gave a gasp as the effects of the blow spread through her, and then gritted her teeth. For the next fifteen minutes, Lady Shrewsbury flogged the younger woman slowly and methodically. Many of the blows were the same as the first but they were interspersed by more conventional strokes where there was no stopping, and the strands of the implement landed on the bottom in a cluster with more of a thudding effect. By the time that the widow decided that she had received her 'rent' and stopped, Elizabeth's bottom had changed colour to a mixture of pink and red with small darker marks showing where the 'tails' had dug into the flesh. Lady Shrewsbury put down the flogger on the bed, paused for a second, and then placed a gentle kiss at the base of the young woman's spine.
"Thank you, my dear. I really did enjoy that. That is the rent collected for another month."
Elizabeth climbed off the bed, her face scarlet, and winced as the effect of the punishment struck her as she changed position. Her hands tentatively touched her bottom before she slipped her robe back on.
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Mary. That means that I won't be summarily evicted ... not for another month at least!"
"Oh no no no ... you are here for the long term, my sweet girl! I'm not giving up on a chance to deal with such a pretty bottom as you have!"
They spoke only for another few minutes, and then Lady Shrewsbury left. Elizabeth winced as she turned from the door, then went through to her own bedroom to see if she could rub some soothing cream into her stinging, throbbing bottom. Clearly it was to be a night of sleeping on her tummy!
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