by Tom Hollingworth
Molly sat awkwardly on a straight-backed chair in front of the massive oak desk, and on the other side in a revolving chair sat Mrs Townley, the housekeeper. Molly had taken to her immediately, with her friendly and attractive face. She was about thirty, with chestnut hair tied up, and a black silk dress that marked her seniority. She had a gentle voice that had put Molly immediately at her ease.
Molly breathed in the refreshing breeze coming through the gap in the sash windows. It was late autumn, and the air was icy, but Molly was glad of it. She could almost taste the cleanness of the air. In any case, Molly had her woollen shawl over her best plain grey dress, the fire was lit and she was, if anything, too warm. She was used to the cold from the weaving floor.
The wall opposite the windows was fitted with a range of cupboard doors and drawers. Behind Mrs Townley and above the fire place was a portrait of Queen Victoria, looking younger than she did now. On the mantelpiece was an ornate marble clock, the ticking of which was the only sound in the room while Mrs Townley read Molly's letter of recommendation.
"Your references are most satisfactory," said Mrs Townley, still reading. There was a knock on the door. "Come in," she called, without looking up.
A maid dressed in black with a white pinafore entered. She had dark hair tied up under her bonnet. Molly thought she was perhaps the same age as herself - twenty - or perhaps a year or so younger. Molly smiled at her, but the maid was white-faced and did not look at Molly.
"Mrs Townley, Miss," she said in a quavering voice. "Lady Keebleton asked me to come to see you."
At this, Mrs Townley put down the letter and folded her glasses with a sigh.
"Not again, Charlotte!" She looked up at the maid. "What happened?"
Charlotte said something that Molly could not hear.
"Speak louder, girl!" said Mrs Townley sternly.
"I spilt coal on the carpet in the morning room, Miss."
Mrs Townley frowned. "You remember what I told you would happen last week if Her Ladyship had cause to send you to me again?"
Charlotte nodded, "Yes, Miss. But please, Miss. It was an accident."
"No doubt," said Mrs Townley. "But it was a careless accident. And for not taking due care, you will now have to face the consequences."
Mrs Townley took a leather bound notebook from the corner of her desk and opened it. She dipped her pen in the ink well, and in the silence of the room, Molly could hear the scratching of the nib as Mrs Townley ruled a line across the page and wrote beneath it. She closed the book.
Bewildered, Molly watched as Mrs Townley rose from the desk and opened a cabinet on the wall to the side of the desk. She drew out a three feet long cane that was a quarter inch thick with a crook handle at one end and whorls at regular intervals along its length.
"Please Miss," said Charlotte with a quavering voice. "Not the cane! Can't you give me the strap instead? I'll gladly take the strap, but the cane does hurt ever so. I really don't want the cane."
Mrs Townley raised her eyebrows and fixed Charlotte with her gaze.
"That, Miss Arkwright," she said softly, "is exactly the point. You are not supposed to want it. I have already recorded that you are to receive the cane across your bare bottom, and that is precisely the punishment I intend to execute. You have only your carelessness to blame."
Mrs Townley returned her attention to the cane, flexed it into an arc between her hands, swished it through the air experimentally a couple of times, and then lay it flat on the desk.
"Excuse me, Molly," said Mrs Townley, "but I am going to require your chair please. You can wait over there by the shelves."
Molly got up from the chair, and moved to the location Mrs Townley had indicated. Her thoughts were racing. She knew, of course, what a cane was, and had even, once, been on the receiving end of it at school, but she had never heard of it being used on a young adult like Charlotte. Perhaps Mrs Townley was just trying to scare Charlotte. Surely she could not intend to cane her?
Mrs Townley pulled the chair that Molly had just vacated into the middle of the room. She picked up the cane in her right hand, and used it to gesture to Charlotte.
"Lift up your dress and bend over the chair, Miss Arkwright please," she said.
For a few seconds Charlotte stood immobile, wide-eyed, not wanting to move, but Mrs Townley did not react. With a deep sigh, Charlotte stepped towards the chair. She took the hems of her dress and petticoat and lifted the back of both up. Molly felt herself blush at the sight of Charlotte's bloomers, plain white cotton like her own. Still holding her dress and petticoat up, Charlotte lowered herself over the back of the chair. She was not tall, and she had to lift her heels slightly to stretch over it. She gripped tightly on to the chair seat.
Mrs Townley took a safety pin from a pot on the desk, and used it to fasten the dress and petticoat to Charlotte's back. Mrs Townley unbuttoned and tugged the bloomers down, letting them fall to Charlotte's ankles. Molly could not help but stare at Charlotte's full hips and two up-facing mounds of flesh, the skin warm hued and silky smooth. Charlotte's legs were slightly parted, and there was just the slightest wisp of hair visible in the gap, hinting at what lay just out of sight. Mrs Townley, however, well-accustomed to this sight, was interested in Charlotte's bottom only insofar as necessary to her purpose.
"Six strokes, Miss Arkwright," said Mrs Townley. "I intend these to hurt you, but I expect you to stay in position. If you put your hands in the way or get up before I have finished, I will add further strokes."
Mrs Townley placed her hands on Charlotte's hips, adjusting Charlotte's position slightly. Seemingly satisfied, she picked up the cane from the desk, and took a measured stance to the left of Charlotte's trembling bottom. Molly wondered whether the trembling was from the cold or fear.
Transfixed, Molly watched Mrs Townley focusing on her ample target. She placed the cane gently across Charlotte's bottom, making her flinch, but Mrs Townley was just lining up her stroke. She let the cane rest there for a few seconds. Charlotte's agitation was clear from her increased trembling, and the way in which she shifted slightly on her feet.
"Keep still, Miss Arkwright!" said Mrs Townley. She waited a little longer, and then suddenly, in an instant, she had brought the cane up to shoulder height and whipped it down with tremendous velocity, employing a back flick at the last instant, so the cane straightened across both buttocks, cutting into the flesh with a crack that made Molly shudder.
Whack!
Charlotte gasped, and she struggled to stay in position as a line of burning seared her bottom. Molly saw that the cane had impressed a clear white line on the skin with red parallel marks on either side. Molly could hear Charlotte's deep breaths and sighs as she tried to deal mentally with the pain.
Mrs Townley waited for about ten seconds, and then raised the cane again. The second terrible stroke landed with the same force, just alongside the first, and another line appeared. This time Charlotte let out a small cry before getting control of herself, but her thighs writhed slightly. Charlotte's knuckles were turning white, so frantically was she gripping the chair, no doubt struggling against the instinct to guard her vulnerable bottom from its tormentor.
The third stroke cut into the fleshiest part of Charlotte's bottom, and although Charlotte managed to muffle her cry this time, the tears were beginning to stream down her face, and her thighs were shaking.
"Keep still!" said Mrs Townley sternly, and she lashed the cane against the top of Charlotte's thighs. She had only used moderate force, knowing how exquisitely sensitive the thighs were, but it nonetheless made Charlotte yelp in surprise.
Molly marvelled at how this attractive woman who had made her so at her ease only a few moments earlier, could be the same as the person who was now dispensing so severe a punishment to a maid who, after all, had just had an accident.
"Two more strokes," said Mrs Townley. "Almost there." Her tone was softer and encouraging, as if responding to Molly's thoughts, but if Molly thought this meant she was going to go any easier on Charlotte, she was mistaken.
The cane hissed through the air again, and whacked across a previously unmarked section of Charlotte's bottom. Charlotte cried and wailed now, no longer trying to restrain herself.
Mrs Townley shifted her position slightly, and this time landed the cane at a different angle. It cut into Charlotte's buttocks at an angle, criss-crossing the perfectly parallel lines left by the other strokes. With a jerk of her whole body that almost unbalanced her, Charlotte gave a howl of agony. When she had managed to stabilise her position, realising that the punishment was over, she managed to calm herself down, but she couldn't hold back the sobs.
"Stand up, and wait over there." Mrs Townley instructed, pointing to where Molly was. Charlotte slowly raised herself from the chair, able to lower her heels to the ground at last, and her hands reached for her naked buttocks, clutching and rubbing them desperately.
"That will do," said Mrs Townley mercilessly, "Put your hands on your head, and stand facing the wall."
Charlotte, sobbing and wincing, still with the back of her dress pinned up and bloomers round her ankles, shuffled uncomfortably to the wall, and rested her hands on her bonnet. Molly surveyed Charlotte's bottom, a mess of raised red weals, surrounding six defined white lines showing where the cane had done its terrible duty. Molly could not begin to imagine how intense the burning must be.
"You can have your chair back, Molly," said Mrs Townley, resuming her friendly tone. "I am sorry that you had to witness that."
Molly sat down in the chair, feeling a mix of confusion and guilt that she could sit comfortably.
"Do you know your Bible?"
Mrs Townley's question took her by surprise.
"Miss?"
"Employment here accords with the principles in the Bible. Behold the labourers who have reaped your fields, their stipend which you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped enter unto the ears of the Lord."
Molly looked at her blankly.
"The Bible tells us not to dock a worker's wages. Whether you break a piece of fine china, or miss a duty, or, as in Charlotte's case, carelessly spill coal, your wages will not be docked. Charlotte will receive the exact same pay this week as always, regardless of the extra work and expense that the household has been put to. But, as you have also seen, this does not mean that carelessness or poor behaviour goes unpunished.
"Lord Keebleton campaigns in the House of Lords for corporal punishment. He believes that this is the most efficient and humanitarian method of punishment, and if adopted, would obviate the need for the gaols and even the gallows. He believes his household should lead by example, and discipline here at Keebleton Hall always takes the form of corporal punishment. As a scullery maid, you would be subject to the same rules and standards as Charlotte here, and if you were to fall short of the standards we expect, then your bottom would inevitably befall a similar fate as Charlotte's."
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