Chapter 9

Next time I met Vivian we confessed our love for one another. She did not wish to ride to the hotel as usual.

"Let's go into the woods on your estate instead," she said brightly. "It's such a wonderful day. I don't want to sit in the beastly old hotel lounge!"

I agreed willingly and we rode back to my place and tethered our horses to a fence.

"What wonderful trees!" she exclaimed.

"The elms, yes! My uncle used to be very proud of them."

"No wonder! They must be as old as the hills!"

I laughed, reminded of something.

"Let's go into the woods," I said. "They're pretty extensive."

"Oh, they're beautiful, Saul! How lucky you are to have them!"

I took her hand and we walked deeper into the woods.

"Oh, hold on a minute," I said, "there's something I want to show you!"

"What is it?"

"Wait, we must go out of the woods this way. It's a small copse I used to play in when I was a boy. It's a wonderful place. Completely isolated from the world!"

"How lovely! Is it far?"

"Not far. This way." I took her gently by the hand and led her out of the woods towards the copse. We wended our way through the bushes and came to a halt in the small mossy clearing.

"How wonderful!" Vivian said happily. "It's true. It's as though the rest of the world didn't exist!"

As she turned to face me, I took her in my arms and kissed her passionately on the lips for the first time. She responded warmly at first and then her slim body relaxed utterly in my arms. I kissed her neck and ran my hands through her superb blonde hair. A moment later she slipped down to the ground, drawing me beside her.

She had closed her eyes. Her lovely face was calm, the temples waxen, the soft red lips wet and smooth. Gradually, under my caress, her whole body arched to be taken, but I desisted, simply pulling her blouse out of her riding breeches at the back and caressing her sides and shoulders.

When she opened her grey-green eyes I told her I loved her and that I didn't care what Lewis thought. She smiled submissively and drew my head down to kiss her lips.

That day I didn't make love to her. I felt she was not quite ready to give everything, but we had already spoken of marriage, each of us seeming to hesitate, and we agreed that we should meet again in two days' time, each with his decision.

I rode back with her nearly as far as Lewis' place before I returned to the estate.

Kirstin was waiting for me.

"Seen her again?"

I nodded.

"How is it going?"

"Well."

"I want to know more," Kirstin said.

"It may be necessary for me to go on a European tour with her. Even if we were married soon, she would want to go there for the honeymoon."

Kirstin laughed.

"Why not?" she said. "Two young people in love could have a wonderful time in Europe. And then, when it's all over, you'll bring her back for Kirstin! She'll cause a sensation in the cellar."

I wasn't quite sure that I enjoyed speaking of Vivian like this. I really loved her. But of course, Kirstin was right. Kirstin was always right.

"How's the new maid shaping?"

"Mona made improper suggestions to her last night," Kirstin said with a laugh. "She says she thinks that Ursula nearly gave way. Mona pretended to have a toothache and asked Ursula if she could go into her bed for a while. Ursula agreed, and Mona cuddled up against her with her cheek on Ursula's shoulder. Mona's a clever child!"

I agreed and poured myself a drink.

"Well, a little while later," Kirstin went on, "Mona moved her head down onto Ursula's breasts. She said her tooth was still aching and that she wanted to keep it warm. Ursula didn't resist. It was only when Mona had her cheek on Ursula's naked belly-about two inches from her sex, Mona says-that Ursula finally froze and leapt out of bed."

Kirstin paused to light my cigarette for me.

"Thanks," I said, rather surprised at her thoughtfulness.

"Mona went after her," Kirstin said, blowing out the match. "She actually got her mouth on Ursula's sex, but Ursula kicked her away finally."

I made a face.

"And this morning she came and told me about it."

"Who? Mona?"

"No. Ursula!" Kirstin said. "She said that Mona had tried to seduce her and that she couldn't stay on if Mona stayed."

"How did you get out of that?"

"I asked her to give Mona another chance and when she seemed as though she was going to refuse I asked her if it wouldn't make any difference if I allowed her to punish Mona. 'How?' she said. I told her that I thought Mona ought to have a good whipping and that as she was the injured party, Ursula ought to administer the punishment. Oh, I didn't make any mistakes about that girl! She hemmed and hawed but I could see she was dying to give Mona a whipping!"

I waited eagerly for her to go on. I was speechless with admiration. Machiavelli would have doffed his cap to my Kirstin!

"So I called Mona and scolded her for what she had done and then I told her to fetch a riding crop, that Ursula was going to be allowed to punish her. Mona pretended to be scared, but she loved the idea really. She couldn't wait to get her clothes off. But I thought I might as well arrange things properly. So I took them both down to the cellars. You know that little cellar at the other end of the corridor from the Lair?"--I smiled at the name she had given to the women's cell-"Well, I led them in there. I had already got Cliff to fix chains to the wall in there. I thought we might need a place like that sometime. I told Mona to strip, chained her naked to the wall and gave Ursula the riding crop. You should have seen that girl give it to her! Mona screamed blue murder. But she enjoyed it well enough. I congratulated Ursula on her determination. She was feeling very moral but she was obviously in a hot state of sex by that time. So I gave her the key and told her that it was completely up to her how long Mona remained there, chained to the wall like that. I told Ursula that she was to be Mona's warder and feed her during her confinement. Ursula was frantic with joy. I left and left her to it. She was going up and downstairs all day. She couldn't keep away from Mona, can't yet. I think she'll probably sleep down there! The last time I went down I peeped through the grill. They were both naked and Ursula was kneeling in front of Mona, sucking her off."

I burst out laughing.

"You're a genius, Kirstin!"

Kirstin nodded her head calmly.

"At this rate, we should get Ursula into the Lair by the end of this week. If we do, I'll get in touch with the other girl and tell her to come a week earlier. I think Anna might have a shot at seducing the new girl. What do you think? Is she ready for that kind of work yet?"

"I'll talk to her and tell you what I think."

"Good. By the way, just as soon as we get Mona and Ursula out of the little cellar, we must go ahead with the branding. I won't feel really secure until these women have been branded."

"What exactly's the idea?"

"Don't be stupid," Kirstin said, getting up and going to the door. "We've got to make these women feel that they belong."

As she closed the door behind her the uncomfortable thought struck me that one day Kirstin might insist on branding me....

A chill came to my stomach and I sat there thinking: Would I be able to resist?

Vivian looked pale when I met her two days later.

"What's wrong, darling? Has anything happened?"

"Let's go somewhere where we can talk, Saul."

"Where would you like to go? The copse?"

"No. I think I'd prefer the hotel. It's more impersonal. Let's go at once." I cantered after her.

When we were seated alone in the small cocktail bar-as yet we were the only customers-she began to speak immediately.

"I told Uncle Elmer that I loved you, Saul, and that we were thinking of getting married."

"Oh God!" I said. "What made you do that?"

"Well, I knew he felt cold towards you but I thought he had a right to know. Since my father died, Uncle Elmer has been a kind of second father to me. I didn't feel right, somehow, not telling him."

I nodded.

"And what did he say?"

"He begged me not to."

"I'm not surprised," I said drily. "What did you say to that?"

"I asked him what his reasons were."

"Did he tell you?"

"He didn't want to, but finally he did. He thought it was the only way he could stop me marrying you."

"And will it?"

"I don't know, Saul!" She was nearly in tears. "I don't know what to believe! I love you! But...."

"What exactly did he say to you, Vivian? Tell me. I have a right to know."

"Of course you have, Saul!"

"Go on then, darling." I took her hand and she didn't try to escape.

"He said that when you were a boy that woman Anna had a terrible influence over you. He said that you poisoned your uncle because of her, that she might even have persuaded you to do it! Oh, Saul, did you? Did you kill your uncle?"

"Yes, Vivian darling, I killed him. I can't lie to you!"

She squeezed my hand. "But why, Saul!"

"I loved Anna," I said, "and he pretended that he despised her because she was a Jew."

"Didn't he?"

"He went to her bedroom one night and forced her to strip naked for him. He threatened to have her extradited if she didn't obey him. She came from Russia. God knows what would have happened if she'd been sent back there. Her mother was in a brothel at that time and she probably died there...."

I weighed my words carefully, enunciating clearly, and watched the gradual signs of understanding and forgiveness well up in Vivian's beautiful eyes.

"Anna was helpless," I continued. "Uncle Harris had gone into town that day. He brought back with him a pair of black silk stockings, a pair of black high-heeled shoes with ankle straps, and a frilly black garterbelt. He made her put them on...."

An expression of horror had come to Vivian's eyes. The stray thought passed through my mind that sometime, quite probably in the near future, Vivian would gladly, abasing herself utterly, go through the same humiliating movements. I squeezed her hand.

"Do you want me to go on?"

She nodded urgently.

"He told her to fetch her lipstick. She did. He made her paint the nipples of her breasts with it. Then he made her stand on a chair and he opened her sex and painted her labia."

I allowed time for that to sink in and then I continued: "By the way, I forgot the mask. He made her wear a mask. I can't describe what he did next, Vivian. It was too disgusting. But then he thrashed her with a riding crop, not only on the bottom but also on her sex."

Vivian emitted a gasp of horror.

"And then he violated her," I said shortly, "and his parting words to her were that she should be prepared in the future to perform for him whenever he desired it.

"So I killed him. I loved Anna. It was the only way...."

"Oh, how horrible! How humiliating for her! Oh, I don't blame you, Saul! What a terrible thing to happen! And you were only a child! Did you see all this?"

"I saw it through a keyhole."

"Does my uncle know about this?"

"Some of it at least. I think he must. He talked to Anna."

"Then what has he got against you?"

"If only I knew, Vivian!" I said with a tired smile.

She squeezed my hand and went on.

"He said something about this accident."

"Yes?"

"He said that he wasn't sure it was an accident, that you made love to Anna before you killed Inez and that now you've taken Anna again."

I laughed sadly.

"It sounds all so purposive when you put it that way!" I exclaimed. "Well, I did make love to Anna. We hadn't seen each other for years. We fell into each other's arms, and before we knew what we were doing we were making love. Do you understand?"

She nodded, her eyes shining. "With all that passed between you, of course!"

"When it was over, we agreed that she had better go away with her husband as they had arranged to do. She didn't really love me, and I didn't really love her. We said goodbye. It was over. But then the accident happened."

"Tell me about that, darling," she said softly, squeezing my hand again.

"I didn't know Inez from Adam!" I exclaimed. "I saw the man once, at a distance when I was a kid. And anyway, the woods were very dark. I couldn't sleep, you see, so I took my gun and went to the woods. It was just before dawn. I hoped to bag a rabbit or two. Suddenly I heard someone coming through the undergrowth. I got the scare of my life. No one had any right to be in the woods. I waited. And then a man appeared. I couldn't see him properly, just his outline. I told him to stop where he was. I was just going to ask him who he was and what he was doing there when he brought up his own gun and took a pot at me." I tapped my shoulder. "Well, I didn't think as I saw that gun come up. I fired, twice, and at the same time I felt myself struck in the shoulder. Even when I turned him over I didn't know who he was. His face was half blown away. It was a horrible mess. I went back to the house and phoned the police. That's all there was to it. It was like a nightmare."

"Poor darling!" said Vivian, moving closer to me. I put my arm around her and we sat, saying nothing, for a few moments.

"And Anna?" she said at last.

"She's still at my place, and she can stay there just as long as she likes and your damn uncle can go and hang himself!"

She laughed for the first time in a long time. "Poor Uncle Elmer! It's all so easy to understand! He'll come round, Saul. You'll see!"

"Does that mean you're going to marry me?"

"Of course I am, darling! I couldn't live without you! Especially now that I know all about you!"

I laughed.

"There's not much to tell. I'm really a very ordinary person, Vivian."

"And Uncle Elmer even called you mad!"

"Mad?"

"Yes! He said there was a possibility that you were a homocidal maniac!"

"Do I look mad?" I said, looking into her eyes.

"Just mad enough for me!" she said, screwing up her pretty nose, and planting a sweet, soft kiss on my lips.

"You'd better be careful, darling," I whispered, rubbing noses with her, "I may be dangerous...."

"You said that before!" she whispered softly. "I think I might like you to be dangerous...."

"How did it go?"

"We're engaged to be married. We drove into town and she chose an engagement ring this afternoon."

"You're a quick worker, Saul. Perhaps I'll give you something nice tonight!"

"Oh, old Lewis helped!" I said with a short laugh. "I don't care what he says about me so long as he makes it interesting! A couple more murders wouldn't do me any harm! She'd come and ask me about them and I'd explain and she'd understand, and she would! She really would. She's wonderful. I love her very much!"

Kirstin bellowed with laughter. She opened her legs and nodded for me to come to it. I moved at once and kissed its wet, hairy surface lightly.

"The trouble with young women these days," Kirstin said, "is they've got no moral sense...."

"Come down to the cellars. We've got business to do."

I was lying on the couch, my mouth buried at Kirstin's magnificent crotch, and she was seated, her thighs raised, to allow me better access. I didn't want to move at that moment and I pretended not to hear her. She said nothing for a few moments, suffering me to go on with my tongue. And then she said: "Did you hear me, Saul?"

"Yes."

"Now, then."

I got up reluctantly, straightened my tie, and followed her down to the cellars. "This way," she said.

She led me along to the small cellar at the end of the passage.

"The fish is in the net," she said. "This cellar's empty again."

I followed her in.

She pushed the bolt behind us.

"Strip," she said shortly.

I hesitated only for a split second before I obeyed. I stood naked before her.

"Over against that wall," she said. "Stand with your face to it. Between the chains."

A moment later she had clicked the metal cuffs on my wrists and ankles.

"You realize, Saul, that I do everything I do for your own good?"

"Yes," I said huskily, staring at the wall in front of me. I already felt my sex twitching with anticipation.

"You love me and you want to go on loving me and you'd be miserable if you didn't," Kirstin said. "That's why sometimes I have to be cruel. But I do it for my own pleasure too, Saul. I like being cruel to you. I want to humiliate you. And you want to be humiliated, is that not right?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"I'm not doing this because you disobeyed me just now. I'm doing it because I want to hurt you. I'm not going to stop until you scream for mercy, you understand? Look around!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw that she held a thick, black dogwhip in her hand. I had an impulse to flee, but the chains prevented me. A moment later I thought my back had split open as the first stroke of the lash crashed out like a pistol shot. I shuddered. What was happening to me? Did I want this? This was mad! insane! My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden knife-like cut at my buttocks. The pain rose up through my entire body and made my head ring. I gritted my teeth. I wanted to say: "Stop it, Kirstin. For God's sake, stop this madness!" but the words didn't come to my lips. The third and fourth strokes followed in quick succession. An agonizing pain swept up the length of my back. I felt that the flesh was hanging from the bones, and horribly, as my head fell, my chin touching my chest, I noticed that I had become hard and that the knob of my member was grazing itself against the stone wall!

After that I was conscious only of pain. I no longer associated it with sex, or with Kirstin. I had no time to think. My mind was filled utterly with excruciating pain. I felt my mouth hang open and I screamed, no longer counting the strokes, borne like a splinter on the tide of my own noise, one livid candle of pain. When Kirstin unlocked me I clung to her as I would have clung to my savior. She eased me down onto the straw, gently, reassuring and gave her hot sex to my lips once again. I was like a baby at its mother's breast and I was glad, glad that I had been hurt now that I was there amongst her softness which she gave to me because she loved me and I belonged....

It was half an hour later when she pushed back the grill of the Lair and asked me to look for myself. Big Ursula was lying with her belly on the straw near the other women. She was dozing. The other three had been talking quietly to one another. They stopped when they heard the movement of the grill.

"Do you want to take her now or afterwards, Saul?" Kirstin said at my shoulder.

"Afterwards," I said. "But we haven't decided yet which one's to be branded first."

Kirstin laughed.

"Milly, of course! Always the weakest first! That is a first principle in this kind of thing!" I nodded.

"Well, let's get it over with," Kirstin said. "I'm impatient to see how she takes it. Inside a week she'll be showing it to the others with pride. You wait and see! ... Think of when we do it to your pretty new bride!"

I closed my eyes, but no resistance would rise in me.

"Go and heat the iron in the boiler room," she said. "It's standing beside the boiler. 'S' for Saul. I'll get the girl along to the other cellar."

I obeyed. I watched the iron "S" grow white hot in the furnace and I held it at arm's length, staring at it.

I walked along the passage like an automaton to the little cellar at the end. Kirstin was already there and the naked girl was already in her chains.

"Get your dirty little bum out, girl!" Kirstin said as soon as I had closed the door, and putting her shoulder at the young girl's thighs she raised the buttocks into a more accessible position.

"Now, Saul, on the left buttock! Before the iron gets cold!"

I lurched forward, hesitated and thrust the brand against the soft flesh. The scream that followed seemed to shake even the stone walls of the cellar. Kirstin, still forcing the buttocks tocks up against the brand, had a terrible light of triumph in her eyes.

I pulled the brand away. It had a tendency to cling. It came away with a puff of smoke which smelled of burning meat.

When Kirstin stood up, the girl flopped on the straw. She had fainted. Kirstin threw a blanket over her.

"Leave her here for the night," she said. "We won't put her back with the others until most of the pain's gone. Then she'll say it wasn't so bad. She'll be proud, you'll see. A mark of distinction. The others'll be jealous. They'll dream about having the same thing."

"Can I not stay with her for a while?"

"Certainly not! You've got work to do! Go now and mount that big Ursula! Give it to her hard! She's a virgin...."