Chapter 8
Now that old Lewis is no longer a trustee you should be able to get more money," Kirstin said one day.
"I'll try at once," I said.
"For two thousand dollars we can renovate the cellars," she said. "I want to get some implements. I've decided the women must be branded."
"I'll get the money."
"And we need some more servants," she said. "I'm interviewing some girls tomorrow. I'll take another maid at once and another to start in two weeks' time. It's easier if they come one at a time." I nodded.
Pearson proved quite intractable.
"I'm sorry, Saul," he said, dabbing his sleek black moustache with his forefinger, "but Mr. Lewis advised me before he handed over to me that I shouldn't raise your income at present. And really, I don't see any necessity for it. It was your late uncle's wish that you shouldn't come into the estate until the age of thirty. I think it's only right that we should respect his wishes."
"Is that final?"
"For the moment at least, yes."
"If I speak to the other trustees?"
"I shouldn't think they'd be very cooperative, Saul. They have always allowed Mr. Lewis to do pretty much as he saw fit. I don't think they would be against me in this matter."
"Very well," I said.
Lewis again! The man seemed to dog my tracks, to put every difficulty in my way. What business was it of the old fool's! Why couldn't he leave me alone?
Later in the afternoon I went for a ride. I left the estate and cantered across the countryside.
About four o'clock I caught a glimpse of another rider, a slim blonde girl on a grey gelding. I urged my mare forwards to overtake her. After a mock race we came to a halt close together, breathing heavily and laughing.
The girl was beautiful with superbly slanted grey-green eyes, long smoke-blonde hair, and a perfect figure which even her riding clothes couldn't conceal.
"Where are you from?" I said with a laugh.
"I'm staying with my uncle for a couple of weeks," she replied. "Mr. Lewis. Perhaps you know him?"
My brow darkened.
"Lewis? So you're Lewis' niece?"
"Yes, why? What's wrong with that?"
"I'm Saul Folsrom," I said, watching her closely for a reaction.
"Oh!"
She was flushed now and seemed at a loss for words.
"You must have heard about me from your uncle. What did he say about me?"
"Nothing really, Mr. Folsrom," she said, recovering her poise. "He wrote of you, you see, some time ago when you first decided to return from England. He suggested that when I came to visit him he should at least be able to introduce me to a companion of my own age. You were coming back, you see?"
I nodded and held my horse in check. "Go on ... please...."
She smiled and then became serious again.
"Well, when I arrived two days ago and asked about you, he said he felt it would be better if we didn't meet. He didn't seem to want to talk about it, so naturally I let the matter drop. But I made a few inquiries and found out about the accident...."
"Yes?"
"And so I brought up the subject again with Uncle."
"And he told you he suspected me of being a murderer?"
"A murderer! No, he didn't say that! He simply said you were now living with the wife of the dead man and that he disapproved entirely of your behavior."
"Living with her?"
"That's what he said. Isn't it true?"
There was faint mockery in her lovely eyes.
"She's at my place. It was the least I could do. She's a lonely woman. No friend in the world apart from myself. She was my governess at one time. Perhaps your uncle told you?"
"Yes he said something like that, I remember...."
I changed the subject.
"Look," I said lightly, "why don't we ride together to the 'Morden' ... that's a hotel country-club sort of place. We could have a drink and a chat there. I don't see why we shouldn't know one another. God, there's few enough people in the neighborhood worth knowing!"
She hesitated.
"It's getting late," she said. "It must be after four now. I'm driving with my uncle to dinner at Montpelier tonight. He wants me to be ready to leave about six-thirty."
"We can still make it," I replied. "If you ride back after five, you'll have ample time...."
"You don't know women!" she laughed. "I have to have a shower and then dress!"
"No more arguments!" I said jocularly, and spurred my mare forward. "Come on! You follow me!"
She laughed and followed.
"All right, I'm coming!" she said as she came alongside, "but don't tell anyone. I don't want my uncle to know!"
"Of course not!" I said with a laugh, and we cantered away towards the hotel.
"Yes, my uncle told me something about that," Vivian said with a slight frown. "I think it's horrible for you. I told him so. To have all that money and not to be able to touch it until you're thirty!"
I told her about my visit to Pearson in the early afternoon.
"He blamed it on your uncle, but he feels the same way himself. If only Uncle Harris had known me better, he wouldn't have put that ridiculous clause in the will!"
"But he died when you were young, didn't he?"
"Yes, worse luck."
"My father died when I was young too," Vivian said. "But fortunately I came into my money at twenty-one ... two months ago now! It's good to be young and rich as well!"
I looked at her with a new interest.
"Your father was Lewis' brother?"
"No. His cousin. Mr. Lewis is not really my uncle though I've always thought of him as my uncle."
"You must be the heir to Lewis' property too, then?" She laughed.
"Yes. That's why he likes me to be here. He hopes I'll give up living in Boston and come to settle down in Vermont."
She finished her dry Martini.
"Another?"
She nodded with a laugh.
I ordered two more dry Martinis.
"You know, Saul," she said, "I think that's why he wrote to me about you. Your uncle was his best friend. I think he hoped we might fall for one another!"
"It's not impossible, is it?"
She flushed.
"No, I don't suppose it is," she said seriously. "But he's dead against it now, because of this woman, Anna, I suppose."
Vivian was really one of the loveliest girls I had ever seen. She drank her second Martini quickly and looked at her watch.
"I must fly!" she said.
I didn't try to detain her.
I rode part of the way with her.
"When shall I see you again?"
"Whenever you want to, of course," she said.
"I'll meet you tomorrow afternoon, same time, same place," I said.
"Till tomorrow," she said, and urging her horse forward, she cantered away from me without looking back. I watched her slim figure with the sleek blonde hair caught in a ponytail at the back of her head until it was out of sight. Then I turned aside and rode back to the estate.
"You say she's rich?"
Kirstin sat opposite me in the library, watching me carefully.
"Very rich, I suspect."
She got up and poured herself a drink. Then she sat down again, appeared to concentrate for a moment, and said: "How would you feel about marrying her, Saul?"
"Marry her!" I laughed. "That's impossible, you know that, Kirstin."
"Nothing is impossible," Kirstin said, "and this is not even improbable."
She threw me a taunting glance.
"In the first place you say she is a young Diana. I like that! A beautiful young woman, a woman of culture and refinement-that's more than we can say for what we've got already, ha! ha! I was down in the cellars an hour ago. They're all settling down quite nicely. The heat from the boiler room is sufficient for the moment. Well, get back to your beautiful Vivian! Are you falling in love with her, Saul?"
I flushed.
"Don't worry about that!" Kirstin said. "Go ahead! Fall in love with her! Bring her back here! You'll soon tire of her. You can work on her slowly, and then, when you think she's ready, we can show her the others. They're happy enough, God knows! All belly, breasts and thighs. Sleep, eat, and fuck-that's what they like, no problems!"
"I couldn't bring her here!"
"Why not? You'll do as you're told, Saul.
Don't forget that. Come here." Her voice was gentle. "Down," she said, "down, there's a good boy, ah! that's better...."
Her soft sex came against my face, her thighs brushing my cheeks.
"Now, listen to me!" she said. "The second point is that she's got money. We can use that, especially after what Pearson said. And there's a third point.-Did it not occur to you? Lewis will be helpless. He won't be able to let out the secret about your uncle-she's all he's got in the world, this Vivian! We'll be good to her, Saul, and when she gets used to it, she'll help us of her own free will. And when you're married to his little Vivian, Lewis will soon see about freeing some of your money. Don't worry about that! He'll think that's the only way he can prevent you from spending hers! Now, how does it sound, Saul?"
Her strong hands massaged my shoulder muscles.
"Come down to the cellar, Saul. I want to show you the meat. Why don't you go in and have a good time with them? Take your riding crop. Keep them up to the mark!"
She led me down the stairs to the cellars. We passed those which contained coal and other junk and came at last to the huge cellar to which the light of day never penetrated. It was circular in shape, of a radius of about ten yards, so that the actual area covered by the floor was quite considerable. She slid back the small grill on the iron-studded door.
"Look at them, Saul! Aren't they beautiful? Not like the bitches that walk the street!"
The floor was covered with clean straw and for the moment the only light was that cast by the naked electric bulb suspended from the dome-like ceiling.
The three women, naked, their soft haunches at rest, were sleeping, curled up like kittens together near the far wall. Beside them, was a trough of food and a trough of clean spring water. On the other side was an open lavatory bowl and what the French call a bidet. Nothing else. A few chains dangled from the stone walls, and that was all.
"The new maid arrives tomorrow," Kirstin said. "I've given Mona her instructions. She's completely with us. I show her a few kindnesses, you know. She is our spy down here, just in case anything should go wrong. Not that I think it will. They've all got exactly what they want. Food, water, and good clean straw to sleep on. What more could a girl ask for, eh, Saul?"
I kissed her on the lips.
She reached down and took out my member, caressing it.
"I'm going to bring Mona upstairs tomorrow to corrupt the new maid. She has two weeks to do it. Meanwhile, take your clothes off and go and enjoy them. They're all yours ... they always will be, Saul ... as long as you're mine...."
She waited while I undressed in the boiler room and then she handed me the riding crop.
"Go in and separate them with that," she said with a laugh. "One good stroke each across those pretty buttocks of theirs! I'll lock the door behind you. I'll come back and let you out in an hour."
I nodded and went in, my rampant member swinging like a small cannon in front of me. She closed the door quietly behind me and turned the key in the lock.
I crossed the straw quickly towards the heap of soft bodies. Anna's full round buttocks were nearest to me. I raised the riding crop and struck with all my force. She wakened with a gasp, rolling aside and revealing her beautiful front with its soft crotch of jet-black hair. The anger in her eyes died when she saw me. She became seductive, provocative. She was going to have to compete with the others for my lust. At once I thrashed the other two into a waking state. They gasped and screamed slightly, cowering on the straw, but when they saw Anna already awake and attempting to excite me with her lovely body, they changed their attitude. Mona moved forward on her knees and took me in her mouth. When Anna moved forward to stop her, I struck my old mistress once across her soft wheaty belly with the crop which I still held firmly in my riding crop which I still held firmly in my right hand. A burst of laughter rang out behind me and the grill closed softly.
Suddenly I pushed Mona away and took Milly's plump little sex in my mouth. She shuddered with ecstasy and bounced like a little balloon on the straw. A moment later, I felt Anna's soft crevice slide against me. I caressed her softly and urged her to puncture herself to the hilt. Mona slipped her thighs silently around Anna's head and the four of us heaved, groaned and twisted ourselves into ecstasy on the straw.
When it was over, I laughed and joked with them until Kirstin came to take me away. Once outside in the corridor, she made me lie down naked on the stone, my face towards the ground. She gave me three strong strokes on the buttocks. Her hollow, thocking footsteps died away along the corridor.
The new maid, Ursula, arrived while I was out with Vivian.
Vivian had nowhere to go that evening so we talked together until nearly seven o'clock.
She spoke with enthusiasm about a European trip which she intended to make in the autumn. I laughed and told her I knew Europe well, Paris, London, Rome, Madrid, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and many other great cities.
She asked me all sorts of questions and laughed delightedly at the answers. Neither of us noticed the passage of time.
"Is Paris really so lovely?"
"Lovelier," I said. "In springtime there is no other place to be!"
"And in autumn?"
"Lovely too," I said. "Arrive at Gare St. Lazare, and go right out into the streets. It's a new smell, a new atmosphere ... and the cafes are all busy, and they're crammed out front with baskets of oysters and clams and shrimps and people sit outside drinking white wine, especially at evening ... it's best then, and the sky's a sort of helio color. And then walk up from St. Lazare to Montmarte, go up to the Place du Terte and along to the terrace of the Sacre Coeur and look down across the city. You can see everything, the Seine, the Isle de la Cite, the Isle St. Louis, Notre Dame, the Pantheon, the Louvre, Concord, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe...."
I was watching her closely. Her eyes had lit up with pleasure. Good. She was a Romantic. It would probably be very easy.
As I watched her beautiful grey-green eyes, the lovely curve of her cheek under the soft, ash-blonde hair, my heart suddenly went out to her. I really loved this beautiful creature, and a twinge of guilt stole over me. I repressed it at once. It occurred to me that it was precisely the absence of such twinges that made Kirstin my superior. It was right that she should control me. I closed my eyes and imagined my radiant face falling against her belly to suck....
"Where are you off to?" Vivian said with a laugh.
"Paris," I said with a smile, "the queen of the world ... I was just thinking," and my face grew serious and sad, "that I'd have loved to go with you ... I...."
"Why don't you, Saul!" Vivian cried, taking my hand in hers across the table.
I shook my head with a wry smile.
"You know it's impossible, Vivian. It takes me all I've got to keep the house going and your uncle certainly wouldn't release any money for me to go on a trip with you!"
"Oh, please, Saul!" she cried, squeezing my hand. "I have plenty of money, more than I could ever spend! Please come with me! You can be my guide and show me places. It would be much nicer than having nasty old professional ones!"
"I don't think I can, Vivian," I said quietly. "Let's drop it for the moment. We can think about it some other time. Autumn's a long way off. We'll see...."
"Promise me to think about it at least!" Vivian said, making a face.
"I promise...."
"Oh, it would be wonderful, Saul!"
I smiled and nodded, without replying.
"We could do so many things together!"
"Time we rode back, Vivian," I said quietly, looking at my watch. "Lewis dines at eight."
"Oh hell!" Vivian said charmingly. "What a bore! Oh, he's so sweet and good-natured too, Saul, really he is, but he talks all the time about history, and the meaning of words, and about how the American liberal tradition is one of the noblest things in the history of ideas ... oh, I suppose it's true! And he's so sweet about it! and so concerned about seeing I get everything I want! but I don't really care about all that, Saul! I just want to live and be myself...."
"You don't really care?"
"Oh no, of course not!" she said laughing. "Do you?"
I shook my head, allowing her to see that she was making a great impression upon me. At once she reached forward with her other hand and took my hand in both of hers.
"Let me read your palm!" she said. "Yes! It's just as I thought," she said in a mock-serious voice, "You're going on a long journey, probably in the autumn!"
I laughed and squeezed her hand.
"Come on now," I said. "You're going to be late for dinner."
We walked out holding hands to the horses, mounted and rode side by side to where we had parted the previous night. I dismounted. She at once did the same.
"'Bye, Saul," she said, holding out her hand to shake mine. I took it and drew her quickly towards me; I kissed her softly on the lips.
"I'd be a dangerous guide...."
In reply she rubbed her soft hair against my mouth....
"This is Ursula, Mr. Folsrom."
"Ah, yes! Show her in, Kirstin! I was wondering if she had arrived."
"What age are you, Ursula?"
"Nineteen, sir."
I looked her up and down. She was a tall girl, almost as tall as Kirstin, with fair hair and a solid figure, the muscles heavy and powerful, and she looked puritanical.
"Ursula's a member of the Plymouth Brethren," Kirstin said with a smile. "I told her we wanted a good, careful girl with strict morals and one who is not easily influenced by the wrong kind of people."
"Yes, of course," I said. "I do hope you won't be a disappointment to us Ursula?"
"Oh, no sir!"
"Very good, Kirstin, you had better show Ursula to her room. Kirstin will tell you all about your duties, Ursula."
"Yes sir! Thank you sir!"
They went out.
I waited impatiently for Kirstin to return. She came in about five minutes later. She was smiling.
"What do you think of our new recruit?"
"She looks wholesome. She's probably a virgin."
"Oh, without doubt," Kirstin said with a laugh.
"She may be difficult to corrupt."
"But how much more interesting!" Kirstin said. "When we finally pervert her, think of the fervor she'll bring to her lust! You know, she reminds me a bit of myself when I was young. I think that's why I fell in love with her. Most of the others, perhaps all three, like to have indignities inflicted on them. She's probably cruel. You wait and see!"
I laughed.
"You're wonderful, Kirstin!" I said. "I don't know how I ever lived without you!"
"You didn't," Kirstin said, raising her skirt at the front and showing me her shockingly pale thighs. "Before, you only dreamed...."