Chapter 2

Will was typical of the males who found their salvation in the ownership of a woman via Arachne House, the London refuge for homeless males which was now owned by Ella, and administered wholly by a directorship of wealthy females who were privy to her other interests. Like countless thousands of others, Will was drawn to 'The Smoke' with the expectation of finding fortune, having the suffered crushing poverty which was all to prevalent elsewhere in the country; at a time when this tiny nation ruled over 'an empire on which the sun never sets', Will represented the cruel reality at prevailed over far too many of the population. Whilst the newspapers glorified the grand exploits of Britannia in Africa, India and elsewhere, those newspapers from the day before were often used as a meagre cover from the rain by those who could not read them anyway, as they slept in the dank streets of the poorer areas of the city which spread like an urban jungle around the unreachable wealth of its central core. Will had descended from a rural area just north-west of London, and though having shown a basic intelligence by managing to learn to read and write, could find no work as his only experience had been agricultural. He had learned in the few short months he'd been there, to live by his wits and scrounge or thieve whatever morsel of food that became available. His spirit was slowly eroded as hunger bit home, and the final straw came when he awoke one grey morning from beneath the broad-sheets to find his worn-out boots had been removed. Footsore and hungry, he trudged the streets in desperation and joined the soup queue at a Salvation Army citadel; though a very worthy and benevolent organisation, its heart lay in religious teachings, something that men like Will who found themselves in a situation of poverty through no act of 'sin' found hard to grasp; they therefore shied away from the offer of more permanent shelter, as this involved commitment to a faith they could not honour. Despite this, anyone was warmly welcomed by the kindly army to consume the soup and bread on offer.

It was while he sat around the verge of the building, his stomach rumbling as it painfully digested the soup he sipped, that a proud and pompous looking pair of women in black, who were accompanied by a watchful male, smiled sternly at him and passed him a leaflet. He assumed they were agents of yet another religious movement, Quakers, Methodists or something, and simply stuffed the leaflet in his pocket. As he continued to consume the warm soup, he noticed that the women were somewhat selective with the individuals they chose to hand leaflets to, they were not handed out at random; a particularly dirty and shabby man, with a robust physique and square jaw was selected, whilst many cleaner but podgy individuals were ignored. Age too, did not appear to be a factor in their selection; a couple of middle-aged men were chosen though they sat in the proximity of much younger males. As Will lost interest, he finished his soup and was looking down at his black and blistered toes which he wriggled in the rare warm sunshine of that day, when another pair of shabby feet appeared beside them. He looked up to find a trembling and distressed lad of about twenty years standing by him.

"Please sir ... do you know what this leaflet says? I can't read, can you? I'd be ever so grateful." The shaking male sat furtively beside will as he took the trouble to read it:

'Homeless and in need of shelter? Come to Arachne House. NO RELIGION INVOLVED.' Will was already walking to the address on the leaflet as he read out the words to the lad, who jumped up and followed. He had anticipated that the bare-footed

"Please sir ... can I come with you? Only I don't know too many of the landmarks on the leaflet map, and I can't read the street names to ask directions." Will looked at the vulnerable countenance of the lad, and having experienced the horrors of being alone himself, he felt compelled to help.

"OK, come on; I could do with the company." The two set off in the direction of 'Lancing Street, Somerstown, nr. Euston railway station.' Will soon learned the life history of the lad, whose name was Elijah; he had little memory of his mother who had died when he was six, his father had married a very stern and strictly religious woman, who would birch him when given the slightest excuse, suggesting whatever he had done as being 'un-godly'. His father had died a couple of years after his mother, leaving the stepmother in complete control of him; she had shown him some affection but had a greater affection for the birch. The birching of Elijah stopped when she remarried, but was used elsewhere; he would wake in the night to hear it being used on her timid husband in the room next door. He took the opportunity to depart and left home, but the strangest thing was, he now found that he missed her. Will wasn't sure why, but his cock swelled as he thought of the stern woman.

Later that afternoon, the two skipped across the Euston Road, dodging the multitude of horse-drawn omnibuses, their ragged state viewed with scorn by some of the more fortunate inhabitants of the area, as they disappeared up Seymour Street; Lancing Street was the third on the left. The two looked upon Arachne house with a little trepidation as the plaintive sound of train whistles from both Euston and Kings Cross rang in their ears. Arachne house was a converted school, set amongst many other Victorian and Georgian buildings; several men, who by their appearance were obviously poor, came and went in casual fashion; this put their minds at rest. Will and Elijah knocked at the door which was opened by a matronly figure who welcomed them in with a smile as they stood leaflets in hand. She walked them down a corridor and ushered them into a room to join about fifteen others, all holding the leaflet as though it were their ticket to another life; for some, Will and Elijah included, and it would be exactly that.

One by one the leaflet holders were taken to 'Ward A' for assessment and induction, which included cleansing and de-lousing; all males who turned up were accepted, as this was indeed a worthy charity, but assessment depended on which ward they were admitted to. Wards B and C were where the majority went to, men were fed and offered basic education to enhance their chances of finding employment and independence within the great metropolis or elsewhere; its proximity to two major railway termini encouraged some to leave for northern cities, it also provided ease of access for visitors of the female sex from north of the city to view candidates housed in Ward D; those males who would provide income to keep the charity thriving. It was here that many of those handed a leaflet would be admitted; the women sent out to choose them, having a sixth sense in selecting males who were likely to succumb to a strong and domineering woman.

Will was taken first to one of three small assessment rooms close to the bath house;

The three rooms were marked 'General', 'Optional, and 'Leaflet'; he was led directly by a strutting bespectacled woman to the third. He was sat on a bench in the middle of an oak panelled room before three stern looking women as he clutched the said leaflet which showed his selection. They sat on an open bench elevated above him, designed to immediately make him feel small and below them. He swallowed hard as they sat for a full minute, simply sneering at him smugly in stony silence, expertly searching for the signs they desired. Will studied the few pictures which adorned the wall behind him; Joan of Arc in shining armour with huge broadsword, Delilah cutting the hair from Samson, and Salome with the head of John the Baptist on a plate. He felt his cock swell uncontrollably. The woman in the middle broke the silence.

"Did you find the leaflet, or was it presented to you by someone?" Will did not hesitate in describing who gave it to him; his voice faltering slightly, which generated smiles from the women.

"It was presented to me by two ladies and a man, at a Salvation Army citadel." The three lifted their haughty chins in approval, and the woman to the left snapped her fingers and pointed to the desk she sat at.

"Place it here!" Will left the bench without hesitation and carefully placed the crumpled paper before her. He then stood motionless, already expecting a command, which pleased the women no end; he also noticed that their nipples were prominent and visible in their tight bodices, they wore no braziers. As he stood, the woman on the left noticed his line of eyesight, and sneering, she heaved her breasts before barking at him.

"Sit back at the bench!" Will did so without question. The woman to the right now interjected.

"You appear to have treated our leaflet with some contempt; we may not be able to use it again. What is your explanation for this?" Will sung out the truth.

"I stuffed it in my pocket before reading it, as I was drinking soup at the time it was handed to me; as I was at the Salvation Army I assumed the ladies were from another religious organisation ... please accept my apologies." The women seemed to warm to him suddenly, and the one in the middle lifted her skirts, allowing Will a good look at long black laced up boots with elegant heels before she spoke again.

"So you are a non-believer, or at least a non-conformist; god may even be a woman perhaps?" Will studied the boots with his cock now stiff in his baggy trousers.

"Why of course, why not?" The women smiled with satisfaction, and the other two also lifted their skirts to reveal similar risqué boots, most unbecoming of women of society; more in keeping with certain ladies of the night, those who were beyond the price of a man like Will. The haughty women in the middle now finished the test.

"You will now remove your clothes." Will gasped audibly as the three women now removed canes from draws in the desk, and blushing with embarrassment he slid his filthy clothes off. As the smiling women flexed their canes and smiled with satisfaction at Will's erection, the woman in the middle had the last word.

"Ward D ... without question."

Gray was a bag of nerves as he ascended the steps to Boadicea House and rang the bell.

He was immediately hit by a waft of sweet feminine scent as the door swung open. Rosie looked at him with a smirk of utter contempt; only one sort of male was invited to the house in such circumstances, and she was eager to stamp her authority immediately. Gray opened his mouth to introduce himself.

"I'm...

"I know who you are. I hope you're not late; I shall be most displeased if you disappoint my mistress in any way. You'll follow me, and be quick about it." Gray's cock swelled and he was consumed by a tingling fear as he followed the maid; his eyes firmly on her slender waist and shapely rear which swished her long skirt from side to side as she strutted before him, her cunt bulging as she took immediate command of him, a wry smile on her face as she delivered her mistress's next prey. Grey had never been spoken to by a maid this way before; his already stiff cock showing its carnal approval. She opened the door to a vast drawing room, and walked him in.

"Gray has arrived at last madam." Gray was at least ten minutes before the required time, and Ella smiled wickedly at him, after examining a golden carriage clock on suitably ornate mantelpiece; she then addressed the assertive maid.