Chapter 5

Henderby Hall

The gates of Henderby Hall were perhaps two hundred yards from the Hasebury Nag but it was a world away in every other respect. The Hall was by far the grandest house for miles; a Tudor brick mansion built into the ruins of an abbey that was at least as old again. Alicia Vance, fifth Lady Henderby, felt it had been a great good fortune that her forebears had been unable to remodel the house in more recent times. The house retained its small rooms, open fires and twisting passages. Of course, that had made the installation of modern conveniences such as piped water, gas lighting and heating a challenge and they still did not extend far into the house, but that was more of an inconvenience for the staff than it was for her.

She had made one concession to modernity. The stables, although still holding the horses needed to run the estate, had been extended with a similarly styled block that held her pride and joy, the Stanley Steam Sports, the car that she so delighted in driving at a ferocious pace around the local roads.

This evening, the Stanley had been readied by Alicia’s head groom at short notice. She had dashed back from somewhere, declared that she needed the steamer and he had needed to work quickly to get it ready. He tipped his cap as she strode across to the garage, resplendent in a long driving coat, hat, veil and gauntlets. “All ready, your Ladyship. Full pressure and plenty of water.

“Efficient as ever, Boscoe,” she said with a smile taking her place behind the steamer’s steering tiller. The Steamer’s iron clad wheels were soon crunching their way down the gravel drive as Alicia Vance headed off at speed, drawing cries from the hall’s peacocks as she sped past them through the gates of the estate.

From a window on the first floor Harold, her husband, watched her leave. He hoped it heralded a quiet night, one where he would not be troubled by her quest for a child to continue the female line. It was hardly his fault, he thought, that so far he had only been able to sire sons.

His hopes were soon dashed though. There was a knock at the door. Without waiting for a word from him, her Ladyship’s housekeeper entered.

“She left strict instructions, I’m afraid, sir.

It was humiliating. The housekeeper produced a small, dark, lacquered box that contained the device that she had to lock around Harold’s cock. He had been forced to wear this whenever her Ladyship was not around, ever since his wife had discovered a cartomancer who claimed to predict exactly where in her cycle her Ladyship would be most likely to conceive a girl. It would prevent, she said “unnecessary dilution of such fertility as may be needed at the critical moment.”

Now their sex lives were ruled by the fall of tarot cards. The empress, the sun and the three of cups, showed that her Ladyship. was fertile; the ace of cups that she would give birth to a girl. The combination of all cards drawn together would mean that Harold could expect a strenuous evening’s sexual activity and his member had better be ready for it. It was surprising how often the Tarot fell that way. He was begin to suspect from the cartomancer’s sniggers at the sessions that she insisted he attend with his wife that she might be influencing the fall of the cards at his expense.

“The trousers, Sir.” His housekeeper’s words were less a request than a command but he did as asked, unfastened them and allowed them to fall to the floor. “And hands.” Harold was never sure why he needed to put his hands behind his head for the fitting but he complied.

The housekeeper knelt down in front of Harold and drew his pants down, exposing his genitals. The air in the room was cool and the touch of the metal cage as it was slid into place colder still. The housekeeper reached for the bunch of keys that hung from a chain at her waist and selected one from amongst the others that secured such as the wine cellar, the pantry, her mistress’s closet and desk. She used it to fasten the lock that held Harold’s cage in place. Her work done, she stood up. “Thanks you, Sir. I’ve finished. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to take delivery of today’s provisions.”

“Yes, of course,” said Harold, standing with his trousers on the floor and pants about his knees until she had left the room.