Chapter 10

It wasn’t going to be easy getting in to Lady Carden’s house but having been there a few times Matilda knew her way around the grounds and at the side of the big house soon found a small side door that wasn’t locked. With Joan Willforth behind her, the two females were able to ease themselves into the house unseen.

“Now where?” asked the actress, keeping her voice to a whisper. She was wearing her black mask again though Matilda had no such way of hiding herself.

“I think we should look for Eleanor in the least likely place,” responded Matilda, just as quietly.

“Why? Surely the cellar is the place anyone would be kept.”

“Logically, yes, but Lady Carden prefers to do things the other way round, so to speak. When she was married to Lord Carden she kept her female lover in the pantry when he was home. The man thought preparing food was completely beneath him so it would be the last place he would go if he thought his wife was entertaining women. Perhaps not surprisingly Lady Carden would describe her as a tasty treat to be nibbled.”

The kitchen was easy to find, and even easier to find was the pantry as muffled sounds came from behind the stout door. The pantry door was locked, as is always the case with the wealthy being served by lesser folk, but by a stroke of luck Joan Willforth had once played a cat burglar in ‘She Steals By Night’ and using a hairpin was able to tumble the old lock open. Inside the pantry was a well secured Eleanor, gagged and helpless and looking furious. Perhaps no wonder as she had been untied, stripped to her brassiere and modest corset and cuffed with her hands above her head to keep her hands from removing her gag. Matilda gave her slave a comforting kiss on her gagged lips before once more Joan’s skill at picking locks came in very useful, though it took an while to do it as several times various people came to the kitchen though happily did not want to access the pantry. Each time the three females all stood holding their breath as people rummaged around for food in the kitchen, though a lot had been laid out on the big kitchen table, post-dinner.

The rescue would have been completed without a hitch had not Joan, who it turned out was allergic to blancmange, got too near a large dish of it and sneezed. At once a woman—one of the production team looking for a midnight snack—opened the pantry door to see who was in there. Fortunately she was alone. Instinctively all the three females seized her, holding the astonished woman’s wrists and clamping a hand tightly over her mouth. The captive was swiftly relieved of her nightdress as Eleanor would need something to wear once they left the mansion. The now naked young lady (who of course had no idea that one of the three women assaulting her was none other than the actress Joan Willforth) was swiftly chained up as Eleanor had been and gagged just as effectively. It was telling in the limited light that the woman was somewhat aroused by her brutal handling, for her nipples were hard and prominent. She even stood with her legs apart and hips pushed forward almost in the hope of some more attention, but the three women were in too much of a hurry to please her.