Chapter 2

Ladys Bishop and Dorran were just finishing dinner when the serving maid whispered to Lady Bishop that James had just this minute returned in the coach and would be in the kitchen momentarily.

"Do not, Emily, tell James that we have company. It's to be a surprise. Just tell him to bring in the sherry service."

When Emily left the Ladies retired to the sitting room.

"I want your opinion of him without his seeing you. Stay in the shadows and let me know what you think after he leaves."

In a few minutes James brought in the tray with the sherry bottle and assorted glasses. After pouring her Ladyship a glass, he reached into pocket and handed her an envelope.

"You'll be pleased to know, my Lady, that the local jeweler rather under-estimated the value of your broach by 2000 pounds. They were quite impressed with it in London. I'm only sorry you had to let it go."

"Thank you, James. I appreciate your efforts."

"You're very welcome, Madam. Will that be all?"

"I may want more sherry later."

"Yes, My Lady. I'll be close-by."

"Well, what did you think? Isn't he a marvelous looking young man.

And you see, he is honest. Oh, I just wish I could marry him."

"It's bad enough contemplating a relationship with the hired help, much less marriage. And he is, as you mentioned, a certified rapist and pervert."

"I never really said pervert, my dear, but I'm so inexperienced at this sort of thing that I don't know what it is that he is supposed to be doing to me. Please sit with me and have some more sherry. I'll tell you everything he's ever done to me and then I'll tell you the things I liked the most. Since you were married for an few years and widowed, you'll know whether I've been short-changed or not.

"After the first time, I suspected...

After a rather long-winded explanation of the butler's actions and being as explicit as she could make it considering her inexperience, she looked to her niece for her opinion.

Lady Dorran had married later than most women in her class. None of the men looked like anything but fops in their expensive clothes. Finally, since she was an extremely beautiful woman, she had ended up advantageously married to a man considered by his peers to be somewhat of a rake. How he had gotten a reputation of any kind she had never quite figured out. He was a complete dud on their honeymoon and he hadn't improved much with time. But he certainly had tried everything he could think of. When he had died, unexpectedly, she was sad but that was about all. The last thing she wanted was to find herself married to another man like the last one.

She had been going through the seemingly endless society party circuit in London when she had gotten a letter from her aunt, Lady Bishop, suggesting a visit. She went gladly, hoping for something novel. The first evening at her home she had rather excitedly been told by Lady Bishop that she was having an affair of sorts with the butler, of all people. If that wasn't bad enough, she then was told that he had taken off to London to sell her broach valued at over 8000 pounds. 'Gone forever' was the first thought that had come to Lady Dorran's mind.

Now she was sitting on her aunt's couch and had just heard her first pornographic depiction of utter depravity. Her heart was beating so hard she knew it must be audible in the servants quarters. Her breath was shallow and fast. Her face was flushed and the seat of her dress had to be wet clear through. That dirty pervert had been doing things to her aunt on a routine basis that she hadn't even been able to imagine up to now. But she certainly had a complete mental picture of it now.

Lady Bishop in her naivete had described everything in exquisite detail.

She was certain she would never be able to get a restful nights sleep in this house knowing that man was on the loose.

Lady Dorran shuddered a little and her hand trembled as she reached for her third glass of sherry.

"Well, he does seem to have a varied approach to sex and it's good for you that you seemed to enjoy all of it. Some of the things, though, are a little hard to imagine. I know this may seem strange to you but do you think it might be possible for me to witness one of these frequent rapes. Then, if you ever need to take him to court, I could honestly be a witness against him."

"That does seem strange but I don't see why not if you're curious. I do have to warn you though that he has added something new every time and I have no way of knowing what it may be. I do have to let him do whatever he wants without appearing to wake up so he won't know that I am actually awake. I hope for your sake that you won't find it too offensive. And by all means don't let him know you are in the closet."

Lady Dorran coughed delicately.

"When do you think would be a good time?"

Lady Bishop mused, "Tonight if you like. There is enough sherry missing to justify my passing out on the couch. All you need do is wait upstairs and hide. It always happens in my bed."

I had a tough four days in London. I must have taken the broach to at least twenty different jewelers to get the best price for it. Of course, I had made a little on that transaction. Never the less, she would have let it go for 8500 had it not been for me.

It was good to be back and I was looking forward to my next interlude with the Lady. I had missed her. I just wished there was some way we could get passed the fake part of our relationship. The first night she had definitely been drunk and passed out, the second was doubtful.

After that, there was no doubt but that she was awake and eager each time. The only purpose served now was that she would go through the routine only when she really wanted it to happen. Fortunately for me it was fairly often. I preferred her to any of the others in the household.

Of course, Emily had told me immediately about the niece when I returned and said I wasn't supposed to know. I had seen her out of the corner of my eye in the sitting room. About my age and extremely nice looking. Emily had told him all the gossip about her. Wealthy and widowed. A very nice combination. Fortunately, thanks to dad's insurance and the ten years we had both spent making payments on farm land, plus my own prudent profit sharing, I was also wealthy. There were several working farms in the north of England that I owned outright. Made good money on them too, with tenant farmers. But I was really looking for a good wife who could share the good life with me when I retired from the butler trade; hopefully soon.

Butler's jobs had no guaranteed retirement which is of course why they all took care of themselves by stealing a little. The good ones, like myself I liked to think, took care of the house first and the take represented the extra work required to do an excellent job and save your employer money.