Chapter 23

"My name is Charlotte de Rossan, I am the granddaughter of Monsieur Joannis de Nocheres and raised by him, together with my brother Robert,"... at this she flashed me a smile... "who is a little more than a year younger than me. My father and mother died in a shipwreck when I was five years old. My grandfather had managed to amass a fortune of five to six hundred thousand livres. When I was at the age of thirteen - that is to say, in 1649 my grandfather lost his fortune by means of a man named Philippe Perette for no other reason than revenge. He had asked my grandfather to let him have me as his wife..."

"But... But, you were only thirteen!" Chris blurted, in a choked voice.

Charlotte gave her a weak smile.

"Oh, thirteen isn't... wasn't that early then. In those days, you were only a child for your first six or seven years, after that you had to help support the family. Anyway. My grandfather rejected the offer vehemently, and Monsieur Perette swore that he would get back at my family. I don't know how he did it, but only six months later my grandfather had lost everything he owned, and we had to move into a small place with only one room and a kitchen. My grandfather slept in the kitchen and my brother and me were given the room to sleep in.

"Late one evening, there was a knock on the door and when my grandfather opened it just a little to see who it was, the door was kicked in so hard that grandfather fell backwards and hit his head on the hearth, and I think he died immediately. I rushed over to him, both my brother and I were standing in the door to our room to see who it was that came at this time of the night, and when I knelt down beside him I could see blood running from his head and he wasn't breathing. I had not time to fully comprehend this because two of the men rushed over to me, threw a sack over my head and, through the sack, gagged me. I could hear how they attacked my brother in the same way, and I heard him scream. After that I know nothing of his fate. I don't know much more about anything that happened because I must have either fainted or been sedated in some way. The next thing I knew I was locked in a cell, still dressed in nothing but my nightgown.

"I lay there, chained to the wall and alone, for many days and I saw no one during all this time. Once in a while someone would feed me a piece of bread and maybe a piece of old meat. Every morning there was a pot of water just within my reach. The worst thing was not being able to wash properly, and my white nightgown wasn't all that white for long," again a weak smile without humor played rapidly on her lips.

"Then suddenly one day I heard footsteps, door was unlocked and there stood my abductor, monsieur Perette. He laughed when he saw the state I was in. 'Wash her, ' he ordered the two men that escorted him. I tried to get away from them, but the chain wasn't long, and they soon had me cornered. They tore the gown off me and left me naked in front of Perette while they left and soon returned, each with a bucket of water. They ordered me to stand and when I refused they said that I could choose between being tied to the wall and forced or comply voluntarily. Left with no choice I did as they said and without any ceremony they threw the water on me, one after the other. 'So my dear, ' he said scornfully, 'Have you changed your mind?'

"'Never!' I cried.

"He smiled a spitefully, turned on his heel and stomped out. After that he came down every day and asked the same question. Every time he had me stand in front of him naked and his eyes looked at me in a way that made me feel sick. Every day they poured water over me and, since the nights were cold and I had nothing to cover myself with; I soon got a nasty cold and a fever. This didn't stop however. Everyday it was the same, till one day. They came down as usual, but instead of asking me if I had changed my mind, he told me that it now was too late for me to change it because he had found himself another girl who was willing to marry him. I can't for the life of me, begin to understand why he thought that he could force anyone into a marriage.

"His two thugs freed me from my chain and threw me into the room where you found me. At first, it was nice to be in a warm room, my cold was cured by the warmth and, at the beginning, the rack didn't spread me at all. I just lay there feeling bored, but as time passed the stretching began, and quickly became worse. I don't think I could have survived much longer if you had not arrived and freed me when you did, and I will forever be indebted to you all. Well, that is my story," she concluded.

I glanced around the silent room. Fritz had his jaws clenched so tightly that you actually could see the muscles in his jaw stand out, a couple of the women had tears in their eyes and the other faces were either white or red with anger. I could feel myself shaking a little as the anger raged through my body. We had to stop this brute. I looked over at Fritz to tell him my thought, but when he saw me look at him, he nodded his head in agreement, almost as if he had read my thought.

"I can't read your mind of course, but I can read your face, and I agree totally. He must be stopped."

It had been almost two weeks since we had found Charlotte and brought her home with us. She had recovered surprisingly fast and, after consulting with Helga, it was decided that Charlotte should be left in the care of her and Chris, at Chris's place, and be taught to speak English. I took them there and, while I was in my own time, I took the opportunity to look up Kevin.

He wasn't at home when I called upon him, so I left a message with his parents, who I had come to know while I was his counselor, that he should call on Helga at Chris's address. I learned from them that he was out of work and was having difficulty in finding a job, other than the usual cleaning or messenger stuff that was left for the outcasts of society.

Helga had instructions to set up a date when I could meet with him, and since I was to call in every day at a certain time, it would be easy.

Meanwhile, Fritz was to keep the monastery under surveillance and especially be watching for the coach we had seen when we were there last. There was something mysterious about it.

I, on the other hand, was again house hunting. This time I had the minibus we had bought when Fritz and his family had joined us, stuffed with women and baskets of food. They took it as an opportunity to celebrate that they, for a change, were allowed out of the house. We had all agreed that they should stay close to it until we knew more about the danger that was waiting for us. It took us a week, driving in wider and wider circles from our Home, before we came upon an estate agent who had something that could suit us. He took us to a relatively newly renovated mansion-like two-story house situated on a big site. I had told him in confidence that we were all members of a new sect and were looking for a place to live because we had expanded too much. When he saw all the women accompanying me, he believed it. In his mind, no normal man could attract that many beautiful women just by his charms and looks.

The house was perfect, even if the price was a little too high. I think the agent saw his chance to inflate the price a bit since we couldn't afford to be too choosy. It would cut a fair bit out of my family's fortune, but not so much that it couldn't be remedied fairly quickly. Fritz's financial state I didn't know, but none of his wives even blinked an eye when the price was mentioned, so I took it that it would be in order. The agent was told that we would have to think about it for a couple of days and that we would let him know as soon as possible.

It was funny; no one talked about how the house should be furnished but were more concerned about the security issues. This was the first time I had noticed any of them show concern about our situation. They discussed the pros and cons in great length and, as it turned out, the objections were also the advantages. Namely that the house lay almost in the middle of a large plain and that the wind would be blowing constantly. This was also an advantage because no one could approach without us seeing them well in advance. There would also be ample space for surveillance cameras and various traps. But we were shorthanded. We really needed more people. All I could hope for was that Kevin would turn out to be what I hoped for.

When I came back to Chris's flat that evening, I was greeted by all three of the women. Somehow they all seemed a little more aggravated than they had been on my previous visits, but I put it down to the fact that they had been on their own the whole day.

"The young man came to call on you earlier," Helga announced. "I made an appointment with him the day after tomorrow."

"Good. What do you think of him?"

"Well, I don't know him, so I am not willing to give an opinion about him. I'll leave that to you," she said a little defensively.

I didn't think more about this because Chris came over to me and sat in my lap.

"Daddy," she said in a faked little-girl voice.

"Yes, darling?"

"There is something I have to ask you. A favor."

"It's yours if I can..."

"Good!" She interrupted me. She turned to Helga and Charlotte. "See I told you so! He'll do it!"

Warning lights flashed in my brain. "Hold on. I don't know what the favor is yet," I protested.

"Oh, it really is nothing much. All I,... umm, we... want from you is that you get naked."

"What!?"

"Yes, you see we have been teaching Charlie all about female anatomy," she said. Then she put her mouth close to my ear and whispered, but still loud enough for Helga and Charlotte to also hear, "and we had such fun! Now she just must learn all about male anatomy as well."

"Just how did you teach her?" I asked fearing the worst.

"Well, show and tell of course. You wouldn't believe what a nice... well you know... pussy, Helga has. I have never seen one..."

"Chris!" Helga burst out, blushing a little.

"But it is nice, isn't it Charlie?"

"Ah, mais oui, very... attractive."

"Charlie?" I asked.

"Yes, monsieur?"

She even listened to the name now. I began to wonder if it had been such a wise decision to let Chris be in charge of her education.

"No. I mean... I didn't call for you... I just... Well I was surprised that you let her do this to you. Charlotte is such a nice name," I finished lamely. "Do you really like it? Charlie I mean."

"Oh yes, monsieur."

"Quit calling me monsieur, I'm Robert, remember?"

"Oh yeees Robeert," she said in an insinuative tone of voice, and now I was sure that it had been a bad idea to let Chris be in charge.

"Daddy, stop it, will you. We all know how you used the poor child..."

"I did nothing of the sort!" I protested. "Nina told me to."

I heard myself how ridiculous it sounded and stopped talking before I got myself into trouble.

"OK, I'll do it then," I agreed, just to get myself out of this rather embarrassing situation. Besides, it could be fun to participate in such an endeavor. I remembered that when I was young I'd had a fantasy which was a little like this, about Anita and I exploring each other like that. Many loads had been shot into a handkerchief or piece of tissue at this fantasy.