Chapter 5: The Secret Passage

The next several days were spent in a most leisurely and pleasant fashion. Daylight hours would find Siobhan and I working alongside my uncle in his large and elaborate study and library, reading and taking correspondence and otherwise assisting him in his investments. I soon came to realize the grand scale of those investments, and how the breeding stables he maintained here were at best an avocation. Still, he explained to me at one point that even in this he was successful, and the profit which ensued was sufficient to pay for the lifestyle he enjoyed. Evenings we would dine and then retire, and most nights would find me trysting with Jenny, Betsy, or Siobhan.

One evening with Siobhan, she demonstrated the usage of her elaborate Y-shaped dildo, inserting it into her quim and arse and allowing me to vigorously move it around to her explicit enjoyment. Then I was able to show her a new method of utilizing the device when, while it was still inserted into her, I spread her legs and moved my own limbs into an X-fashion with hers, then inserted the handle into my cunny. Perforce our hands were required to maintain its precarious positioning, but we were soon perspiring with our endeavors and managed a second course as well.

Another night, Siobhan knocked and entered to find Betsy had preceded her. Despite her protests that she would leave us to our play, Betsy and I arose and pulled Siobhan to bed with us and stripped her bare, then managed an absolutely delightful threesome. Betsy and I taught her the most useful means to delight another woman.

In the meantime, Siobhan and I took to sneaking around the grounds to espy on the groundsmen and their methods of finding release. We were fascinated to find that all the maids and cooks were wont to allow the men to use them for their intimate pleasures. It developed that the ladies all would spend time, as if on a schedule, naked in the bunkhouse, and we were astonished to find that this was not considered a job or punishment but was eagerly looked forward to. On a separate occasion I witnessed Maude being accosted by several young men in one of the barns. Rather than protest and flee, she retaliated by undoing their breeches and returning the intemperate touchings they performed on her half-naked form. After they had well had their way with her, she invited a pair of passersby in and lay back to enjoy their lovemaking as well!

I also discovered that my uncle was not immune to dallying with the servants as well. I remember well the morning when I woke early, even before the servants, to discover Charity walking down the hallway past my door. Since the only room beyond me was Uncle James’, and since Charity had not walked past towards it that morning, she must have done so the previous evening and stayed the night. Further, both Siobhan and I were to notice how often one of the maids or cooks would be seen leaving his private den after they had ‘discussed her work’, and how the young lady would leave looking flushed and distracted, while my uncle would come out looking pleased and satisfied!

It came to pass that one afternoon I felt slightly ill with a headache, so I begged off my duties and retired to my suite to lie down and rest. By mid-afternoon I awoke refreshed and feeling much better. As I had slept in the nude, I arose and slipped on a dressing gown in preparation for bathing for dinner, but as I walked into the bath, I tripped and stumbled against the wall. Throwing my hands out, I fell forcefully against a small fireplace and heard a quiet ‘Crack!’. Looking about, I noticed that my hands were widespread and had depressed a pair of cornices along the mantel. Several feet away, the wall to my bedroom had separated and an edge was showing where none had been before. Mystified, I went to examine what had occurred.

The wall where the edge showed seemed as if a hidden door had popped open. I tried to tug it open further but had no luck, as it was caught by what seemed to be a latch near the top. Determined to explain this mysterious state of events, I took my father’s penknife from my purse and, opening the blade, probed the area where the latch seemed. After a moment I encountered a stiffness that when pushed against made a small ‘Click!’. The hidden door opened silently.

This was most curious! Noting the exact location of the door and the latch, I pushed it shut quietly, watching the cornices of the mantel. As I expected, both resumed their original positions. When I went back to them, it was but a minute’s work to test them before I heard the ‘Crack!’ of the door opening. As before, it seemed to hang until I was able to unlatch it with my knife. I had discovered the mechanism to a secret passage!

All thoughts of my toilet had disappeared. Opening the secret door, I stepped out into a dark and narrow corridor, to find that the flooring was carpeted thickly, so that someone moving along it carefully would make little sound whatsoever. The passage went blindly in both directions, so, wrapping my gown around myself, I moved to the left.

The passageway had a number of turns to it, however, since I kept my right hand on the banister railing on the far side, it was impossible for me to get lost. As I came around a corner, I was shocked into standing still, as I found myself on the opposite side of a window staring at Mrs. Rourke. Terrified that I had been discovered, I backed away, yet when she raised no scream of protest, I inched my way back to peek around the edge of the window. Siobhan was calmly brushing her hair, staring at me as if she could not see me, though I could plainly see her.

It came to me that the window was no window but was in actuality a mirror of the design that allows others to view through it from the opposite side. I had seen one such window at an amusement park in Paris with my parents, and my mother and I had delighted in making funny faces at my father through the glass. I recalled that such worked best when all the light was on the side with the mirror view, and perhaps this explained the darkness of the corridor I was standing in. Feeling bolder, I stepped fully into sight, yet Siobhan completely failed to notice me. I made a funny face in remembrance of the past, then continued in my exploration.

It took me several more days and evenings to explore the full extent of the secret passageways throughout my uncle’s mansion. In brief, let me explain that they extended over all three floors of the house, and that the many twists and turns were necessitated by the need to avoid windows, doors, hallways, and such in the ‘regular’ house. Several side passages led off the main corridor that my room seemed to be on, and a narrow and steep stairway led to the other floors. Most, but not all the rooms had doorways and mirrors like I had seen, and some of those rooms which had doorways did not have mirrors, and vice versa. I even discovered that my own full-length mirror was only partially silvered, somewhat to my dismay.