Chapter 7: Meeting Old Friends Anew

I spent considerable time with Mary over the next several days, though it was not precisely of an intimate nature. The next day, I breakfasted with James in the main dining room of the grand hotel, then returned to our rooms alone while James went about his business. I found that Mary had entered whilst we dined and had cleaned. She had also fallen asleep on the sofa! Knowing how much I hated to be awoken from a nap, I let Mary be and took up some embroidery I had begun and did needlepoint until my friend awoke.

Mary was mortified to find that she had fallen asleep, but I promised to keep it a secret if she explained it to me. She told me that it was actually my fault, since I had been the one to have shaved her cunny bare. She had retired late and had barely gotten to sleep when David had come home. He had slipped into bed with her, and his roaming fingers soon discovered her new condition. He had been so aroused that he had woken her and taken her, repeatedly, throughout the night. “Yes, he stripped himself and pulled my shift from me, then climbed between my outstretched legs and rogered me most fiercely!” she admitted.

“And afterwards?” I asked.

“Well, I wanted to sleep, but David had other ideas! I found him holding my head to his lap, to clean and suckle his manhood back to life, and he so enjoyed this that he finished off in my mouth. Then I had to clean and suckle him to life a second time and climb atop him and pleasure him that way as well. The man was insatiable!” she exclaimed. This morning, while he slept, she had gone to work in a thoroughly exhausted state. Her only complaint was that I had not shaved her prior to a day off!

The next day, I had Mary accompany me on a shopping expedition. I was in need of replenishing some of my fineries, most specifically needing some long and sheer silk stockings. Mary knew of a few ladies’ establishments and went with me. We had a perfectly delightful time shopping. I purchased several pair of stockings as well as some other items, a new ‘Merry Widow’, a few shifts and nightgowns, and several pairs of slippers of the tallest design. I also purchased a pair of slippers for Mary, to entice her husband; they were of a design that strapped around the ankles, thus staying in place no matter what position David was to take her in!

While we were shopping in one store, I discovered a ‘Patent Cure’ similar to mine, a dildo, and curiously asked Mary if she had such. She was somewhat naïve about such items and had no experience with such. I asked one of the shop girls, and she directed us to a different emporium, one which had a much larger inventory of such aids, and I took Mary thence. She was astonished at the types and numbers of such medical marvels. I purchased her a rather grand, if simple, device, and she promised to test it, and also to show it to her husband. For myself, I purchased the most ingenious of devices. It was constructed of a stiff but pliable India rubber, slightly less than two feet in length, and was a dildo with a large cock on each end! I immediately understood that with such an object, two women could join together in the most intimate of fashions. I promised to show Mary its use in the near future, and her eyes widened at the thought, though she did not gainsay me.

That evening after dinner, James escorted me to what he called a saloon, though in a more modern parlance it would be considered a night club. A very nice establishment, it had a large bar, although ladies were allowed as well, a dining room, a dance floor, and a stage. Tonight, there was no stage show, but there would be music and James promised to dance with me into the wee hours. We took a hansom cab from the Waldorf-Astoria and alit several minutes later.

As we entered the ‘saloon’, several gentlemen were leaving and James and I were perforce required to stop, lest we be bowled over. I noticed that one of the men was wearing a British Army officer’s great cloak and looked at him curiously. He noticed that I was looking at him and turned to face me. We stared at each other, and I had the feeling that I knew the gentleman, that I had seen him before. He stared at me in the same fashion, and traffic began to bunch around us. James tugged at my hand, not noticing what was happening, but I resisted.

“Uncle ... Wally?” I stammered out.

“Caroline? Is it you?” he asked, looking at me as if he had seen a ghost.

“Caroline? Is everything all right?” asked James, coming to my side. To be honest, I ignored him and focused on the officer standing before me.

“Uncle Wally?” I repeated, pulling the hood of my cloak away from my face.

“Oh my God!” he cried, stepping forward to wrap his arms around me and lift me from my feet. “It is you; it is you!” He whirled me around twice before setting me back down, an affair which James watched rather curiously.

“Caroline, would you care to introduce me to this gentleman?” James asked.

Blushing, I hugged him and pulled him forward. “James, Uncle Wally. Uncle Wally, James MacAllister.”

James stared at me. “Uncle Wally? I thought I was your only relative.”

Uncle Wally interrupted me to answer. “Excuse me, Major Sir Wallace Haversham, Her Majesty’s Norfolk Grenadier Guards, at your service, sir. Actually, I’m more a family friend, rather than a blood relation. I am Caroline’s godparent. The uncle is a courtesy only.”

“Yes, yes, but let’s get out of the cold!” I replied. I tucked an arm through both men’s arms and tried to drag them inside.

“Well, I was just leaving, but I would love to stay,” said Uncle Wally.

“Of course, of course. Please, be our guest,” said James. He was rather discombobulated by the presence of another man but trying hard to maintain his balance. I insisted as well, so Uncle Wally returned to his group and informed them they would have to continue their course on their own. I was escorted inside, where we doffed our coats and hats, and then were taken to a table.

Uncle Wally was a gentleman cut from the same cloth as James. They were of an age together, both fairly tall and well set up, and with pleasant baritone voices. As soon as we were seated, Uncle Wally and I immediately asked each other ‘What are you doing in New York?’ We laughed, and Wally answered first. Reaching across the table to shake hands, he reintroduced himself to James, and said, “I know this must look crazy, but I’ve known Caroline since she was born. I was very close to her parents, though I lost track of her after their death.”

James smiled, saying, “I hope you understand how that greeting looked,” at which we all laughed, though I swatted my love for his lack of faith.

“James! How could you?” I turned to Uncle Wally, and asked, “Just how did you lose track of me? I haven’t seen you in years!”

He smiled ruefully and nodded. “Not since before Thomas and Penelope died. I was in India at the time, and it was months before I learned. I could not come back until earlier this year, but you had already left by then. Your Mrs. Pembleton simply told me that you had traveled to America, though she promised to forward a letter, and she did assure me that you were well.”

“I never received a letter, but it may have been lost. What are you doing here?” I asked.

“After your father’s death, I was seconded to the Foreign Office in his stead. I am Assistant Military Attaché in Washington. I’m simply here in New York to see a few friends; I’ll be going back in a few days,” he explained.

“So, you knew Caroline when she was a little girl?” asked James. “I certainly hope you have some wonderful stories that will embarrass her!”

I swatted James again. “This so-called gentleman is my fiancée, Uncle Wally, and is in no need of embarrassing stories, so I will trust you to behave.” Both men laughed.

Uncle Wally looked at me closely, holding my hands in his. I felt somewhat uncomfortable, as if he was examining me. I was wearing a new blue dress, off-the-shoulder, that exposed a considerable expanse of my bosom. Beneath it I wore nothing but some stockings and slippers; the dress itself was constructed so as to hold my waist in and support my bosom. Still, I felt that the dress was not so risqué as to be improper for an evening such as James had proposed, and I noticed that I was not the only woman present in a dress which highlighted her charms. “Lord, but you look so much like your mother!” whispered Uncle Wally.

“Really?” asked James. “Caroline rarely talks much about her family. You knew them well?”

Uncle Wally nodded his head. “Thomas and I were the best of friends. Indeed, the only thing that ever came between us was Penelope, and even then, I stood with him at his wedding.”

“What?” I exclaimed.

“I thought you knew. Your father and I were rivals for your mother’s hand. He won.” My ‘uncle’ shrugged his acceptance of the fact.

“Mother and Father never said anything of the sort,” I said. “You were just one of those people that one sees at odd times and places, though I always knew you to be the closest of friends.” Uncle Wally nodded and smiled wryly. “Did you know Mother’s family?” I asked. “I met what there was of Father’s, but Mother rarely talked about hers. I believe they were from India.”

“Well,” he explained, “that is probably because she knew so little of them herself. Penelope was the daughter of a Captain in the Army in India, as you may have known. He and your grandmother were practically the entire family on that side. Penelope was born in 1857, in Cawnpore, only days before the Mutiny got underway, and they were trapped in Cawnpore with the other English. Your grandmother managed to have her native nurse smuggle your mother out through the lines, then she and your grandfather died in ‘The Well’.”

I gasped at the mention of the Cawnpore Well. It was a scene of murder in some ways even worse than that of the more well-known Black Hole of Calicut, which occurred during the Rebellion of 1756.

Uncle Wally continued his tale. “It must have been the most frightful of tasks to smuggle a white infant through a country in the midst of rebellion, but the nurse managed to do just that, eventually finding her way to Delhi, where she was able to show some identification and a letter from your father that was wrapped in Penelope’s blankets. With this proof, the infant was returned to England on the next ship, and Penelope was placed into the hands of her only living relative, the Regimental Sergeant Major for the Norfolk Grenadier Guards, your father’s and my regiment.”

“So, you knew Mother when she was a little girl?” I asked.

Uncle Wally shook his head. “No, not then. Your father and I were a good five years older than she, but we didn’t join the regiment until later, by which time she would have been a young lady. Even then she was considered the prettiest girl in the regiment and was considered by many to be ‘The Regiment’s Daughter’. Everyone spoiled her so, and your great-uncle was quite unable to comprehend how to handle a growing girl, so he bundled her off to boarding school as soon as practicable. No, Thomas and I first met Penelope after she returned home from school at eighteen. By then we were both Lieutenants, and your mother was the most beautiful woman either of us had ever seen. There wasn’t an unmarried officer in the regiment, or in any other, for that matter, who wasn’t wooing her as ardently as the Sergeant Major would allow!”

“And you lost out, I take it?” asked James. He was listening with the utmost fascination, to a subject I knew nothing about.

Uncle Wally laughed at this. “Yes, yes, at least after a bit. To be honest, it seemed to all of us that I had the greatest success with the lady in question. Certainly, I was much smarter and better looking than Thomas.” I groaned at this and swatted Uncle Wally, who kept on. “Indeed, Thomas had almost resigned himself to be my groomsman, when suddenly, one day while we were on parade, with Penelope watching from the stands, there was an accident with a powder charge. Both Thomas and I were blown from our horses, but I was closer, and was rather badly cut up. Amidst all the confusion, we both witnessed Penelope tearing down from the review stand and running madly across the parade ground. And when she got to us, what did she do? Comfort her wounded and bleeding love? No, she wraps her arms around his rival, covered with dust but otherwise in a perfect fettle. It was so damned humiliating!”

Both James and I laughed uproariously at this description of my parents, while Uncle Wally acted the ham with a rueful expression and a wry smile.

We finished our first bottle of champagne and James ordered a second. I noticed that his eyes lit up as he saw something behind me, and Uncle Wally looked behind me as well, in curiosity. I was on the verge of turning around to see what was happening when I felt a pair of strong hands upon my shoulders, holding me in position, and a melodious tenor sang out, “Little girls should be in bed at this time of night.”

I knew precisely who was speaking! Standing, I whirled around to face Harry Kendrickson, a new friend of James and mine that we had met earlier that summer. He and his brother Robert had stayed with us while buying horses and going to the races. Whilst Robert was a bit of a cold fish, Harry was as great a scamp and scalawag as James, and the three of us got along famously. I embraced him warmly and kissed his cheek. “Harry Kendrickson! I would know that voice anywhere.” Stepping back slightly, I raised my left hand in front of his face and wiggled my fingers, so that he could not miss the sight of my new engagement ring. “However, I am already taken, so you will have to work your wiles on another.”

The three men all laughed at this, then Harry stepped back, and for the first time I noticed that he was with a woman. I felt rather self-conscious about my jest in the presence of this lady, who was obviously accompanying him. He turned towards her and, taking her hand, pulled her forward, lifting her hand to my face. I could see a sizable diamond on her ring finger, and Harry said, “And I was just about to say the same to you! Caroline Pendrake, let me introduce you to my fiancée, Miss AnneMarie Tormalino.” Harry turned back to his betrothed and said, “And AnneMarie, Miss Caroline Pendrake and Mister James MacAllister, and this gentleman, whom I do not have the pleasure of yet but hope to soon.”

James introduced Uncle Wally, who tried to escape, claiming he was getting in the way of old friends, but James and Harry would not hear of it and Uncle Wally relented. It soon came out that James and I were engaged in September, and would wed in July, while Harry and AnneMarie had become engaged in October and would be wed in August. James and I immediately invited Harry and his bride-to-be to the wedding, then I turned to Uncle Wally. “You, too, sir, you simply must come!” Uncle Wally grinned and agreed, at which I then turned excitedly to James and exclaimed, “This solves the problem of what to do with Ahkbar!”

James was confused at this, and Uncle Wally had no idea who we were talking about, so I explained. “Ahkbar Singh is James’ greatest friend and companion, and lives with us on the estate. We were at a loss for his role, should he be James’ groomsman, or should he give the bride away? With you there, you can give me away and Ahkbar will be free to act as groomsman!”