Chapter 3

"Well - thank Heaven that filthy disgusting creature is no longer begging in the High Street" said Mrs Bottomley to the grocer's assistant some two weeks after her meeting with the evil-smelling mendicant.

"'Er be still about these parts. Folk say she be too much afeard to go no where's else. A dark secret lies behind those bright blue eyes of her'n" replied the assistant.

Dorothy tried to pursue the subject further but the young man seemed reluctant to say anything else about the mysterious young lady. He did, though, offer the further intelligence that the townsfolk were weary of her presence, although afraid for some reason to take any steps to rid themselves of the nuisance.

She left the shop having left her order and went back to the car. On the way up to the castle they overtook the Girl, filthy as ever, striding briskly towards the Castle entrance. Mrs Bottomley looked out of the window at this revolting apparition and felt sick once again. A malodorous whiff of the Girl drifted into the car through the open window as they passed. Horrible, thought Mrs Bottomley!

Something favourable about the young woman did strike her, though. She was obviously very young and very fit. Those supple limbs and very unclean bare feet were positively eating up the distance that separated her from the Castle entrance, despite the flint-strewn roughness of the unmade up road. The Girl, filthy though she was, seemed to radiate energy and was clearly tough as nails.

Once installed in her favourite room, overlooking the extensive gardens, now in the early stages of being transformed by the excellent Fitch into the kind of paradise she had dreamed of, the good Mrs B was about to doze off when she was jolted back into full alertness by the sight of a ragged person appearing on top of the Castle's outer wall, an impressive structure some fifteen feet high, and leaping nimbly to the ground. How the intruder had not broken a limb was beyond the good Dorothy's comprehension. She soon recognised the interloper as being none other than the Beggar Girl.

At the same time as she was gripped by a towering rage at this intrusion, something was telling Dorothy that the answer to a problem might just have presented itself to her, albeit in a very unprepossessing form! She dashed out of the castle and ran across to within a few feet of the insolent Girl. She was careful not to get too close, for reasons hitherto explained!

"Just what do you think you are doing, intruding into my home. Get out at once, you stinking piece of filth!"

The Girl said nothing. She merely hung her head, as though full of shame. Actually she was trying to control her laughter and decided this was the best way of hiding her amusement from the keen eye of the nouveau riche chatelaine.

As soon as she felt able to control herself she said. "I have nowhere else to go. The townsfolk hate me and I have enemies in the city. Mine has been a terrible life, although it is partly my fault. I have been young and foolish, getting into the clutches of evil men who will stop at nothing to destroy me. Please give me shelter, Madam, for Mercy's sake!"

"How do you feel about hard work, my good young woman.?" snarled Mrs Bottomley. "Very hard work! A great deal of backbreaking hard work? You can stay if you agree to be my slave and work from dawn till dusk with a miserable attic to sleep in for a few hours at night and never a word of thanks, but only blows and curses all the day long. Well! If you don't agree, then it's back to the town and the vengeance of these mysterious terrible enemies of yours this very minute!"

The poor Girl nodded dumb acquiescence, her head still bowed in seeming humility.

"Good!" snapped Dorothy. "Now get out of those filthy clothes and take them over to that pile of rubbish. We'll burn them before they infect us all. FITCH!!!"

The old gardener appeared at the double, despite his advancing years. "Yes, Marm?"

"When this object has stripped and taken all her clothes over to the rubbish tip, kindly set fire to them. Then get a hosepipe and hose the dirty thing down. Don't stop until you have removed every last speck of grime from her body. I'll be back in a little while. Keep the hose on her until I return. Make good and sure every inch of this creature from head to foot is well and truly drenched. The dirty little tramp!"

She stalked back into the house and watched from the window as all the layers of grime were hosed off the young woman. She nodded approvingly as the dutiful gardener directed the young waif to raise each of her feet in turn in order that they might be thoroughly cleansed, the soles as well as the rest of them. She was made to splay all her toes until every interstice had been rendered sweet and wholesome once again. Her hair was plastered to her body and her mouth was opening and closing as she gasped in the brutal deluge.

Dorothy watched fascinated as the powerful jet of water played up and down the body of the new servant. Now that the Girl was no longer covered in filth it was obvious that the young woman was quite amazingly beautiful, with a slim but firm full breasted body and abundant golden hair. Dorothy remembered the Fairy tale "Rapunzel" as she looked at the, by now, shivering Girl.

When she finally tired at watching her brutal cleansing, Dorothy wandered out and this time came considerably closer than before. Close enough, in fact to inspect the Girl at close quarters. She examined her sodden but lovely long hair and her pubic and underarm hair as well.

"It would be a shame to shave all that off, (I want my Slave to be decorative as well as useful) but it still looks pretty infested to me. You must stay outside until I make up my mind how to deal with it. Until I let you in the house you can help Fitch with the garden. Lots of digging and tree felling - should make you sweat like the pig you are! Get her to work, Fitch and reward any laziness with a few blows from that nice leather belt!"

"What do I get to wear, now that my clothes are burnt, Madam?" asked the Girl nervously. She looked at the gardener's broad leather belt with its sharp metal studs and felt her stomach churn with a spasm of fear. She knew how he was rumoured to treat Mrs Fitch when in a bad mood or under the influence of the powerful local beer and his favoured whisky chasers.

Dorothy Bottomley paused to consider this not unreasonable question. The now naked Girl would need something to protect her body from the night air. Furthermore, the sight of such voluptuous uncovered beauty was clearly not good for the elderly Fitch who was already showing that age had yet to affect his physical reactions to the sight and close proximity of a nubile sexual goddess! Visitors to the Castle might also look askance at all this well stacked loveliness, especially some of her husband's business friends!