Chapter 10

Diary entry 10

Three weeks later and Ben and I are still an item. We discussed the story and Ben asked if Leonard was modelled on him. Probably he was, both were proving to be good Samaritans and I knew I was falling for Ben in a big way. Perhaps I should fall for Leonard too? The lowly maid becomes the lady of the Manor? Maybe but the way would have to be full of unexpected setbacks. Again my plans for the story headed in a slightly different direction to my original scheme.

Chapter ten. A quiet time

After a week I was able to walk, or rather hobble, around the room and do little tidying and dusting jobs. Usually Clarrie or one of the other maids brought my food up but I knew that was one more job they had to do as well as their normal chores. By an arrangement with cook, Master Leonard paid for my meals and by the same arrangement I was to eat with the rest of the maids when I was able. Rather than impose on Clarrie, I said I would eat lunch in the kitchen with the maids and boys. Only the senior staff had theirs in an adjoining room.

Donning the dress I arrived in, which Leonard deemed more suitable than the maid's uniform his Lordship supplied especially as I had lost a lot of weight and it now fitted me very loosely, I made my way unsteadily down the stairs for the first time since my flogging. I took the precaution of carrying a cushion with me because I knew how hard the wooden chairs would feel on my still very tender backside. To my surprise there was more sympathy than animosity towards me, at least from the lower status staff, the discontent at my new position came mainly from the butler and Mrs. Evans. Cook greeted me and suggested I sat at the end of the table so I wouldn't be squashed between the others and because I was now here as a guest servant. I knew what she meant. Sometimes guests brought their own servants with them. Usually these servants were fairly high in rank so dined with the senior staff but occasionally a maid would eat at our table and they always had the end place. It was considered the place of honour.

Life was much more pleasant for a while and after only a few days I began to enjoy living with and working for Master Leonard. He seemed a kind person I resolved to give myself to him on that same evening. I'd already sucked him to a climax the night before and thought I could now lie on my back long enough for him to fuck me without being in too much pain or disturbing the scabs still disfiguring my back and buttocks. That night when we climbed into bed and before drawing the curtains around the bed and extinguishing the light, I asked, "Sir, it would please me greatly if you rogered me tonight."

"You sure you're up to it Emily?"

"Yes, Sir, I think so. I would like you to try but I cannot say if my performance will be up to standard expected of me in this place because my movements are still limited. If you can forgive that, then let me give you a little pleasure Sir."

"You should get pleasure too. I know there's been little enough of that with you hereto, but I believe if you get enjoyment from our mating, then I will too. Yes, let's try but if the pain is too much, please say so and I will resort to my hand."

Much to my surprise, instead of immediately pushing his erection into me, he played with my tits and then massaged my mound until my juices were flowing and almost dribbling down my thighs. Whenever I could get my hand to his prick I gently played with it, but I didn't want to do it too hard in case it erupted before he'd had a chance to enter it in my cunnie. Finally I couldn't wait any longer. "Fuck me Sir, please. I'm ready and I can feel you are too. Take me like you would a mistress." Fortunately I'd had the forethought to get a supply of sponges from Cook and had inserted one earlier in the evening whilst Master Leonard was at dinner. There was no need to wait any longer but he didn't thrust straight in, as James or one of the others would have done, but placed a large pillow under my arse and then entered me carefully. My slightly raised position allowed him to kneel and fuck me without putting too much pressure on my body so there was no great pain from my back muscles or arse. I felt them of course, but it was nothing I couldn't put up with. Steadily and gently he thrust into me, each trust seemingly at a slightly different angle. It was a fuck the like of which I'd not experienced so far and I really began to respond with some enthusiasm to him even though I couldn't meet his thrusts with counter thrusts of my own. His enjoyment too was obvious from the smile on his face. My climax came and so did his and we rested side by side wrapped in each other's arms.

A few days later there occurred another incident that didn't enamour me to the senior staff. At the time, I only had the one dress I'd arrived in because Mrs. Evans had taken my maid's uniform back saying that it belonged to his Lordship and not to Master Leonard. After wearing my dress for a few days it became soiled and needed washing. When I explained the situation, my master loaned me an old nightshirt of his. It was much too big but by rolling up the sleeves and tightening the drawstring at the neck, I could wear it. It did look comical but it covered me better than any of the proper uniforms. "If you're up to travelling, I'll take you into town on Monday and we can get you proper dresses," he suggested. Actually the maids and boys didn't make much fun of me and I washed the dress and hung it on the line outside to dry.

For most of the day, Leonard decided to do a landscape painting and I was asked to carry some of his equipment. I enjoyed the day in the fresh air and the sunshine too and watched with awe as his sketches and painting developed. Several times he stopped and asked my opinion as though I was an art critic instead of a lowly servant. Seeing my interest, he offered me a lead pencil and a small book of paper and, after a few hints, set me to drawing some of the wild flowers growing in the meadow. Much to my amazement, I produced some very passable and recognisable sketches. Master Leonard praised them and I felt very proud.

I was up in the clouds with pleasure until I went to collect my dress from the line. Someone had thrown coal dust down the front, and it had been done whilst still wet so the dust became engrained and dried in the material. I would have to wash it again and hope the stain would come out. Angry and in tears at my one and only dress being ruined, I stormed up the stairs and into our room. Seeing my discomfiture, Master Leonard asked, "What's the matter Emily?" I held up my blackened dress.

For the first time since my thrashing I saw real anger in his eyes. "None of the maids or boys will have done that so it must have been one of the senior staff. My guess is that most likely it was Mrs. Evans but I'm sure she'll deny it." I agreed and said I would have to wash it again on the morrow if he would allow me to wear his nightshirt again. For a short while, he sat deep in thought and I knew he was planning something. "Let me have the dress Emily and I'll make sure it gets properly washed and ironed."

It wasn't until he returned that I found out what happened. "Of course Mrs. Evans denied all knowledge of it and suggested that one of the girls did it in a fit of jealousy. I could tell she was lying but I appeared to accept the explanation and then I said that she was in charge of the house staff and she should know what they were up to at all times. She was responsible for them and as such I expected her to have the dress re-washed and ironed and I even went with her when she gave the job to one of the scullions. She, like you, wondered if the stain would come out but she said she do her best. I thanked the girl and then suggested to Mrs. Evans that if it didn't become acceptably clean, she should provide you with another from the store. I could tell she was displeased at that but I left before she could argue."

Next morning there was a knock on the door and Rachel, the scullion, was there, holding my dress. "I managed to get it almost out Miss but it took a lot of scrubbing." I thanked her and Master Leonard gave her two pennies and told her to keep quiet about them.

For the next two weeks, life was good to me. I gradually recovered from the birching although the marks still showed, but I was able to walk better and perform my duties, both my household and bedtime duties. Never once did Master Leonard complain about my lack of enthusiasm when he fucked me and he seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

As soon as I was fit enough to sit in the trap, he took me into Great Barslow and bought me two proper maid's uniforms, not the much shortened ones the other maids were forced to wear. I know it made some of them envious but, as I said to them, "I had to wear what I was given, the same as they did." He also bought two nice but serviceable, 'going out' dresses which I wore on Sundays and when I went with him to the village or further afield. In a way I was glad he chose the lower priced ones as the material was sturdier and without the ribbons and lace they would last longer and I would not stand out as being a woman above my station.

When the weather was fine we would go out into the countryside and sketch and paint. Master Leonard mainly did landscapes and I drew and painted flowers. He even gave me a small paint box and he said that I had an eye for colour and an aptitude for using it. One morning we visited my home and spoke with father and mother for a short while. It was the first time I'd seen them since that fateful day when His Lordship arrived on the farm. It seemed to them that I was 'doing alright for myself' and indeed at the time, I was. I didn't mention the despair and pain of the first month.

Several times when inclement weather forced us to stay indoors, I sat and modelled for him. Usually he only did pencil sketches 'to keep his hand in for when a commission came along' but one of the sketches he worked into an oil painting we kept hidden in a box in case his father saw it and thought I was more than a servant. Perhaps in a way I was.

Chapter eleven. London

Life changed for me again shortly after I'd been with Master Leonard for a month. "I must go to London for a week or, more likely, two Emily. This letter came this morning offering me a commission to do a large painting of Sir Archibald Remmington in all his mayoral robes. I shall be staying and working at my Studio in Fulham and in fact this letter was sent there and my landlord has only just forwarded it on so there has already been some delay. I shall reply forthwith and let him know I will be travelling as soon as possible, in the next day or so at the latest."