Chapter 14

“Well that was remarkably clever,” Hermione broke the immediate silence.

The solution to this amazing feat made itself known as two burly men entered the room, both brandishing large calibre revolvers, the leader’s still smoking, and moved to ensure that neither of the men would be a further problem.

“Do you think you could possibly give me a hand Jake?” said Hermione.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Jake replied, breaking out of the momentary shock

Hermione was on tip toe and the rope linking her wrists was over the hook. All Jake needed to do was lift her a short way, and she could slip the rope off the hook. Jake placed his hands on her waist and lifted. She freed her hands from the hook and as Jake deposited her back on the floor she held her hands out to him to remove the rope.

She examined her wrists which were badly marked by the rope.

“I’ll have to wear gloves, I suppose,” she commented. “Or very long sleeves.”

Meanwhile, the two men having checked the bodies, picked up Hermione’s dress and handed it to her.

“Better than nothing, thank you gentlemen...”

She put it on as far as she was able, but it was really little better than rag.

“ ... and you are?”

“We don’t normally use names, Miss,” said the leader. “Let’s just say we work for a mutual acquaintance. I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner, our informant was little late reaching us, and we had to guess that this was the place you’d been taken to. Luckily we were right. We know this one,” he poked the third man with his toe, “nasty piece of work. You get him?” he asked Jake.

“Yes,” said Jake, “I kicked the door open and there he was. Not a great shot.”

“Good enough.”

“Can we get going?” asked Hermione. “I really would like to get home.”

“Of course, Miss,” said the man who had spoken, “We’ve a growler outside so we’ll soon get you there. My sergeant will stay here and organise the clear up.”

When they got outside Hermione staggered, and Jake put his arm around her. She was shivering and Jake took off his coat and placed it around her shoulders. It wasn’t until they were in the cab that Jake realised his head was still aching.

When they arrived back at Hermione’s apartment Jake helped her out of the cab

“I’ll wait and take you back to your hotel Sir Jacob,” said the man.

Hermione looked at Jake.

“No need, I’ll clean him up first,” said Hermione.

“Yes, Miss,” the man grinned, and the cab drove off.

Hermione took Jake inside, where she took his jacket off. The remains of her dress fell to the floor.

“I don’t think anyone can do much with that,” she said.

“You should get your dresses from Victoria’s,” said Jake grinning at the sight before him.

“Well, that’s about all I need to complete the evening. A pitch from a dress salesman.”

“Merely that if you are going to make a habit of having your dresses ruined, then you could save money,” Jake was still grinning.

Hermione turned and slapped him across his face.

“A gentleman,” she said, “would turn his back, and not ogle a lady in distress.”

“I’d better go,” said Jake.

Hermione grabbed his hand.

“Don’t you dare,” she said, pulling him towards what was obviously her bedroom.

“Are you sure, Hermione?”

“Never more so. But first I’d appreciate it if you could rub some cream into the welts where that bastard beat me.”

For Jake this was pure pleasure, and it seemed enjoyable for Hermione too.

“Get those britches off.” she ordered when he had finished.

It was some time before Jake could comply with that instruction because she immediately grasped him in a what felt like a death hold. With such enthusiasm Jake wondered at what experience she might have, since she was kissing him with closed lips. He gently parted her lips with his tongue and then managed to part her teeth. She indicated considerable enthusiasm for this.

Eventually Jake managed to shed the rest of his clothes and divested Hermione of the remaining wisps of underwear. As she laid back on the bed she winced and Jake realised that she must be in considerable pain from the welts that he had just been rubbing cream into. He picked her up and laid down with her on top of him, her slim figure meaning her light weight was no problem. She was still enthusiastically kissing Jake as he lined up with her entrance. She broke off the kiss and he pushed her upright, as he did so she slid down on him and he entered with a slight resistance. She sat upright on him with her eyes tightly shut. After a minute or so Jake reached up and gently pinched her nipples. She opened her eyes and gasped.

“Oh! I didn’t know.”

She looked down at Jake, who raised a questioning eyebrow.

She bent forward, causing Jake to slide partway out.

“Oh!”

She immediately sat up again, reversing the process.

“Ohhh!” she looked down at Jake again. “I didn’t know it would feel so good!”

“Yes,” she said, continuing the movement. “I didn’t know you could do it this way, I thought ... and I certainly didn’t know, oooh, that it would feel this good. No wonder they tell you it’s something you have to put up with after marriage, otherwise ... ohh, that is ... sooo good, we’d be doing it all the time. It’s a good job you can’t get pregnant the first time.”

“Pardon? Who told you that?”

“We girls talked about it at school. Agnes Magwitch told us.”

“Did she now?” Jake realised that this sophisticated secret agent was in fact very naïve in some respects. “Well I’m sorry to tell you this, but that piece of information is totally incorrect.”

Jake went on to tell her about Miss Perrett the girls governess and what they had done to her.

“So she had a child without ever being with a man. Still hasn’t from what I hear, the curate that Aunt Lydia got her married to has no idea what sex is, and where babies come from. But your information is completely incorrect.”

“Oh!” Hemione had been still for several minutes and this ‘Oh’ was given as she absorbed these new facts.

“When was your last ‘visitation’, or whatever you call it?” asked Jake.

“That’s a very personal question, I’m not sure I should answer that.”

“You are in a very ‘personal’, not to mention compromising, situation and you feel that that information is too personal?”

“Oh, well, it was a couple of weeks ago,” she pouted. “Although why you should want to know, and why I should tell ... hey!”

The last exclamation was as Jake lifted her off him, and pulled her so that she was sitting on his chest.

“Lady, you are in grave danger.”

“But you just rescued me,” she squirmed about on him, grinning. “And that was the fourth time, and I’m ... I don’t know, but when we got back here I wanted to ... reward my hero. And I’m not in danger now, because you killed that horrid man.”

“What you are in grave danger of, is getting pregnant. Becoming with child. A fallen woman, shunned by society.”

Jake was simply amazed that this woman, girl, he wasn’t sure which, could seemingly laugh at physical danger, always seemed to be cool and collected, in charge, some sort of member of the Queen’s staff, and yet so bloody naïve. Hell Evie and Millie knew precisely what went on, and they were just maids. Well, Evie was now the wife of the younger son of a prosperous dyer, and Millie was now a governess. Even so.

“Oh! And I was enjoying that too!”

“There are other ways,” Jake told her, lifting her and pulling her up so that he could get to work with his tongue.

“What? What are you ... Oh! Ooooh, yes!”

It took a few minutes until her vocal appreciation told Jake that he had achieved his objective.

“Oh god, I’ve never felt that before,” she said, dreamily

“You’ve never ... do you not ... do that to yourself?”

“Hardly, I’m not a contortionist.”

“No, with your fingers.”

“Oh! No,” she replied.

“But it was a girls school you went to, didn’t you get together with other girls?”

“Did I ... Oh no, no. I think some girls may have but, no.”

“You’ll have to come to Bristol sometime.”

They lay cuddling for a few minutes.

“You must get something out of it,” she’d clearly been turning it over in her mind.

“Yes,” said Jake. “But that’s what makes it dangerous for young ladies. Well any woman.”

“How?”

Jake took her hand and placed it on his member, which was fully erect. He moved it up and down and she carried on by herself watching it intently. Although she was anything but accomplished at doing this on only took a minute before she drew back in surprise as Jake ejaculated.

“Oh!” She said again, “That’s what I have to worry about.”

“Yes,” said Jake. “That’s the stuff that makes babies.”

Hermione looked thoughtful and then cocked an eyebrow as she walked her fingers up Jakes chest.

“D’you think we’d make nice babies, Jake?” she smiled.

Jake leapt out of bed.

“Whether we would or not we are going to leave it there for tonight because if I don’t get out of here your reputation is going to be shot to pieces. If it isn’t already,” he assured her.

Hermione threw her arms around him and kissed him fervently.

Jake detached her. “Good night Hermione.”

Hermione pouted. “You can be such a spoilsport, Sir Jacob, but you are quite right, my maid will be here in an hour, and I’m quite sure she reports everything to my aunt, she dresses far too well on her days off for what I pay her.”

“Probably shops at Victoria’s,” Jake laughed as he went out of the door

After receiving a knowing look from the night porter when he got back to his hotel Jake managed a couple of hours sleep and then had a good breakfast. From there he went to the shop to check that everything was well, and then caught the train back to Bristol. He was fortunate to obtain a first class compartment all to himself and was able to sleep almost all the way.

After her first dinner with the family in her new position as governess, Millie arrived back in the nursery to find that everything was perfect, the nursery was tidy and all the children were fast asleep. She wasn’t sure how she felt about this, perhaps she wasn’t needed any longer, but she loved the children, and wanted to be needed. So after getting herself ready for bed she arrived in Jake’s room very close to tears, which arrived as soon as Jake cuddled her. Jake naturally assumed that the events of the evening had caused this, although he couldn’t see why since everything had been relaxed and there had been no problems. Mentioning the lack of problems turned out to be the heart of the matter, just not in the way Jake assumed.

Millie explained that that was the problem, and that she felt that she was no longer needed.

“Millie,” Jake laughed, “everything was perfect because you made it that way. Agnes knew exactly what to do and there were no problems because of your leadership, your management.”

“So I’ve made myself unnecessary, no longer needed,” she sniffed.

“No Millie. Had there been a problem then it would have been something out of the ordinary and you would have been sent for. How do you think I can take time off, go to London or whatever? It’s because I have people who can run everything, and deal with problems, unless they are major ones. And that is what you have done. Agnes and any of the other girls can carry on because you have taught them what to do, what you want. And they all love you. It’s no different to what I do, just on a smaller scale.”

Millie thought about this, and whilst she was doing so they fell asleep.

Millie was up early as she always was, and with Agnes help had the children changed and fed and ready for the day. She then decided that shopping was the next order, and having told Agnes that she was going out she went to change. Once she was in her finery she did a final check on the children and went out. Her first call was at the pharmacists shop where she wanted various medicines for the children. When she entered the shop the assistant said good morning, and called out for Mr Boggs, the pharmacist who always attended to the ‘gentry’ personally.

“Good morning Madam,” said Mr Boggs, as he came out of his office. “How may I...”

Millie giggled.

“ ... Oh! Millie, it’s you! You’re all dressed up today,” he went on smiling at her, not saying that they had mistaken her for a lady.

“I’m now the children’s governess,” replied Millie, with a broad smile.

Mr Boggs stiffened. “Indeed, Miss Millet! May I offer my congratulations and wish you well in your new occupation. Now, how may I be of assistance?”

Millie was a little taken aback at the sudden formality.

“But I shall always be Millie,” she said.

“Indeed you will Miss, and I shall always remember that, but your new position commands respect, and you must accept that.”

Mr Boggs agreed to have her order made up and delivered by the end of the day.

Millie left to carry on with the rest of her day with her head held high, but her mind was running through the ramifications of what Mr Boggs had said. As you went up in the world, people who had called you by your name no longer did so, they were more ... formal, respectful. She suddenly remembered that Agnes had said ‘yes, Miss’ to her that morning instead of her usual Millie. If she did become Lady White, and she was by no means certain of that, after all, he was getting ‘what men wanted’, as her mother had put it, and much as she loved him she still felt she was not worthy of him, but if she did, would she have people falling at her feet trying to curry her favour? She wasn’t at all sure she would like that, in fact she was sure she wouldn’t! But then again, she was enjoying being able to walk into a shop and have assistants ask deferentially how they could help, rather than treating her almost as if she wasn’t there.

At next shop she went to she purchased a half dozen pairs of stockings and some rather more intimate items. The assistant asked her if she would like them delivered and she gave her name and address, Millette, she said, two tees and an ‘e’. This was a small conceit, but she felt it sounded better than the real spelling of her name which was of course Millet.

Shoes were the next order of the day. Two pairs, she thought, would suffice for now. She was very fond of shoes and would have more if she could afford it. Well, truthfully, if she dared get Jake to buy them for her! Having selected a darling pair of black ankle boots, and a very daring pair of red shoes that she could only imagine wearing if Jake were to take her out somewhere for supper or some such event, the theatre perhaps. Best to be ready she justified the extravagance, even as she gave a shudder at the thrill that went though her with the thought.

And so to Victoria’s Secret’s. Jake had agreed that she could purchase up to four dresses, at least two she decided would be day dresses and the others for evening. As she entered she was greeted by Myfanwy, who, although she was acquainted with Millie, greeted her with the correct formality.

They discussed Millie’s requirements for a few minutes, sorting through various dresses and appropriate accessories, but were interrupted when the twins, Siobhan and Roisin had finished with the lady they had been serving and who had now left. They gathered around.

“Hello, Millie,” said Siobhan.

“What are you here for?” asked Roisin.

“More dresses,” said Siobhan. “Look at what they’ve got out.”

“We can do better than that!” said Roisin.

“Girls!” said Millie, sharply. “Myfanwy and I are doing fine, thank you.”

“Oh but...”

“Siobhan! Roisin! Go to my office now!”

The girls turned to see Victoria who had come down the stairs and was clearly furious.

“Now!”

The twins fled.

“Millie I am so sorry, those two really have got above themselves. Are you alright with Myfanwy?”

“Of course, Victoria,” Millie replied. “But you are right, you really do need to do something about that pair.”

“I shall attend to it,” said Victoria with a grim expression. She turned and went upstairs to her office.

Millie and Myfanwy carried on until they were satisfied with their selection of dresses and any alterations that needed to be made. Before they had finished Siobhan and Roisin made their way quietly out of the shop.

“Oh dear,” said Myfanwy, “they’re going to blame me for this.”

She looked on the verge of tears.

Millie looked at her. “How on earth can they do that?”

“I don’t know,” Myfanwy sniffed, “I just know they will.”

“Hmm ... right, can you attend to this, I’ll just go and say goodbye to Victoria.”

When Victoria had returned to her office the twins were lounging on the visitor’s chairs.

“Stand up!” she said, sharply.

The girls stood.

“This isn’t the first time you two have made a nuisance of yourselves, but it had better be the last. And annoying Miss Millet to forward your own nefarious plans will cease too.”

“Miss Millet?” ventured Siobhan.

“Diana Millet, The lady you were just harassing downstairs.”

“Oh! Diana?”

“Yes, Millie is what we have always called her, and she has been with us so long that my mother makes the error of calling her Millicent, but her name is Diana. And Miss Diana Millet is governess to Sir Jacob White’s children, you’d do well to remember that. Now, you can go to the workshop and do something useful.”

The girls left, but Victoria felt that the business was, as yet, unfinished. She sat behind her desk, took a sheet of paper and wrote a letter.

A few minutes later Millie came to see her.

“I’m afraid they may take this out on Myfanwy, Victoria,” she said.

“Oh dear! Well I’ll write a note to their mother and ask if she will keep an eye open. I want to ask her about something else anyway. I had to explain to those little devils who you were, they were a little taken aback.”

“Who I am? Oh! I see, yes everyone knows me as Millie, and you mother calls me Millicent, not that I mind. Anyway, I’ve added an extra ‘t’ and ‘e’ to the end, Millette, I thought it sounded better.”

Victoria laughed, “no harm in that,” she said. “And remember you are the governess, not nursemaid!”

The next morning Victoria received replies to both her letters. The first was from Kaitlyn Humble, the twin’s mother telling her that the previous evening the girls had reduced Myfanwy to tears accusing her of their misfortune. She also agreed to both Victoria’s proposals to provide a cure for the problem. The other, from London, confirmed that the second proposal was acceptable.

Right, she said to herself, no time like the present. She went to the stairs and called the twins to her office. When they arrived she was standing there with a thin cane in her hand.

“Close the door,” she told Roisin.

“What are you going to do?” asked an already tearful Siobhan.

“You are going to have six strokes of this cane each, and then I will tell you what your future is.”

“You can’t do that, Papa will have you flogged!” said Roisin.

“I have a letter here,” Victoria waved it in front of them, “and it gives me permission from both your parents. If you do not accept your punishment you will leave our employ, and if that happens your father says that his friend Captain Oates has a couple of Lieutenants who’d like pretty wives even if they can’t afford them. So poverty and lots of babies, is the alternative.”

“We heard Jake did it to you with his hand,” Siobhan snivelled.

“You don’t really think that I am going to damage my hand on your tough arses do you?” said Victoria coarsely. Now, stand one each side of my desk and get you underwear around your ankles, or you can go home to your father.”

Both girls were now crying but they moved either side of the desk.

“Get your underwear down!”

Both girls very reluctantly fumbled under their skirts and a pile of fabric arrived at their ankles.

“Now, bend over the desk and hold each others wrists.”

The girls looked at her, then bent forward over a piece of folded cloth that Victoria had placed on the desk knowing that there was going to be a fair quantity of snot and drool produced. They held each others wrists.

Victoria moved forward and lifted first Siobhan’s and then Roisin’s skirts up over their backs exposing two of the most delectable backsides that anyone could imagine. Both girls were shaking and crying. She paused.

“You will now receive six strokes across you bottoms. If either you let go of the others wrists then the one that let go will receive double. Do you understand?”

“Ho ... w will you know who let’s go,” asked Roisin, between snivels.

“I won’t. So you’ll both get double.”

“‘Snot fair.”

“That’s a lesson in life.”

A moment later Victoria applied the first cut. She had no desire to hurt the girls, and particularly to damage then, but she did want them to appreciate the meaning of their surname. At the same time she didn’t want them to end up as broken women, so the cane, which could have caused considerable damage did no more than raise a red stripe across Siobhan’s backside, it stung, but it wouldn’t be considered very painful. Nevertheless it elicited a howl from the girl, followed shortly after by one from her sister. They alternated with Victoria walking around the desk until all twelve strokes had been delivered and both girl’s backsides were suitably decorated with a neat lattice pattern.

Both the girls stood up.

“Go and wash you faces and tidy yourselves, and then come back,” Victoria told them.

“Right,” she said when they returned a few minutes later. “You are going to be sent to Paris to work and gain experience. Don’t think of this as a jolly, you really will be working, Madame de Pamplemousse is a hard task mistress.”

“Is this a punishment? It doesn’t seem like it.” asked Siobhan.

“No, your punishment is over, and I hope you have learnt your lesson and treat everyone with more respect in future. This is the next stage in your career. I shall come to Paris later to see how you are getting along.”

“Oh! When will we go?” asked Roisin.

“As soon as arrangements can be made. Madame has agreed to it and will take you with her when she returns to Paris in a few days.”

After the girls had left she sat down for a few minutes to recover. Then she went upstairs to see Gina. Gina was in the studio, but came out after a moment and went to her darkroom. Victoria followed her in.

“Are you free?” she asked.

“Yes, I just took a picture of two striped asses,” replied Gina. “Strangely it was ... very umm ... exciting.”

“Good,” said Victoria, hoisting her skirts, “‘I can’t believe how much that turned me on and I really need...”

It was one of those situations where satisfaction was achieved in almost no time and Victoria arrived on the upper sales floor in time to see Siobhan, Roisin and Myfanwy in a group hug, all of them in tears, but they seemed to have made up. The girls seemed contrite, but how long that would last remained to be seen.

A little later when the the very excited twins had left to go to the workshop, Victoria was in her office working, trying to get her paperwork up together when there was a knock on her door.

“Come in,” she called. “Ah, Myfanwy,” she went on as her visitor entered, “I was expecting you.”

“Expecting me, Miss?”

“Yes. Sit down,” she indicated the chair in front of her desk. “You want to know if you can go to Paris.”