Chapter 9: Caught

It was close to midnight when Mother Superior was passing the dormitories and saw a figure walking along the corridor ahead of her. Fascinated, she watched as the woman went in to Sister Lucia's cell and shut the door.

'I wonder where Sister Lucia has been at this hour?' she mused, 'The facilities are the other way, so it musty have been to a dormitory.'

She went back to her own cell, but continued to worry about the movement she had seen. Eventually she gave up trying to think of a good reason for Sister Lucia to have visited the dormitories, or the Novice Mistress so late; it was well after Vespers. She decided to inquire immediately and retraced her steps to Sister Lucia's door. There she paused to check to be certain that she was at the right door. As she did so, she heard noises coming from within the nun's cell, moaning noises. Mother Superior opened the door, wondering if Sister Lucia might be ill.

The candle in the cell was lit, and the sight presented to Mother Superior's eyes took her breath away. Sister Lucia was lying back on the bed, entirely naked, with a Novice, still half dressed, sucking on her private parts. It took a moment for Mother Superior to recover from the shock and recognise that the Novice was Marie Donovan, the rebellious daughter of a rich benefactor of the Church in general, and the Convent in particular.

The two young women were so engrossed in what they were doing that neither of them heard the Mother Superior enter the cell. The first intimation of her arrival was a loud SLAP! landing on the upraised rump of the novice. Her scream alerted Sister Lucia, who seemed to in the middle of some sort of fit, and the two sprang to their feet. Mother Superior realised that Sister Lucia had been in the throes of an orgasm.

"Marie," snapped the Mother Superior to the young Novice, "Go to my study, now!"

Seeing Marie reach for her drawers she added, "Don't bother with those. Go now and wait for me."

After the Novice had left, the angry older woman turned to the sobbing nun on the bed and demanded, "What did you think you were doing, seducing a Novice?"

Sister Lucia merely sobbed the louder, knowing that the Mother Superior would never believe that it had been the younger girl who had been the aggressor in the love-making session.

"Hmm," snorted the outraged Mother Superior, "Come with me. Don't bother to dress."

Scared, Sister Lucia dragged herself up from the pallet and followed the Mother Superior along the corridor, acutely aware of her nudity. She knew well where they were going; the punishment cells were at the end of this passage. They were small, windowless, unheated rooms which every Sister had seen at one time or another, usually when on cleaning duties. Sister Lucia could not remember the last time one had been occupied, but sure enough she was pushed into the first one and the door slammed behind her. Then there was a thud as a bar was dropped across it, effectively making it impossible for her to get out.

As she strode back along the corridor, the Mother Superior compared the two miscreants' positions. Sister Lucia was from a background of poverty, and while a hard working young nun, had brought nothing to the convent beyond her intelligence and her body's capacity for work, and keeping her and feeding her made that as expensive as hiring a local family's daughter to do the same work. Marie, or more accurately the Donovan family, brought a great deal of money into the Convent each year in the form of gifts and work done by the Donovan family building firm at no charge.

'Yes, ' she thought, without conscious cupidity, 'Sister Lucia must be at fault here; she must have led the well-brought-up young Novice into the wicked ways of her terrible background.'

Back in her study, the Mother Superior started to talk to Marie in a 'more in sorrow than in anger' voice, "Marie, do you truly want to take your final vows soon, and become a Bride of Christ?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother," said the young girl, very quietly.

Marie was really frightened this time. She had been in trouble before, but only for minor infractions, never for anything like this. For a lesbian sex act such as this, she imagined she would be expelled from the Convent and she knew that being nineteen years old would not stop her father taking a strap to her behind. He might even disown her; at best she would be married off to someone even less appealing than the original elderly widower customer, and that well within the year.

"Have you been to me for punishment before?" asked the older woman, though both of them knew the answer.

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

"For what offence?"

"Talking during meals, Reverend Mother."

"And how did I punish you?"

Again both knew the answer.

"By banning me from speaking a word for four days, Reverend Mother, except if it were necessary to save someone else's life."

Then the Mother Superior asked a question which worried the young Novice. Until now this had been a familiar catechism, where old questions and answers were repeated to reinforce a well-understood position or idea.

"Why do you think I chose that punishment?" asked the old lady.

"Well, Reverend Mother, er..." Marie was floundering.

"It was appropriate, was it not, that you should be punished in a way directly relevant to your sin? A glutton might be put on bread and water, one who speaks out of turn, denied the use of words, and so on. Is that not appropriate, my child?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

"And your sin today? Into what category would it fall?"

This was easier, and Marie answered with confidence, "Reverend Mother it was a sin of the flesh."

"Correct, and so the mortification of the flesh seems an appropriate punishment, does it not?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

Then Marie's heart sank as the Mother Superior continued, "Of course, we would only punish you if you were to stay with us, here in the convent. If you prefer to avoid all punishment here, you may return to your dormitory now and remain there until the morning, when I shall have suitable clothes brought to you, and you may walk out of the front door to pass the rest of your life wherever you wish. If you choose that course, I shall not punish you."

"Please, Reverend Mother, I do so want to stay here. I will truly try to be better in future," she lied, or half lied anyway; what she meant was she would try to be better at not getting caught.

"And you will accept whatever punishment I see fit?" asked the old martinet, thinking gloatingly of the cane in her cupboard.

"Yes, Reverend Mother," replied the girl, not having the slightest idea what might be in store for her, but certain it would be less painful in the long run than facing her father.

"Very well, we shall see in a moment," said the Mother Superior, opening the cupboard and taking the cane out.

Turning to face the young girl, she asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Marie smiled, "Yes, Reverend Mother. It's a cane like they used in schools in the old days."

The smile vanished as the older woman swished it through the air and then said, "We still use them in the Convent, though not with the school girls."

"But ... but ... but that's terrible, Reverend Mother," Marie stammered.