Chapter 2: Practical Considerations

In common with my usual practice, I had breakfasted simply and was seated in my living room, taking in the news of the day from that morning's edition of The Times. It told the usual combination of political obfuscations, celebrity excesses and the absurd behaviour of prima-donnas engaged in the sport of Association Football or soccer, as our American cousins refer to it.

There was however some real news. The value of production in our manufacturing industries had once again increased which was, I considered, an encouraging sign. Furthermore our cricket team[1] had once again triumphed. Even a combined Southern Hemisphere XI had proved no match for the combination of spin bowling and straight hitting from ourselves.

Of passing professional interest was an account of a police raid in the east of London that had freed twenty young women from the clutches of a gang of Eastern origin suspected of planning to traffic their captives into the slave markets of the Formosa. Scurrilous though this plan was, a detailed explanation of the way in which the gang had solved the challenges of restraining twenty captives held against their will would have been of relevance to my own work but no such detail emerged. Instead the article focused on the uninteresting expressions of relief from one of those abducted. I put the paper aside impatiently and turned to the day's work.

The portfolio that Harwell Tusker had provided me on his two wards certainly gave me the basis for an assessment of the task in hand. The school reports were helpful. My own experience of women below the age of, say, twenty-five was limited but the assessment of the girls' tutors in their final year at school seemed to indicate they had qualities that could be built on. "Amanda demonstrates an independence of thought that always contributes to class discussions," said her history teacher while Estelle's PE teacher had commended her "energy and enthusiasm as a member of the long distance and cross country running team."

Good, I thought, physical endurance is always a useful attribute in those that I work with.

By way of explanation, I should remark that my methods depend on confronting the subject with a series of situations designed to increase the levels of sexual and emotional stress. These can include the use of prolonged physical stimulation, excessive generation of endorphins through acute pleasure and pain, mental disorientation through confinement, restraint, and humiliation, as well as a number of other tools. Together, these techniques tend to drive a desire for compliance and a wish to please. This predisposition is then focused on the needs of the subject's partner, so achieving the desired behavioural adjustment. In principle, the approach is simple. In practice it is rather more difficult, since each human being proves (to my continuing fascination) to be a unique combination of attitudes, complexes and characteristics that need method balanced against personality.

Both the girls seemed, from the reports, to be in good physical health. The school medical orderly had found little to comment on, although Amanda was chastised for paying insufficient attention to her weight. In addition, the typical diet of today's youth, coupled with the lack of exercise resulting from too much time connected to Mr Edison's music device (saving Estelle's activities on the running track), meant that both suffered from the complexion problems common in young adults.

As far as their intellectual well-being was concerned, Amanda was an enthusiastic consumer of literary fiction, albeit the works of Miss Austen and the like that have been dubbed "Chick Lit", and Estelle had demonstrated some artistic skill in her handling of watercolours and in her abilities as a needlewoman. Amanda had become proficient in the playing of the cello, a particularly suitable instrument for a young lady, I feel. Something about the way it is clutched warmly between the thighs, I suppose. Estelle, on the other hand, had shown herself accomplished in dance, dramatic interpretation (whatever that might be) and in the highly relevant skill — from my perspective — of gymnastics.

I was encouraged. It seemed to me that although the two, no doubt, suffered from the usual limitations of youth, they appeared to possess attributes that, with careful management, could be translated into the skills recognised as useful in a wife.

They were also, without doubt, physically attractive. I could vouch for that on the strength of my own encounter with them on the train to Benfield Abbas. While I might have regretted their choice of apparel from the perspective of my own preferences, it had allowed me to appraise them physically: Estelle taller, slimmer, more athletic; Amanda with a fuller shape but with the bearing that allowed her to make much of it.

The words of Mr William Morris "Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful," are meant to apply to the choice of furniture or décor but I see no reason why they cannot refer to a wife. Against those criteria, Estelle and Amanda seemed able to qualify and consequently might benefit from my attentions.

The personal qualities of the two young ladies were not, however, the only matters that concerned me. The other issue of concern to me was the extent to which I could accommodate two participants simultaneously in my programme. For all my previous projects, I have only needed to work with one individual at a time and the proposed change would create some practical difficulties. The cage, for example, that I use to accommodate participants certainly had sufficient space to accommodate two but, were it to be used so, neither would feel the sense of isolation that is currently the experience of those imprisoned within it. Equally, I only have a single one of some of my favourite restraint devices. It was clear that additional investment in facilities would be required.

It has often been the fact that English enterprises have welcomed an expansion in their business without considering the additional investment that such expansion requires. I had no intention of repeating those mistakes, especially in a project where the outcomes were so unpredictable and the funding so indeterminate.

My late afternoon studies were interrupted by a ring on the door. A smartly uniformed employee of the General Post Office saluted in the customary fashion as I answered it.

"Special delivery, Sir," the boy announced holding out a small parcel wrapped in brown paper. I took it from him and signed his receipt book. I noted the time and place of posting: Benfield Abbas, some four hours earlier. I have heard it suggested that private companies might improve on the delivery services offered by Her Majesty's Royal Mail. What an absurd suggestion! I handed the receipt book back. The delivery boy saluted once more and left.

As I opened the parcel I saw it bore Harwell Tusker's distinctive handwriting. Inside, a short letter read, "You will remember I said, 'All the usual vices plus a few unique ones of their own.' Found these in their rooms. From the fact that they were concealed with some considerable care I will allow you to draw your own conclusions. H."

Wrapped in the parcel were two bundles of slim books, one labelled "E" and the other "A". From Amanda's bundle I took out the first few volumes. I knew the general type although I had not encountered the specific editions before. It seemed that her literary tastes extended beyond Austen. These volumes, while not having the literary qualities of the author of Mansfield Park, possessed other attributes. "Penny Dreadfuls" I believe is the popular term for them. The editions provided in Tusker's parcel all explored a similar theme, if their lurid covers were anything to be judged by: a collection of stories of the mystic East, all seeming to focus on the abduction and enslavement of white girls for the amusement of their oriental masters. It is a common enough fantasy, hence the demand for stories of this kind. It suggested to me that Amanda might be enticed into giving her consent for the plans Tusker had for her, if only as an opportunity to realise some of her own fancies.