Mrs Higgins had been right to encourage her to get to bed early. She slept like a log until Sarah shook her awake. It took her a moment to realise where she was and separate her dreams from the reality, framed in the contrasting image of Sarah’s smile, and the cane hanging behind Sarah on the wall.

She so wanted to roll over and daydream a bit, but there was real concern in the tone of Sarah’s urgent, “Hurry Sally, you need to have a quick wash, get into your new uniform, and be downstairs at 6:30, and that is less than half an hour away.”

As Sarah left the room she said, “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes to show you where to have breakfast, please hurry.”

Sarah had put an extra emphasis on her ‘please’ which took a moment to reach Sally’s nerve-ends, but she then jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

It was not just the pinafore dress that was tight. The bra left much of her breasts spilling over the top, and the knickers dug into her bottom. She was trying to find some of her undies in the cupboard when Sarah came back breathless. She showed Sarah the dilemma, but Sarah said that she must wear what Madam had arranged, or there would be hell to pay.

Fortunately, the blouse was loose-fitting. With a huff, several puffs and a lot of help from Sarah, she squeezed into the dress.

Sarah led the way downstairs, where they did a sharp turn to the right, and went parallel to the stairs, past two doors until they arrived at what Sally saw was the dining room. They went past one very long table, capable of seating about twenty people she guessed, and Sarah sat her at a second, small table, set for two.

The reason for the maid’s whispered, “Thank goodness we got here on time,” became clear as Sally heard the click of heels and she turned to see her aunt enter.

Some instinct drove her to rise and stand by Sarah as the lady of the house entered. Her aunt, evidently in a buoyant mood, smiled and gave cheery greetings to both; “Good morning, Sally, good morning, Sarah. Glad to see you got her here on time, Sarah, well done.”

Sarah curtseyed and said, “My duty, Madam.”

“Yes, it is Sarah, but well done all the same.”

The maid asked to be excused while she got their breakfasts from the kitchen, and Sally’s aunt turned her full attention to her niece. She looked her up and down and did a sign in the air, for Sally to turn around.

“Yes, not bad. On the tight side. But it will do for now. You may take your seat, girl.”

The reversion to the term “girl” instead of her proper name, did not escape Sally and as she sat, she reminded herself to be on her guard. She even remembered to respond with “Thank you, Ma’am.”

Sarah appeared with a tray just then. As she set it on their table, Sally saw that it contained orange juice, toast, marmalade, a pot of coffee, a teapot and a jug of milk, all which Sarah transferred to the table.

Sarah poured some steaming coffee for the lady of the house, and addressing Sally, asked whether she would like tea or coffee. Sally replied with a request for tea, which Sarah poured. Then her aunt dismissed the maid with, “Thank you, Sarah, that will be all.”

Harriet, after a few moments of munching, broke the silence with, “I shall accompany you to school today, to introduce you personally to the school principal and teachers. I have a busy morning afterwards at the office.”

“I will be back to collect you at 3 pm, and we will go to get you some suitable clothes including a better-fitting uniform. Normally, Housekeeper will accompany you, or delegate the task to Sarah, but we must start your novel school experience by getting everything crystal clear there about how I want you tutored.”

Sally had, out of respect, not eaten a bite whilst her aunt was talking, and given her full attention.

Her aunt had noticed, and for once, smiled and said, “Eat up, Sally. The next chance is at noon when there is a brief break for lunch. You will need your energy, I assure you.”

Sally smiled back and said, “I’m looking forward to it, Aunt—err... Ma’am.”

Harriet reacted to the near mistake with a glance to the spot on the wall above their heads. Sally followed her aunt’s eyes to that which she had somehow missed seeing earlier; another cane hanging there for all to see.

They got to the car by 7:10, and as soon as they were out on the road, Harriet picked up on the subject of school again.

“You will see Sally that it is not a normal school, but a special college dedicated to the retraining of youthful women, who have lost their way in this post-COVID economy. The skills they learn will equip them to better confront the difficult future our world presents. I am the sole Governess and the concept was mine, but I have like-minded backers in positions of influence in local and National Government and the full backing of your uncle.”

Aunt Harriet overtook another car, on one of the rare straight bits on the otherwise winding country road, and then continued, “This is the second year the school is in operation. We will add more classes next year, so there will be three full sets of classes running contemporarily. We are confident we will be allowed to award degree qualifications. Maybe next year or at the latest, the year after. We are getting more and more inquiries from interested parents and employers who want their daughters and key staff re-trained.”

“You will start from scratch and do extra lessons to enable you to get your A-levels and reach an acceptable standard to enter year-two at our school. Failure to reach the required standards is unacceptable at my school, just as it is not acceptable in my home, Sally.”

The car sped through the country roads in the opposite direction from which they had come yesterday afternoon. Aunt Harriet was a confident driver. She was confident in everything she did, it seemed to Sally.

Aunt Harriet took up her explanation again after they had snaked their way through a still-sleepy village. “The company your uncle founded, and I run with him, was the first to the market with an anti-COVID-19 vaccine back at the beginning of 2021. Your uncle George is, as I said to you yesterday, out of the country a lot, as he has interests in other business ventures. That leaves me running the company here, which I do partly from the office but mostly from my home office. You will, one day, with the right preparation, hopefully, be able to assist but, for now, your only priorities will be to do excellently at school, and at the other tasks I will set you at home.”

Aunt Harriet pressed a button on the console over their heads and indicated that she was turning. A gate opened, and she steered the car through without hardly slowing.

All Sally could see initially was a big park full of trees, but after a few moments, she saw a large three-story Victorian-style building.

Sally noted that the car clock said 7:20 just as they were getting out of the car.

At the entrance stood a tall grey-haired, but still sturdy and fit-looking lady dressed in a tartan skirt and jacket with a cream blouse. She wore tan stockings, and she had tan-coloured, square-heeled flat shoes.

She greeted Harriet with a beaming handshake. “Good morning, Governess. It is so good to see you. All the teaching and auxiliary staff are waiting in the meeting room, as you instructed. I fully understand your need to save your precious time.”

Sally, who had hung back a bit, was bordering on rudeness as she stared at the extremely tall lady with the strong Scots brogue.

Her aunt’s, “Girl, stop staring and introduce yourself to Mrs McDonald, who is the school principal.” Made her jump.  Sally stepped forward and offered her hand to the Scottish Eiffel Tower, saying, “Pleased to meet you.”

SMACK!

Her aunt had lifted her skirt and slapped her bottom hard. “What did I say you were to do when instructed by me, girl?”

Sally’s hands flew to her bottom instinctively and her face blushed from this treatment in front of a total stranger.

Smack, smack another two spanks and her aunt said, “acknowledge the instruction with, ‘Yes Ma’am,’ isn’t that right girl?” Smack, smack.

Sally responded at last with the required, “Yes Ma’am, sorry Ma’am.”

The Principal offered her hand to a very embarrassed Sally, who took it quickly as a way out of this shocking experience. The Principal drew Sally’s hand in a tight clasp which caused her to look up and note the steel grey cold eyes, which matched the hair tightly drawn back in a bun.

“Welcome Sally, I have heard all about you. You may refer to me as Mrs McDonald.” This sent a shiver down Sally’s spine. That the school Principal had not even changed her expression as Aunt Harriet smacked a young lady on her knickered bottom right in front of her, registered another warning in the back of Sally’s head.

Sally could not have freed her hand had she tried, as the Principal drew her closer. Her invitation explained the gesture, “please come on in Governess, let’s not take any more of your precious time than is necessary.” Sally stepped out of the way as her aunt passed into the building. At the same moment, the principal released her hand, and she stood alone in the doorway, as Mrs McDonald accompanied her aunt.

After several seconds of gathering her wits. She hurried after them.

They entered a sizeable but crowded room, with over twenty people seated. The Head went to the top of the room where there was a flip-chart board and a projector screen. By the time she had reached a lectern, the few remaining low-toned chatters had silenced.

Sally remained with her aunt, to the side, and although she wanted to study the faces of those seated, who included her future teachers, some magnetic force drew her attention to Mrs McDonald.

“Thank you all for gathering here this morning. I give you our Governess who has an important message for us. Naturally, I expect our Governess’s instructions to be followed to the letter.”

She stepped back two paces and waved Harriett to the lectern with a smile.

Harriet put her hand on Sally’s arm and led the way to the lectern.

Sally took her place by her aunt in front, and for the first time, looked at the faces of those seated. First, she realised there were over twenty, closer to thirty. All women. Not a single man. Then she saw that several of those in the front rows were looking at her with assessing eyes. There was no sympathy for a newcomer there, only professional judgement, and she concluded those would be her teachers. The thought brought her no comfort.

Aunt Harriet had been thanking the Principal and all the staff, but when she mentioned her name, Sally’s ears pricked up and she looked at her aunt, who had been looking at her with raised eyebrows, as she said, “Sally here, is somewhat of a daydreamer. Her lack of application to study in her previous school has resulted in poor reports, which I have passed to Mrs McDonald. She has got by anyway because she is a clever girl, just lazy.”

Sally did not know where to look. She was blushing beetroot red, as she felt fifty or more eyes boring into her.

Her aunt was continuing, “She is now my responsibility, and ‘just getting by’, is unacceptable. I expect and will get excellence.”

Aunt Harriet was looking at Sally when she dropped her next bombshell, “Sally, turn around, knickers right off, and lift your skirt above your waist.”

Sally stood frozen, looking from her aunt to the Head and then to the audience. Nobody said a word.

“Why did I have to swat your bottom, just now as we walked into the building girl?”

Sally stammered, “Because I forgot to acknowledge your order, Ma’am.”

Many in the rows facing her grinned.

Sally knew she had no choice and responded with the required words as she then turned her back and put her hands under her skirt.

It was even more embarrassing as she struggled to peel the too-tight knickers down. She stepped out of them with even greater difficulty as they caught in her shoes.

Grasping her knickers in a tight ball, she lifted her skirt so all could see her lower curves. There were a few, “oh's," amongst the audience, and then she thought she heard someone say, “enormous.”

Her aunt continued addressing the staff, “As I say, I demand excellence, not mediocrity. I do not expect favourable treatment for my niece, quite the opposite, I expect that you will all demand excellence from her in every single lesson and social events including lunch.”

Sally could see the Head, who was standing right in front of her, just a few yards paces behind her aunt, nod and smile.

Harriet was saying, “I am convinced that the frequent use of the cane, as a means of correction, has been a major factor in bringing this school the academic results you have all driven. Whereas you correct the other girls with caning on a knickered bottom, I want you to bare my niece’s bottom, whenever you judge she needs a caning.”

Then, half-turning, she sent a sudden and hard slap!

Sally had sensed something by noting a movement in the Head’s eyes. She let out a yelp as the smack connected.

“As you can see, it is an exceptionally large bottom for a seventeen-year-old. So do not go easy on her. Cane hard, and as often as needed, to get the results I will be expecting.”

Harriet turned to the Head and said, “Mrs McDonald, as you know, I need to run. My heartfelt gratitude to you and all your team with every best wish for a continued successful academic term. I’ll be in regular touch with you as always, but I would appreciate a weekly report on Sally’s progress, please.”

The Head acknowledged the request with, “I assure you, Governess, that the staff and I will be especially vigilant with your niece and we will make it our mission to rid her of that lazy streak you have highlighted.”

They exchanged handshakes, Harriet smiled at the audience and was about to go, when she addressed the Head again as though it were an afterthought. “Oh, Mrs McDonald, please be so kind as to give the girl nine good hard strokes of your cane right after I leave. Six for not responding correctly to me as we entered the building, and three extras for her delay in baring her big bottom just now.”

She left in a hurry.

Sally had never felt worse in her short life. She now knew what it felt to be a fly just caught in a spider’s web.

The Headmistress had the lectern moved, and a chair brought up in its place. Then she arranged the shell-shocked girl bent over the back of it with the instruction to, “Hold on to the seat tight and do not get up or I will repeat the stroke.”

Sally was later to discover the purpose of those two mysterious tabs sewn on the inside at the back of the dress. Just now, all she could feel was a fumbling high on her back, as Mrs McDonald used them to attach the lower half of the dress to buttons on the shoulder straps. Now she was totally exposed from halfway up her back downwards.

Sally would later reflect on how a cane appeared so quickly in the meeting room. She would rightly conclude that Aunt Harriet and Mrs McDonald, had planned this very public humiliation from the outset. Hence, it would be, ‘crystal clear’, to all the staff, how their Governess wanted them to proceed with their special new student.

Mrs McDonald had no intention of hurrying this, so she dispatched some Admin staff to hold the classes which would normally start shortly. Their presence at this demonstration was not essential.

Then, with a long rattan tucked under her arm, she fondled the nervous twitching orbs, and said in a voice that all could hear, “You heard what the Governess said Sally, she, ‘expects excellence from you in all things,’ and has explicitly instructed me to ensure my staff and I deliver that result.”

Moving back a pace back and to Sally’s left, she continued, “I assure you we take pride in our work here girl. You will be given the very best we have to offer in instruction, and we will expect your perfect responses. Anything less from you will lead to a very sore and throbbing bottom. Mother Nature has given you a huge bottom, so it will absorb as many good hard canings as it takes to get your mind focused.”

She licked her lips, flexed the rattan between her powerful hands and silently thanked her boss for bringing her this special responsibility.

Sally held on for dear life to the chair and waited for what she knew will be a special demonstration of authority.

Mrs McDonald, however, not yet satisfied with her victim’s position, tapped the insides of the legs and said, “Spread wider, I don’t want you losing your balance girl.”

Sally not only obeyed but even responded, “Yes, Mrs McDonald.”

The Principal smiled at the subservient response and drank in the view of the hairless vulva. She was not the only one, as those in the front row had an unobstructed view too.

This was the first time she had caned a girl on the bare. It made little or no difference to the effect, but it made every difference in the pleasure of punishing.

Sally felt three taps as the Principal measured her distance. Then she heard the whoosh followed by the thwack as the cane bit her bottom right across the centre. It took a second, but then she yelped in pain. God, that was hard. Harder than her aunt had caned.

Another tap, this just below where the first had landed, and again a whoosh and a thwack. Sally yelled even louder, and Mrs McDonald knew she had made that second one even harder than the first.

She looked at her staff and noted that several were on the edge of their seats and looking flushed. It gave her great kudos that she had everyone’s full attention, but she delighted in stating the obvious, “Is the message being received loud and clear girl?”

Poor Sally had to gasp in fresh oxygen before being able to whimper, “Yes, Mrs McDon...” which was cut off, before it could be completed, as a third hard stroke slashed in.

She quickly followed up with a fourth and said, “So, you will remember always to acknowledge properly all…”

She paused and whipped down the fifth. Thwack!

“... instructions?”

Number six came whooshing down as hard as any of its predecessors and Sally was howling, but stuttered, “Yes, Mrs McDonald.”

The Disciplinarian smiled as she studied the six tramlines. ‘The true benefit of caning a bare bottom,’ she thought. Then she noticed something else. The girl’s labia were puffy. Now was not the time to investigate, but she made a mental note. She suspected that several of her existing charges got sexually aroused during punishment, but this was the most obvious confirmation yet.

She stood back and aimed again. Tapping low on the sit-spots, she said, “Now for the three to remind you to act quickly when given an order,”

Sally was in terrible pain but was indeed confused by another sensation. A ‘sensation’, only her soulmate Julie’s attention had given her in the past. Then the cane whipped in again, this time in rapid succession, came strokes, seven, eight and nine.

She dropped the knickers which had been still grasped in her hand, as she let go of the seat for a second. She lifted each leg in turn but stayed bent over and gulped in air in between her cries of desperation.

Mrs McDonald knew very well that she had caned hard and had never seen such self -control in a newcomer. Even her most hardened charges would barely have competed with this young and submissive delight.

With the excuse of transmitting her appreciation, she walked up close behind Sally and placed her large left hand on the trashed buttocks saying, “Good girl, you took your correction well.” Her fingers quickly brushed over the exposed inner labia and her suspicion was confirmed, Sally was well lubricated there. She turned back to the audience and said, “Right then, let us start our day’s work. I’ll bring Sally to Mathematics lessons in a while after she has sorted herself out.”

Sally had felt that soft brushing of fingers but did not dream that it had been deliberate. She got up when Mrs McDonald took her arm and drew her up. The Principal unpinned her skirt and let it fall saying, “Pick up your knickers Sally but don’t bother putting them on. We will go by Matron’s and see if she can give you a better fit. First, pop into the toilet over there and wash your face. I’ll wait here, so don’t dawdle.”

She needed, ‘the toilet’, herself, but decided it would have to wait as it was likely to be a lengthy visit.

To be continued.