Prior to entering Georgina's employment, Mary has been invited to observe her new mistress at work in defence of the realm...
So it was that at four o’clock the following day, Jimmy and I entered a cupboard on the landing and slipped down a passage to the window that looked out into Georgina’s boudoir. From her side the window was a mirror and, as she had explained, it was through this that the photographs were taken.
It was a lovely room, smaller than the salon and richly decorated in autumnal colours, with a fine carpet and velvet curtains pulled shut to keep out the gathering darkness and winter chill. A large, soft, and very comfortable-looking settee was placed some twelve feet away, half facing a fine marble hearth in which a bright fire burned.
We sat down on wooden chairs and Jimmy picked up the Box Brownie camera. He held a finger over his lips to indicate the need for silence as voices sounded on the stairs. He was wise to remind me, as the sense of being present in the room rather than watching from outside it was profound. Shortly afterwards, the door opened and Georgina entered, looking absolutely divine in a sea-green silk dress, her blonde hair arranged in loose cascading curls.
She was followed by another woman. I fixed my eyes on her, intrigued and excited to see her completely unaware of her observers. Georgina had simply told me her name was Mrs Elena de Haan and she was the wife of a senior diplomat in the Dutch embassy. I gathered that the objective was to reach him through her. Their voices came clearly through a concealed grille in the wall above the mirror.
‘I’ve told my man that he can have the evening off, so we won’t be disturbed, my dear,’ Georgina was saying. ‘Do sit down and I’ll get you a drink. Gin? It’s Dutch, I believe,’ she added and gave a little laugh at this.
‘That would be nice,’ replied Mrs de Haan, smiling in return, her English fluent. I think she was aged around fifty, a tall, full-breasted woman with dark brown hair piled high. Her eyes were also dark and quite distinctive in her unlined and very pale face. I think she was wearing some powder, as her cheeks showed a lovely pink blush which matched her red lips. Altogether, she was a distinctly attractive woman, and the dark blue dress she wore was well chosen.
When they were both settled on the settee and started to talk, it became clear that this was not her first visit to the house, but it was her first time upstairs in the boudoir. They chatted about the room and this and that for some minutes before Georgina, to my surprise, mentioned me.
‘I have just employed a new maid, Elena, a quite beautiful girl named Mary Felix. It is a pity she is not here tonight, or I could have introduced you. After all, with your maid and all, well …’ She tailed off and raised her eyebrows with that amused intimacy which she did so well.
Mrs de Haan looked discomfited. ‘Georgina, I told you that in great confidence. It is not for further discussion.’
‘But it’s just the two of us here, Elena, and this room is ideal for sharing intimacies. And secretly watching your maid bathing is unusual, you must admit. Although I have heard some women do have such feelings,’ she added casually.
Mrs de Haan shook her head violently. ‘No, Georgina, they do not. It was a most unpleasant and sinful thing to do. I really don’t know why I did it.’
‘But you did enjoy seeing her naked?’ Georgina asked, her tone a little harder. The Dutch woman dropped her eyes to the floor and clasped her hands across her lap. She nodded slowly, then answered the question, her voice low.
‘I wanted to walk away, but something held me there. I am deeply distressed that such an urge came over me, Georgina. My husband and I are God-fearing people who live by the Bible’s laws. He pays me little attention with the demands of his work, and sadly none in the bedroom, but nevertheless, to find myself subject to such feelings … I am truly ashamed.’ She shook her head again, and I could see her eyes were filled with tears.
Georgina moved closer to her on the settee and took her hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jimmy pick up the camera. A quiet click followed as he took the first photograph of the evening.
‘I fear you are right to be, Elena. Such feelings must surely be a perversion in God’s eyes and a great burden upon your shoulders. Will you accept my assistance? Perhaps we could work together to help you control these unnatural urges.’
She nodded and replied tearfully. ‘Yes, please. I would do anything to ease my conscience.’
Georgina stood and walked a little way towards the mirror before turning to address her again. ‘Anything, Elena? Are you sure? Because I believe there is a way, but it will require endurance and fortitude on your part.’
‘Is there? What is it?’ She stood up and crossed over to Georgina. ‘Is it a cure?’ She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief.
Georgina reached out and put her hand on the older woman’s cheek, then gently stroked it as their eyes met. So often she looked as though she was sharing a delightful joke with you. Not now. Her eyes were radiating a power that was intoxicating from where I was sitting. Heavens alone knew what it was doing to Mrs de Haan.
I watched and listened in fascination as she guided her along a path she clearly already had in her mind.
‘It is a treatment, certainly, but it is also a punishment, my dear. For I am sure you understand that to sin in God’s eyes requires a penance. A cure may only be sought after that.’ She nodded firmly as she finished saying this, and sure enough, Mrs de Haan, still locked into that devastating gaze, nodded back.
‘I do deserve punishment. A forfeit must be paid. I see that.’
Georgina crossed to a mahogany chest and slid open the top drawer. She reached in and picked some things up before turning and walking back, holding her hands behind her back. ‘Elena, you caused God great pain when you betrayed his grace with your perverted behaviour, therefore it is only right that you receive some pain yourself. It is the first step to repentance and redemption.’
As she finished speaking, she held up her right hand. It contained a tawse, a foot-long leather strap about two inches wide with a polished wooden handle. I know now that it came from a case of beautifully crafted tools and devices for the application of pain and pleasure that was in Georgina’s possession. I also know now that she was an expert in their use.
Jimmy took another photograph of the two women as Mrs de Haan looked at it and exhaled audibly in the silence that followed.
Georgina’s voice was commanding. ‘Firm strokes on the buttocks. That is what is needed. You will be naked and must submit with joy to the redemption the tawse offers you. As I am applying the punishment, I want you to think about your maid bathing and let your imagination run free. That will ensure the most effective remedy for your unnatural urges. And to ensure you are fully contrite, I will affix these to your nipples before we start.’
She held out her left hand and dangled two delicate brass clamps, each with a short chain attached, below which a shiny weight the size of a small marble hung. She fixed the older woman with another devastating look, part dominance, part sympathy, then reached out again and stroked her neck. When she spoke again, her voice was much softer, almost caressing. ‘You do trust me, don’t you?’
Mrs de Haan seemed not to have heard. For some moments she stared at the tawse, and when she looked at Georgina again, her attractive face was wreathed in indecision. ‘But fully naked in front of you? It is shaming.’
‘What you did is shaming,’ came the uncompromising reply. Georgina seemed to pause and think before continuing in a low voice. ‘Very well. If the nudity is an embarrassment, then I will strip naked as well. Then we will be equals. In fact, I will lead the way.’ With one of her trademark shocked grins, she turned her back and said, ‘My buttons, if you please.’
As the Dutchwoman still hesitated, she looked over her shoulder and spoke again, her voice back to its dominating timbre. ‘Elena, are you serious about redemption or not? Come on!’
I could see how she was smoothly switching between sympathy and judgement, and the poor woman, upset and confused as she was by her feelings about the maid, was kept constantly off balance. It was a lesson I was to learn well.
Mrs de Haan obediently unbuttoned the back of the sleek green dress and helped Georgina out of it. She looked utterly delicious in no doubt carefully chosen undergarments of red silk. She told me later they were from Paris, and indeed I had not seen anything like them in England, and certainly not in rural Devon. The top was a lacy camisole with narrow shoulder straps. As she moved, her nipples stood beautifully proud, two high points in the silky material. Below, her loose lace-trimmed drawers were short, finishing half-way up her thighs.
The Dutchwoman gasped and said, ‘You look wonderful.’
‘Given the circumstances, I’m not sure that’s the right expression,’ was the dry reply from Georgina as she moved behind her and quickly unbuttoned her dress. The undergarments revealed were of a more conventional design, and without further ado, and still working from behind, she lifted the camisole up and over Mrs de Haan’s head.
They were facing the mirror at this point – no accident, I am sure – and as her heavy, dark-nippled breasts swung into view, Jimmy stood and clicked again with the camera. The drawers followed quickly, then her shoes and stockings, so that within a minute she stood naked and embarrassed in front of the mirror. She still had an excellent figure to match her fine face, and I felt my own interest stir as I looked at her smooth white skin and the dark thatch at her groin.
‘I think Mr de Haan is rather foolish,’ murmured Georgina. ‘You are a woman who deserves considerable attention in the bedroom, not none at all.’ I saw her slowly stroke her finger down her back. Mrs de Haan shivered and looked confused but stayed silent.
‘And now …’ She picked up the clamps. ‘Your nipples need to be erect when I put these on,’ she continued and lifted the right breast and sucked it into her mouth. I saw the older woman’s shocked expression, but then her head bent back slightly and her mouth widened as Georgina sucked and licked her. It seemed to me she took rather longer than needed before moving onto the other one. Then, moving quickly, she clamped each nipple and gently let the weights hang.