At Wor

Life at the household proceeded more cautiously, but with little other change. Anne accompanied her owner to the office on weekdays as usual. One day - it was a Thursday afternoon - as she knelt leashed to her owner's desk Francesca told her to expect a visitor from her old firm who was negotiating an important deal.

Anne's curiosity changed to horror when Yvonne walked in, accompanied by two young associates. Yvonne had been a rival before Anne entered her present life.

The two had competed for a promotion; though the older woman was plainly the better candidate Anne spread rumors about her and offered herself to the managing partner to get the job. It left her bitter and now caused Anne the deepest shame. Yvonne had forgotten nothing; she made Anne stand up and confess to each of her misdeeds one by one.

Finally it was too much for her; she burst into tears and wet herself as the other four looked on.

In a hard monotone Francesca called her secretary through the open door to take Anne away. Barbara entered, observed the tableau and the spreading stain, and guided the helpless figure to the outer office. She put a towel between Anne's legs and dried her tears with a tissue before securing Anne to her desk.

Anne knelt with her head down as Yvonne, Jennifer, and Scott left a few minutes later, followed shortly by Francesca.

At the end of the day Francesca returned; taking Anne's leash from Barbara she led Anne home and into her cell without a word. She said Anne killed a deal she had been working on for days, and she had to ask maintenance to clean her carpet. Anne wept for most of the night as she lay on the cold earth.

The next morning, Francesca looked in, poured out some feed and water and left her for the day. Anne brooded with increasing anxiety on her fate.

Francesca was plainly very angry, and she sensed it would not blow over without consequences. When Francesca repeated the silent feeding at dinnertime, Anne was sure of it and trembled at the possibilities.

On Saturday, Francesca led Anne into the kitchen for instructions. As she ate breakfast, she explained that guests would be arriving that afternoon to witness punishment; Anne was to prepare a pitcher of iced tea for them, put out chairs and clean the backyard frame.

After making the tea, Anne took a set of clean rags out to the frame. She wiped down the structure and polished the fittings and pulleys till they gleamed before returning to the house. This would be a performance like no other.

As she passed a mirror she saw her disheveled appearance. Haggard from lack of sleep, unwashed since Wednesday, her hair matted, she was a degraded sight even before her punishment; what she would be afterward she could not imagine.

When she had cleaned the inside of the house she presented herself to her owner, who bound her hands and put her back in her cell. Anne saw her water bowl was filled but not the feed bowl. Francesca wanted her stomach empty this afternoon, another sign her beating would be severe.

"Witnessing punishment" was a phrase she knew from her training at St. Agnes; whenever a girl there transgressed some rule, the rest of the herd was joined neck to neck by short chains and made to watch as the victim paid for her sins. They were forbidden even to look away on pain of being the next to suffer the same fate.

Anne lay down but could not sleep. An hour or so later - she could not tell exactly - she heard voices in the house. Francesca entered her cell followed by Yvonne and her two associates.

Jennifer and Scott, surely no more than twenty years old, with open mouths gazed at her and the small bare room while Francesca explained Anne's present life, her training in obedience and her regime of discipline.

Francesca snapped her fingers and pointed to the water bowl. Anne crawled to it on her knees and lapped water. Francesca poured out a quantity of feed pellets for Yvonne. Desperately hungry, Anne ate them all, humbly picking them with her tongue from the outstretched hand of her former rival.

"Will she kiss my shoes if I tell her?" Yvonne asked.

"Gladly."

"Do it, Anne." She leaned forward and kissed each of them repeatedly until Yvonne ordered her to stand and attached her leash.

Francesca led the way out to the frame. Anne meekly followed Yvonne with the young couple behind her whispering to each other.

Yvonne grasped her collar firmly as Francesca attached her wrist and ankle bracelets to the corners of the frame. When she was tied up, Yvonne took her seat; she pulled her chair forward to watch.

Behind her, Jennifer and Scott spoke low with their heads together; Anne thought she saw them kiss.

Francesca opened her case and drew out the long metal-shanked crop; she had not used that on Anne since the ordeal at Mr. Schuyler's a year earlier. Anne began to shake with fear.

Without delay Francesca struck; Anne screamed. Her face set and expressionless, Francesca proceeded with methodical intensity to rake Anne with the crop. She began to weep, her sobs following her screams at each stroke.

After five minutes, Francesca paused and walked around behind Anne, whose breasts and belly streaked with pink were now fully visible to her audience.

Yvonne drew closer, while behind her Scott's hand was inside Jennifer's blouse.

Francesca repeated behind Anne what she had done in front, systematically striking her back and thighs. Anne continued to scream after Francesca had stopped until she walked in front of Anne and slapped her twice, hard.

She sobbed quietly as Yvonne inspected her from all sides and told Francesca "Enough; that will do."

Francesca invited her guests inside for refreshments before leaving. Anne remained hanging limply on the frame. Drawn by the moist and appetizing figure, a swarm of horseflies approached her. She shook her head to keep them from her face, but they settled lower down where she was immobilized.

Silently Anne thanked Francesca, blessed her even, for the chastisement.

After a while she heard a car motor start and the guests drive away. Francesca came out of the house; she shooed the flies away and washed Anne off with a garden hose.

Shortly before sunset she led Anne back to her cell and left her for the night. Anne was pleased to see her feed bowl had been refilled. She slept well that night except for a few times when she rolled over on a sensitive part of her body.

Well after sunrise on Sunday, Francesca appeared. She told Anne to stand and brushed some dirt off her body before refilling the bowls and leaving her for the day.

That evening she returned, in a less grim mood Anne thought. She said she and a companion (Anne guessed it was Thomas) had taken a picnic out to the woods and spent the day walking in the forest.

Before she left, Francesca gave Anne a peck on the cheek. Anne rejoiced at this sign, not that she was forgiven, but that she might hope for forgiveness in time.

Monday morning Francesca appeared at Anne's cell door in her most formal business suit, a dark gray pinstriped jacket and skirt with a white silk blouse. She leashed Anne and led her to work.

The guard at the entrance raised an eyebrow at Anne's bedraggled condition. To him and anyone who asked, Francesca explained what Anne had done to require punishment; soon everyone was in on the news.

She chained Anne to her desk but omitted the bowls. Precisely at nine o'clock, Yvonne arrived with her associates. They glanced at Anne but said nothing as Yvonne and Francesca resumed their negotiations. In short order they agreed on terms. Listening, Anne thought they were quite generous to Francesca's company.

Yvonne told Jennifer to draw up a contract for her signature and deliver it to Francesca the next day. As they rose to leave, Yvonne observed the carpet had been cleaned.

"Yes," Francesca replied; "the maintenance staff does me favors from time to time and I let them use Anne in return." Anne reddened as she lowered her head to the floor; Yvonne snorted and went out.

After lunch, Francesca was true to her word; Barbara led Anne to the basement shop, where she draped Anne over a workbench and left her for the men until the end of the shift.

This was not punishment; they were gentle with her though clumsy at times, and Anne was happy to have each of them inside her.

Francesca took her home, stood her in the kitchen and applied rubbing alcohol to Anne's lacerations. The disinfectant stung but her heart swelled at her owner's solicitude.

She knelt at Francesca's direction and watched as her owner took a handful of feed pellets and held it for Anne to eat. Slowly at first she leaned forward and took a few.

On the next try her extended tongue touched Francesca's outstretched palm, and her owner let it linger there for a second to Anne's unspeakable joy; she even felt herself growing wet - just a little - below. Afterwards Francesca chained her up in her cell and again kissed her on the cheek.

Despite the condition of her skin and a little soreness inside from all the men Anne slept well that night, feeling she was on the road to redemption. Francesca looked in on her the next morning before going to work.

She was wearing a simple floral print dress in bright colors, hemmed at the knee; the informality of her wardrobe told Anne the mood at the office would be different today. She patted Anne on the head and left her. Anne knelt on the dirt floor or lay on her side, listening to the occasional sounds of birds in the yard.

That afternoon Francesca returned triumphant, announcing the contract was won and signed by all parties, including her boss who had high praise for her. Anne glowed with vicarious pride.

Francesca let Anne make dinner for her that evening, the first time in nearly a week and a further sign she was thawing. She even held out a feed cookie as Anne knelt beside the table, and watched her take it in her mouth and chew on it. And the hoped-for kiss at bedtime in the cell was not forgotten.

Anne's wounds healed quickly; within a week they faded to a network of fine pale lines on her skin atop the older ones. Francesca resumed taking her to work after a week, where she was an object of curiosity to all and her story retold over and over.

A month later, Anne sat at her owner's feet in the living room after dinner. Francesca sipped coffee and ran a hand through Anne's hair, and reflected on events.

"I didn't personally want to punish you, though you certainly deserved it" - Anne nodded penitently - "but Yvonne left me no choice. Until she had her revenge she would never do business with us. She had to feel you paid with interest for what you did. So I left you to look your worst and fear the worst on Saturday; if I'd known about the flies I would have served the tea outside for them to watch.

"And I counted on Yvonne's ignorance. Gudrun and Frieda showed me how to put marks on you that look more serious than they are. Dealers don't want their girls damaged; marking them up for show is one thing, but harming the stock is foolish. What I did would never deceive a connoisseur like Mr. Schuyler, but it was good enough for her.

"And you were properly responsive, I must say; you screamed like I was going to kill you."

"I thought you were, ma'am."

"No, not for a contract that size, I wouldn't kill you for that."

Anne looked up at Francesca, who winked at her, and was reassured.

"Where was I? Oh yes, you gave a great performance. You remember I told you the first day we met, after I exercised you, how you made me look good with your cries and tears. Yvonne told me afterwards your debt was paid. You deserve as much credit as I do for landing that deal."

Anne's eyes filled at this praise, but all she said was "Thank you very much, ma'am".

"And now that it's over I bet you liked it, didn't you?"

Anne nodded.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The weekend sessions continued, with a growing audience. Claudia asked Francesca to show her some simple techniques and tried them out on Anne, tentatively at first then more firmly as her confidence grew.

One Saturday she appeared leading another young woman on a rope; Eve was of medium height and wore only a leather collar and bracelets.

Claudia spoke briefly with Francesca, who asked her and her Eve a few questions before nodding agreement. When she was done with Anne for the afternoon, she asked her secretary to step forward.

Barbara held Anne to one side while Francesca showed Claudia how to fasten Eve to the frame. She explained to the audience, who knew both parties (this was a small town), that Eve was Claudia's now. Also that Eve had never been whipped before; Claudia would begin her training today and asked Francesca to conduct it.

At the first blow Eve cried out just as Anne did from humiliation and despair as she saw the course of her future life unfold itself. She writhed and fought the whip for a minute before submitting to her fate.

As Anne's first trainer put it, she had managed to overcome her resistance; Eve had potential.

Francesca continued to apply the whip to every part of Eve's body until all of it was offered to her. She held the instrument up for Eve to kiss before passing it to Claudia.

When Claudia was done, Francesca gave her a squeeze bottle of water to put in Eve's mouth. Anne felt a lump in her throat as she remembered Francesca doing the same for her their first time together. When it was clear Eve had recovered enough to stand on her own Claudia let her down, tied the rope to her collar and led her away.