Dr. Jeyll and Mistress Hyde

Doctor Henry Jekyll came to a halt outside the door to Sir Francis Dashwood's room and unlocked it. A distinguished gentleman of fifty-seven years of age, the Doctor's hair was considerably greyed and cut severely short. He wore a pair of round-lensed spectacles with copper frames and had a florid face and a noticeable paunch to his belly. Entering the room he found Sir Francis seated in a far corner, yesterday's copy of the Times spread open before him. Dashwood was considerably younger than Doctor Jekyll, perhaps in his early thirties. His body was lean and fit from outdoor pursuits. His black hair was fashionably long with a neatly clipped goatee beard

"Ah, the good physician Jekyll. Good morning to your Doctor," Sir Francis greeted him jovially. "Most opportune timing, if you would be so kind to turn the page or perhaps free my hands?"

"And a good morning to you Sir Francis," Henry replied as he stooped to turn the page of the broadsheet newspaper. "I am afraid after the latest incident that it will be a day or two before the jacket may be removed and only dependent on your good behavior. The orderly that you sank your teeth into will almost certainly bear the scars to his grave."

Sir Francis sniggered unrepentantly at this news. The heavy canvas straitjacket with thick leather buckles he wore prevented a more animated response. He sat upon the floor with his legs spread wide before him, his back resting against the padded wall of his cell and the copy of the Times between his splayed legs.

"That damn peasant deserved it," Sir Francis asserted defiantly. "He had the temerity to manhandle me with no regard to my higher station."

"Hmmm, be that as it may once committed to our asylum certain rights and privileges must be dispensed with if you are to be cured," Henry patiently pointed out. "Whatever your former social rank you are by necessity obliged to obey the instructions of my staff."

"Committed you say!" Sir Francis objected. "Incarcerated against my will with no semblance of a trial by my peers as is required by the law of the land. A damned usurpation of my rights I say. Of what crime am I accused Sir? None that would stand a test of the courts."

"You ravished, degraded, and tortured the daughters of the Viscount Hinchingbrooke," Henry pointed out. "You and other members of your blasphemous Hellfire cult whom you refuse to name."

"Poppycock sir!" Sir Francis raised his voice imperiously. "Harriet and Henrietta Montague both willingly participated in the rites and rituals of our esoteric order and the fact that neither can be coerced to testify against me is the reason that common law was circumvented to incarcerate with total disregard to legal process."

Henry fell silent, the Montague twins had indeed refused every inducement to provide witness against Sir Francis. The pair were in fact recently admitted to this very asylum and secured a short walk away from the cell of Sir Francis. In his preliminary interview of the sisters they had both brazenly professed their willing association with the Hellfire cult and continuing loyalty to Sir Francis. The sordid details of their sexual debasement in said rituals had been recounted with obvious and shocking relish with no hint of shame or regret on their part. The twin's father had finally no option but to have the young women diagnosed to be suffering from acute female hysteria in the hope that placed under Doctor Jekyll care they might find some treatment to bring them to their senses once more.

"I can see that once more we reach an impasse Sir Francis," Henry said after the extended silence between the two men reached an uncomfortable length. "However hope is not lost, I have begun formulating a new treatment that I believe holds promise that could curb your violent nature and possibly facilitate your release back into society."

"Not another blasted invention from that charlatan Granville?" Sir Francis snapped in agitation. "As fascinating as I find being tortured by his electrical contraptions I see no therapeutic benefit in forcing such indignity upon me."

"As it happens no," Henry replied. "Though Granville's experimentation with electrical-powered devices shows great promise in my opinion this new treatment stems from my own field of expertise in biochemistry. An elixir I hope to perfect utilising a compound I have recently been able to isolate which I have designated oestradiol which occurs naturally in the human body. Increasing the quantity of this compound in the body through injection I believe it shows great promise. In my medical trials with lower mammals, it greatly reduced aggression and dominant behavior without manifesting any adverse effects that I could detect."

"So your hope to render me docile with some damned snake oil?" Sir Francis scoffed. "You are as much a fool as your underling Granville in that case. Attempt to interfere with human nature at your peril Doctor Jekyll, you will find that my will is not so easily broken."

Sir Francis turned his attention back to the copy of the Times laid out before him, studiously ignoring Henry's presence. With a sigh born of frustration, Doctor Jekyll removed himself from the presence of Dashwood and was just relocking the door to his cell when he became aware of the approaching figure of his newly engaged head nurse.

"Doctor Jekyll?" The Scots brogue voice was strong though undoubtedly that of a woman much like the figure to whom said voice belonged. "Doctor Granville asked me to inform you that he is ready for his treatment of the Montague sisters if you wished to observe."

"Ah yes. I recall he mentioned that he intended some refinement of his electrical apparatus," Henry replied. "Very well, we shall escort the patients to his office for treatment."

Nurse Georgina McTaggart fell in a couple of paces behind Doctor Jekyll as he walked to the new women's wing of the asylum. In her early thirties, Georgina was tall and statuesque, an inch or two under six feet. Her ash blonde hair was pulled severely back on her scalp and held in tightly coiled braids at the back of her head. Her strong features were best described as handsome rather than beautiful, rather androgynous but not unattractive. She wore an ankle-length white nursing dress with a pocketed apron over the top. The short walk to the newly refurbished wing was traversed in silence until they came to a halt outside a door in the whitewashed and antiseptic-scented corridor.

Henry unlocked the door and end then knocked, only proceeding to pass through once a duet of dulcet female voices had bid him enter. Unlike the padded cell in which Sir Francis was incarcerated the room of the Montague sisters was comfortable if simply furnished. A pair of narrow beds with plain but freshly laundered linen were bolted to the floor on opposite sides of the cell, only the incongruous broad leather straps fitted with buckled cuffs affixed to the frame of the bed at intervals marked them as differing from beds to be found outside of an insane asylum. A pair of wooden upholstered chairs, similarly bolted down as the beds were on each side of a small table. In the far corner of the room, a basin and mirror of polished metal provided some comfort and means for the young women to make themselves presentable.

Harriet and Henrietta were in their mid-twenties and by all contemporary standards of outstanding beauty. The twins' hair fell in strawberry blonde ringlets framing their angelic faces and falling over their shoulders. Dressed in thin cotton shifts the modest swell of the slim sister's breasts was discernable. The pair greeted Doctor Jekyll and Nurse McTaggert with beatific smiles as they entered.

"Good morning ladies," Henry greeted them politely once he had passed the threshold. "And how are we this morning?"

"Good morning Doctor," the twins answered in unison before Harriet continued. "And dear Georgie too of course. We are quite well thank you Doctor. Is it time for our treatment?"

Henry frowned slightly and glanced at Nurse McTaggart beside him. The familiar manner in which Harriet Montague addressed the nurse was slightly troubling and indicated that his newly employed staff had been too casual in her conversation with his young patients. He would need to speak to her on that matter in private later. For all their femininity and sweet smiles, the Montague twins possessed a certain feral cunning and were not beneath using their innocent and wholesome looks to manipulate the unwary.

"Yes indeed it is ladies," Henry responded to the question. "One hopes there will be no unseemly or willful protests or behavior this morning?"

"Of course not Doctor," the twins once more responded in unison, this time Henrietta continuing. "We apologise for our petulance, we were frightened and anxious the first time we were treated. We were ignorant of the medical procedure at that time, but with more knowledge, we both now were anticipating treatment with eagerness."

Henry frowned once more. On the previous treatment, the sisters had been resistant and unruly which had necessitated the pair being strapped to gurneys and wheeled immobilised to Doctor Granville's theatre. He scanned their angelic smiling faces for signs of deceit but detected none. Still unsure if their apparent acquiescence to treatment was an artful ruse and if they would cause fuss and bother once outside their cell he decided perhaps a show of trust might be beneficial and lead to more compliance in the future.

"Hmmph, very well then ladies if you will accompany me for treatment." He stepped back into the corridor and gestured for the sisters to follow. He glanced to Nurse McTaggert who nodded slightly in response to show she understood she would be a rearguard lest the girls attempt to bolt once outside their cell. As it transpired the twins attempted no such vain and hysterical unpleasantness and followed the Doctor in a gratifyingly docile and submissive manner as he navigated the asylum's winding corridors to Doctor Granville's theatre of electrotherapy. This door, unlike the previous two he had opened, was not locked and in a gentlemanly fashion, Henry opened and held the door for the young ladies to enter.

The electrotherapy theatre was not large, a square room perhaps fifteen feet per side. The centre of the room was dominated by a large chair, not dissimilar to those found in a Doctor of gynecology examination room. Raised arm and leg rests extended from the sides and base of the chair fitted with straps and buckles reminiscent of the beds in the Montague twins' cell. Beside the bed a wooden box stood upon a pedestal, its lid open to reveal an electrical generator and corded electrical flex leading from the box. By the cupboards and shelving lining the back wall of the room stood Doctor Granville tinkering with some electrical device in readiness for the twins' treatment.

"Ah Henry there you are," Granville greeted his associate as the small party trooped into his theatre. "No gurneys for the patients today I see."

Joseph Granville was an earnest and pleasant-mannered young man of twenty-four years newly graduated from the Royal medical school. Tall and thin as a rake with a mop of sandy-coloured hair that was forever unkempt he had a boyish countenance he had unending enthusiasm. As he looked to the sisters both reddened slightly in their cheeks and an astute eye would detect their breathing quicken also.

"No, it seems our fair patients are quite eager for the next session of electrotherapy and have proved to be most quiescent and cooperative so far," Doctor Jekyll replied affably. "Despite certain misgivings about the efficacy of this modern treatment, this is a most promising result after only a single treatment."

"Well yes," Joseph replied. "That is indeed promising news. A much faster amelioration of the hysterical condition than even I had expected to be truthful. Though it will of course take observation and time to ascertain whether relief from their female hysteria is temporary or if it could result in a permanent remedy for their condition with a course of sessions."

"Quite so, quite so," Henry agreed. He turned his attention to the blushing sisters and mused aloud. "Now then which of you to treat first?"

"Me sir, me, oh please let it be me," Both the young women volunteered with open eagerness in a vocal cacophony of feminine entreaties.

"I think Harriet. Let us proceed alphabetically as you both seem equally enthusiastic for treatment," Doctor Jekyll decided. One of the twins stepped immediately forward, her sister Henrietta though clearly disappointed watched her intensely with quickened breath. "Nurse, please secure the patient."

Harriet in her eagerness nearly vaulted upon the electrotherapy chair and settled her arms and legs into their respective rests. At their first session of treatment, Henry had been compelled to use male medical orderlies to forcibly seat the sisters in turn upon the chair and they had struggled, screamed, and made copious use of language most foul and obscene before they were immobilised in place by the straps. However, on this occasion, Nurse McTaggert was able to secure Harriet in place without assistance, Harriet submitting to her binding with no resistance whatsoever.

Firstly Georgina secured Harriet's hands. Miss Montague inserted her hands into the thick leather mittens at the ends of the armrests that resembled boxing gloves. An iron rod inside the mitten around which Harriet's hand was clenched would conduct electrical energy. The nurse, once she had assured herself the patient's hands were correctly positioned tightened stout leather buckled straps about her wrists so the patient was unable to withdraw her hand from the mitten. Next, a broader strap was passed over her stomach to prevent her from bucking in the chair. The final sets of straps secured her ankles and knees to the leg rests leaving Harriet almost entirely incapable of struggling to any effect. Finally, a rubber bit was inserted in Harriet's mouth and clamped in place by a strap that buckled to the chair's headrest.

Harriet Montague, now securely strapped to the treatment chair breathed rapidly her breath rasping around the rubber bit between her teeth. Henry checked her pulse and found it greatly elevated, an observation borne out by the rush of blood blushing her pale skin and by the unmistakable stiffening of Harriet's teats beneath the thin cotton gown. Her eyes darted from person to person assembled in evident animation.

"Proceed if you please Doctor Granville," Henry asked his subordinate before stepping back to give Joseph room to work.

Doctor Granville lowered a cotton sheet from a frame above the chair which screened Harriet's body from the waist up and prevented her from observing the medical procedure. He stepped around to the patient's legs and withdrew the locking pin in the leg rests before lifting and spreading the rests so that Harriet's legs were splayed apart and elevated from her body. Joseph lifted the hem of Harriet's cotton gown and tucked it into the leather strap securing her waist to the chair. With Harriet prepared Doctor Granville lifted a palm-sized medical implement from beside the electrical generator.

"Nurse McTaggert, crank the generator of the percussor if you would please," Joseph directed Georgina.

Henry Jekyll swallowed hard as he stared down at Harriet, now exposed from her waist down to his unobstructed view. The girl's legs were toned and shapely with fetchingly slim ankles. A bushy triangle of pale gingery blonde hair nestled over her pubis between her widely parted thighs. Miss Montague's maidenhair was pale and sparse enough that he could easily discern the cleft of her labia majora beneath her pubic thatch. Despite the fact that this was a purely medical procedure his mind was inexorably drawn to dalliances in his youth with young women of negotiable virtue. He sighed, it had been more than a few years since he was capable of responding physically to such thoughts and as he had expected there was no sensation of blood flowing to and stiffening his member.

The Nurse began to turn the handle of the generator with one hand whilst the other was ready near a switch on the generator's wooden casing. A light winked on to indicate the electrical energy was flowing as designed. There was after a few seconds a faint odour of ozone, acid, and lead in the theatre.

Doctor Granville thumbed the switch on his self-designed percusser and it omitted a buzzing sound as the rod with its padded leather head protruding from the percussor began to rapidly oscillate up and down. Granville reached out and examined Harriet's labia with his fingers.

"Hmmm, the patient is moist and her flesh warm to the touch even before the application of the percussor," Joseph reported. "An ideal state for successful treatment, a hysterical paroxysm can usually be induced quite swiftly under these conditions."

Harriet let out a muffled gasp around her gag as the padded head of the percusser was pressed against the apex of her labia and Henry noted a twitch in the musculature of her pinioned thighs. Doctor Granville pressed down gently with the percussor and moved it in a tight circular motion at the upper end of her cleft. Harriet shifted in the chair slightly as her bindings would allow and her breaths grew more rapid. The young patient gasped and moaned as Granville proceeded though the sounds were dampened and insensible with the rubber bit in place.

After a minute or so of his ministrations with the percussor, Granville raised his hand in signal to Nurse Mctaggert. Georgina flicked the switch on the generator and instantly Harriet tensed and stiffened in her chair as electrical energy flowed into her body through the iron rods she grasped inside her mittens. Henry heard a muffled shriek from behind the cotton screen and observed Harriet's body stiffen and now instead of a mere twitch the muscles of her thighs fluttered and spasmed for several seconds until the nurse flicked the switch once more to cease the current. As Miss Montague's body relaxed with the cessation of electrical energy Granville once more pressed the percusser to the girl's labia with slightly increased pressure and movement.

It was on the fourth application of electrical current that Granville induced a hysterical paroxysm in the patient. As before her body stiffened as energy was applied with a flick of the switch however this time there was no relaxation of the tensed body once the current ceased. Doctor Granville judging that her paroxysm was imminent pressed harder with his percusser and even with the rubber bit gagging her Henry could hear her attempting to cry out though her speech was garbled to the point of incoherence. Harriet's labial cleft had loosened as the treatment had proceeded and now the reddy pink and wetly glistening interior was visible between the slack and gaping lips. Harriet's squirming and tensing continued despite the lack of electrical current, the gagged cries grew more shrill and insistent, and then abruptly she stiffened unaided, and every muscle Henry could see twitched, trembled, and spasmed uncontrollably. Her paroxysm lasted several seconds at least until Harriet relaxed and slumped back on the chair.

"Extraordinary responsive paroxysm," Granville noted as he switched off the percussor and placed it on the table. "Much more intense and longer in duration than the first session. Um, Nurse assist Miss Montague up will you? I think she will need my chair, I doubt she can stand unaided after such a powerful paroxysm."

Nurse McTaggart set to work loosening and removing the straps that secured Harriet to the chair. As Granville had warned the patient was unable to stand unaided, but Georgina was strong for her sex and Miss Montague was of petite frame and the nurse was able to lift her from the chair and support her until she could collapse onto Doctor Granville's armchair in a near insensible swoon. Joseph took a minute or two to compose himself after the exertion of his first treatment before beckoning Henrietta to approach the chair for her treatment. Harriet's twin sister needed no further urging and rushed forward and pounced upon the chair with an excited squeal.