The House of Correction

Chapter Thirteen

Over the next few days, Hannah's dormitory was put through its paces constantly by the guards, especially Miss Jackson whom the Governess had tasked with improving their dramatic performance. Mouths sucked away avidly, tongues licked up and down wooden shafts whilst they also practised easing the thick rods into their pussies and anuses every day. Tired as they were from their strenuous exertions, they still found time to put their heads together whenever they could to try and devise some sort of plan to escape, gradually stitching sections together as if it was a quilt until they arrived at something they all thought might work.

"Quick and simple is best," declared Faith who had become their leader by default. "The more things that we try to do then the more that could go wrong. Yes, Gwen, it would be nice to get our own back on the guards but we have to realise that our primary objective is to escape!"

"To where?" mused Hannah aloud as they had never discussed that aspect before.

"Got to be back to the smoke for us two," replied Flo. "Me and Gwen know our way around there and have friends and family who will help us."

"Not London for me," stated Faith decisively, shaking her head in the darkness. "Spent some time there before and hated every moment. Too noisy, smelly and crowded for me. Might go back to the fairgrounds or a circus and see if I can find a job there. Always a call for knife-thrower's assistants!"

"Because the old ones keep dying off with a knife in the guts, Faith," chuckled Gwen grimly.

Hannah stayed silent, mind whirling. Where could she go? What could she do? Nothing sprang to mind at all and a solitary tear trickled down her cheek in the bleak blackness before Faith whispered, "You can come with me, Hannah, and try your luck in the circus. Dress you up in flesh-coloured tights and a skimpy costume and you'll draw the crowds in."

"Or give her a red nose and massive shoes and she can be a clown!" chirped Flo with a giggle.

"I can ride," said Hannah suddenly, remembering back to her childhood when she had been taken to see a circus. She had been fascinated by the girls standing on the back of the horses cantering round the ring but, when she had tried it a week later on the back of a donkey on the beach during a rare seaside excursion on a Sunday school outing, she had immediately fallen off and been spanked by her father for showing off.

"That's a useful skill in the circus," stated Faith reassuringly and Hannah drifted off into sleep feeling slightly better about her future prospects.

Friday dawned and the four prisoners were allowed some respite from their normal training although they still had to run through their dramatic performance one more time even though Faith only had to pretend to shaft Flo with the strap on dildo. After lunch, they were escorted to the kitchen and allowed to bathe in large slipper baths filled with hot water from the massive coppers. Miss Adams watched as they lugged bucket after bucket of steaming water over and tipped them in before they stripped and clambered in, two to a bath. The guard issued a meagre bar of hard soap to each pair and they washed slowly, luxuriating in the soothing hot water for as long as they were allowed.

After dinner, they went to one of the training rooms and got dressed under the watchful eye of Miss Jackson who was looking nearly as nervous as Hannah felt.

"Worried in case Miss Stern blames her if we muck it up," whispered Flo with a cheeky giggle. "Wonder if the Governess would take it out on her fat arse?"

"Be quiet, Gregan!" snapped the guard, looking over her shoulder, annoyance etched into her face as she had been trying to pin Faith's chiton together properly. "Just because we have the entertainment shortly does not mean that I cannot bend you over and give you a dozen stripes to encourage you!"

"Yes, Miss Jackson," replied Flo, winking at Hannah as soon as the guard turned her attention back to the garment.

When they were all dressed, they followed Miss Jackson down the corridor to the end where she unlocked a wooden door and ushered them through. Hannah recognised the way and she felt a rush of arousal as she thought about what Miss Stern had done to her in the room they appeared to be heading towards. It was indeed the same room but it was much lighter and brighter now with light blazing from chandeliers high above. It was also much busier; before there had just been two of them but now the room had most of the guards inside along with a dozen or so gentlemen all dressed in formal attire apart from one, obviously Scottish, who was kitted out in a kilt.

Miss Stern clapped her hands and the room went quiet instantly.

"Our entertainment has arrived, ladies and gentlemen, so please take your seats and enjoy the performance. Don't forget to decide which of these lovely creatures you would like to enjoy this evening a little later on while you watch though!"

As Miss Jackson led the prisoners up to the front of the room where a small raised platform of wooden blocks had been constructed, the audience sat down and Hannah became aware of all the men's eyes fixed on her and her friends. She blushed, knowing that they could see her nipples poking through the thin fabric of the chiton and probably make out the juncture of her thighs too. Her heart pounded like a drum in her chest as she realised that it was going to get even worse as soon she was going to have to do her act as Aphrodite and reveal all of her flesh to them. What would happen if she refused? The thought popped into her head and then she sighed deeply, knowing that the feared birch would be whipping across her unprotected bottom the very next day...or even during the evening if Miss Stern wanted to make an example of her before the audience to demonstrate her disciplinary skills.

Just as Miss Stern stepped forward onto the stage to give an introduction to each act, the door opened and Miss Dawson stepped inside with a tall, dark-haired gentleman following her. The Governess turned at the interruption then frowned, beckoning the doctor urgently to come over and talk to her. Being first on, Hannah was right next to them both and so she could hear the whispered conversation quite easily.

"Who is he?"

"Lord Belvedere, Miss Stern," replied the doctor, looking a little flustered.

"No, he is not. Lord Belvedere is well over fifty and that man is a mere thirty if he is a day! I gave you strict instructions not to let anybody in without an invitation, didn't I?"

For a moment, Hannah thought Miss Dawson was going to burst into tears but then she rallied and answered, "But he does have an invitation in the name of Lord Belvedere, Miss Stern. See...here it is!"

"What?" snapped the Governess, almost snatching it out of the doctor's hand and then scrutinising it carefully, brow furrowing abruptly as she realised that it was indeed one of the embossed, handwritten invitations that she had sent out a fortnight ago. So engrossed was Hannah in the conversation that she actually jumped when a deep voice inquired from a yard or so away, "May I explain, ladies?"

Dark green eyes twinkled as they glanced at her briefly before the man continued, "You are probably confused because you are used to seeing my late uncle at your soirees, Miss Stern. He died a matter of weeks ago and I have inherited as he had no children of his own. I found the invitation amongst his papers and thought I would attend as I have similar interests to him. In fact, his funeral was only yesterday so I thought that as your invitation promised entertainment, I would come and hopefully be cheered up a little."

"Oh I am dreadfully sorry, Lord Belvedere. Your uncle attended many of our evenings and was an enthusiastic participant always and a great contributor..."

"To your running costs? Yes, I am sure that he was happy to dig deep into his pockets, my dear lady, as will I be if this ravishing creature here is an example of the entertainment on offer?"

"She is, my lord, but please come with me and let me find you a good seat so that you can watch the show in comfort," gushed Miss Stern.

"Alex please, my dear Miss Stern. I have been Alexander Miles for nearly thirty-two years so I have not got used to being addressed as a lord yet."

"Start the performance as soon as I have found his lordship a seat," whispered the Governess over her shoulder as she walked away. "You can introduce the acts for me!"

Miss Jackson tutted quietly under her breath and watched carefully as Miss Stern shifted Miss Adams out of her seat by an overweight gentlemen in the front row. Lord Belvedere sat down and the Governess nodded at Miss Jackson and moved to the side quickly.

"A performance from our Greek maidens dancing in honour of Pan," Miss Jackson stated clearly and, taking their lead from Faith, the four women swayed into action seamlessly. The audience watched avidly as flashes of flesh were revealed during the dance; mere hints of breasts and bottom flesh jiggling as the thin material of their chitons billowed around their moving figures until they ended on their knees, hands stretched high above their heads in supplication to their god. A round of applause sounded round the room as three of the dancers left the stage leaving just Hannah standing there, throat drying up as she realised that her moment had come in the spotlight.

"Behold Aphrodite arising out of the sea," announced the guard loudly, glaring like a gargoyle at Hannah as she found her feet rooted to the spot.

It was the lingering look from Lord Belvedere that enabled her to move. Every other man's eyes were fixated on her breasts rising and falling beneath the diaphanous chiffon but his stayed fixed on her face and then he winked once and smiled. Confidence flowed through her and she slipped gracefully into her performance, moving elegantly around the small stage, slowly easing off her chiton to bare a shoulder. She found herself dancing just for Lord Belvedere or Alexander as she decided to call him in her head as he kept staring encouragingly at her, maintaining eye contact, green orbs almost mesmerising her. Relaxing, she imagined her moving just for him, revealing her smooth skin for his eyes only as she bared her breast. Sounds of approval rustled through the audience and grew louder as her chiton dropped further down, hanging loosely around her waist. Hannah turned her back abruptly and eased the hem up, showing off her pale thighs and then the smooth curves of her buttocks, peeping coquettishly over her shoulder to see if his dark green eyes were feasting on her charms. If so, then they found her blue sapphires a moment later and she whirled back round and allowed the chiton to float lazily down around her ankles, baring her body completely while her face flushed bright scarlet as a roar of delight from the audience broke into her reverie.

Hannah stood there immobile for a few seconds than she scampered off, buttocks wiggling as Miss Jackson stepped forward and introduced Europa and the bull. She watched on as Faith stalked Flo across the stage, teasingly tearing her dress off in strips to show her bare flesh while her monstrous appendage bobbed up and down in front of her much to the audience's amusement. Ribald cries rang out as Faith forced Flo down onto her knees and rubbed the massive head of the phallus against her labia. A cry of anguish from the girl as the head slipped inside drew cheers and then Faith eased more and more of the shaft in and began to slide it in and out, pumping her own hips back and forth until she grunted dramatically as she pretended to climax.

More clapping as the two girls stood and walked off and then Miss Stern walked onto the stage and held her hand up for quiet.

"I do hope that you enjoyed out little entertainment session tonight, gentlemen. Now, we come to the serious part of the evening. Miller, out you come and strip!"

The Governess' voice cracked around Hannah's ears like a whip and she automatically obeyed, feeling her face flush as she removed the thin chiton she had only just slipped back into and stood there naked once again in front of the dozen or so gentlemen. Unnoticed by her, two of the guards, Davis and Adams, slipped onto the stage behind her and stood there ready to restrain her if she tried to run away.

"Unsullied, my dear friends, she assures me though her hymen is broken. We have had the pleasure of training her for just a week or so and already she shows great promise. That pale skin marks up well under a hand or a strap and she reacts to pain intriguingly," the Governess stated before waxing lyrically about Hannah's breasts and thighs whilst the girl hung her head down in shame at being exposed both physically and mentally to the onlookers. Tears trickled out of her ocean-blue eyes and rolled like spheres of sorrow over the corner of her lips as the Governess finished her description then announced, "She is the only exclusive girl we are offering tonight, gentlemen, so prepare to bid high. The other three will be available for general use but this treasure, a former governess herself ironically, is restricted to the highest bidder in a private room next door. Can I start the auction at one hundred guineas?"

Anger blossomed in Hannah as she realised that she was being sold as if she was a slave. She glanced behind her and saw the impassive faces of Adams and Davis and knew that it was no use trying to appeal to them. There was nothing that she could do but surrender so she raised her head a little and glanced out at the audience, trying to see who was bidding for her services.

"Two hundred from Sir James!" stated Miss Stern, smiling widely as a fat man waved his hand at her. Hannah shuddered at the thought of his gross belly wobbling on top of her. What about Lord Belvedere? Was he not interested in bidding for her? She caught sight of him sitting impassively in the crowd and sighed, heart sinking at his disinterest in the proceedings.

"Going once, going twice," announced Miss Stern like an auctioneer about to bring the hammer down before suddenly she stated excitedly, "Two hundred and twenty guineas bid! Any more, gentlemen?"

Hannah scanned the audience again but she couldn't determine who was bidding even as the price went up further, reaching two hundred and fifty guineas when Miss Stern declared that the auction had finished. Was it the fat man or the balding one with the bushy beard whose pink tongue was flicking over his slobbery lips?

"Sold to Lord Belvedere!" echoed round the room and Hannah gasped and nearly fainted in shock.