I arrived at the auction in good time for the viewing and spend a few hours before the auction evaluating the items for sale.
To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement and if any of these items stemmed from Greystone House then they were at first sight mundane and of little interest.
Rows of brown furniture lined the room but contained nothing of interest inside. I opened the draws to cabinets and desks in the hope that there might be some paperwork that would help Susan and myself discover more about the place but there was nothing of the kind to be found.
Plenty of chairs and plain seating benches, kitchen items mostly pots and pans were in abundance but nothing of interest until I spotted something under a table that gave some hope.
It was a hand held strong box, locked and with the key missing but with the reassuring initials G.H. just about visible on its lid. I made a note of the lot number and hoped that I might obtain the article very cheaply as it could well be of little interest to others.
Time was passing and I wondered whether my trip had been a wast of time - and then I spotted it, standing upright and propped against a wall behind a couple of bureaus, a wooden structure which if laid upon the floor would look identical to the punishment bench depicted on the hand drawn sketch that we had discovered earlier.
My heart missed a beat when I moved the furniture aside to expose the item fully and saw the remains of leather straps hanging from the robust metal eye bolts strategically placed at its head, middle and foot.
There was no doubt in my mind that this was the actual punishment bench used to hold a girl immobile whilst she was being punished by the tawse. I could not wait to let Susan know that we now had both the significant items needed to complete, should she wish to, a replica of that room in our own home - but I was being premature, I still had to win the auction in order to own the object.
Of course I must own it, how could I let this opportunity pass, Susan would never forgive me and neither would I forgive myself - whatever it costs I shall willingly pay to secure this item.
The auction seemed to take ages to start and my first item of interest, the strong box, was already half way down the list. The bench being under the heading 'sundry items' was almost at the end, so I knew that I was in for a long wait.
When the box came up I started the bidding very low, just five pounds and, as I hoped, my maiden bid won the item - much later on, when over half the bidders had already left, the bench was secured for another five pounds with me as the only bidder.
Elated I waited until someone was available to give me a hand to load the heavy wooden bench into the back of my pick up truck after which I lost no time in racing home to my wife who had little idea of my mission and possible purchases.
Arriving home, and seeing her face, I sensed that Susan had something of interest to impart.
Not wishing to upstage her I left my news to last and listened intently to the results of her daily endeavours.
'I can't believe I did not think of it before,' she said, 'All I did was to Google the words Greystone House and a whole history of the place was there before my eyes.
Did you know that the place had two male governors? - well one overall governor and one deputy to be precise, and the main one at the time we are interested in was called Henry Stern - don't you see darling the initials H.S. appear in the Punishment Book records as being the one we thought who did the actual beating with the tawse. Can you imagine, in an otherwise all female institution, the humiliation and embarrassment for a poor girl having to strip naked and be whipped by a MAN to say nothing of the pain she must endure? It makes me go weak at the knees to think of it,' she said with her face reddening at the thought.
It was a worthy subject for our night time togetherness but there were other things that would be even more significant once I chose to reveal them.
I allowed time for my wife to finish her oratory and to ask how I got on at the auction before I dropped my first little gem.
'Very good my sweet', I replied casually, 'There is one item that I took a chance on which may, or may not, provide further clues.'
I told her about the locked strong box with the initials G.H. on its lid that may contain absolutely nothing when the lock was forced open, or if we are in luck might just have something significant inside that will teach us more about that terrible place.
'Oh how thrilling, another mystery box to open I cannot wait,' she cried.
