Miss Mabel is my first attempt at erotic writing. It is set in North London in the late 1850s, and I have tried to get the speech and manners as right as I can.
You may recognise that I have appropriated the character of Camille from Walter's tome My Secret Life.
My thanks to volunteer editor CreativeTalent.
Miss Mabel, a story in six parts
Part 4. Playing at kittens, part one.
North London, September 1858.
"Arthur dearest, what does 'playing at kittens' mean?"
It was in one of our snatched moments together. Mabel was on my lap, and her hand was creeping softly inside my trousers, seeking for the instrument that, once she had encountered it, seemed seldom far from her thoughts.
In that position the hoops of her semi-crinoline gave me easy access and my hand, likewise, had found its way to paradise. My caresses stopped abruptly, and I sat up straight, almost tipping her on the floor.
"Where did you come across that?" I asked. There was only one place she could have found it - the letter in which the phrase occurred was hidden away separated from the others, and under lock and key.
"Oh, Arthur dear, I have been awfully naughty again, and I knew you would be angry with me, but I just had to know. I am afraid that I have earned a punishment."
"Tell me how you found that letter", I asked. "It was not in the secretaire with the others. Did Miss Emily see it too?"
"Oh no, Arthur, of course not. I wouldn't dream of letting her see it. I am afraid I have been going into your room on my own. I can't help it; her letters are so beautiful and exciting. She is so lucky to have a sweetheart like you.
Usually I just lie on your bed and think about you, but the last time I went, you had left the key to the drawer on the washstand, and I just had to look."
"Well", I said, "You certainly know what to expect. It will be the cane this time."
"So, aren't you going to tell me? How do people play at kittens?"
"It is something delightful that lovers do to please each other. If we could find an afternoon on our own I should love to teach you."
"Are we lovers then, Arthur? I do so want us to be, for I know I am starting to love you."
Flashback Loughborough/Leicester 1851.
Once I was alone again, my mind travelled back to Loughborough in the July of 1851; that Summer when the news of the Great Exhibition filled the pages of the newspapers and packed excursion trains enriched every railway company in the Kingdom.
The Midlands were suffering under an oppressive heat wave, and I was at my desk, sweat running down my back as I worked. The Chief Cashier, Frank Dennis's door was open, and he called me cheerfully from within.
Frank was maybe twice my age; a slim, dapper man with an air of unconquerable affability and charm, appealing to men and women alike. Happily for me, he was chief cashier at our branch bank, and he supervised my work with meticulous care and kindness.
I was especially fortunate as he took a liking to me, and over our snap, and our occasional cups of coffee after work, I soon learned that his great passion was the ladies, and it could not escape my notice that he had great success there. He became confidential, and gave me hints and suggestions that I implemented with some success with the local girls.
"Arthur my lad, I have a treat in prospect for you. I am taking you to the Singing Rooms in Leicester. A comedian from London, the Original Joe Miller will be foot of the bill and I should like to see him.
Have you ever been to a Singing room? Well then, there really is a treat in store for you, especially if we meet up with one or two of my little friends. Don't worry about money. This one's on me".
" The original Joe Miller? He must be pretty ancient", I replied, for Joe Miller's Jest Books were the staple of my schoolboy years.
"Everyone's pretty ancient to you Arthur," he teased me. "But don't worry, you'll grow out of it."
Joe Miller was a large, elderly, red-faced man in a drab short-coat with a bludgeon sticking out of one pocket, red muffler round his neck, florid weskit and knee-breeches.
He strode about the stage, behind the flickering row of gas-lights; told a string of jokes and then sang The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington with frequent interruptions for cockney patter.
His jokes, delivered in a droll manner, in a loud, raucous voice, were very raw. Many of them passed me by, but the whole audience, men and women alike, laughed uproariously at lines that would have earned me a beating with my father's razor-strop,