The Letter.
The summer had finished.
I was starting my final 'Honours' year at University. This comprised a single lecture at 9 am every morning and a term of individual projects to repeat a published method, which we were expected to complete successfully. Not everyone did! After Christmas we were each - all 8 of us - to be assigned to individual faculty members for a research project.
In the meantime I continued to work at The Manor when I had time. Lady M. exercised the hunter and I made myself available to help if asked. She was - as usual - very pleasant, chatting with me about many different subjects, keeping me up-to-date with Sophie's activities. Apparently Sophie was on a short-list for a position at GCHQ, a government computer centre near Cheltenham, starting next July.
Sophie rarely came home and Lady M. rarely spoke about her son Mark. From time to time I noticed she gave me a quizzical look when she thought I wasn't looking. Nothing was ever said about that evening in Sophie's room. I wonder how much she knew - or guessed.
I was studying quite hard just before the Christmas break and was unsure if I would have time to spend at The Manor. I had my project outline from a new faculty member, Dr. Alastair McKenzie, and I wanted to read up around the work over the holidays. Still, there was time for the odd weekend of gardening, since everything growing slowed down so much in winter. One Thursday in early December I phoned to say I would be there the next day: Mrs B. said she would pass on the message.
I dropped my books in the den and started to dig out the annuals left in the borders, then I trimmed the lawn edge and pruned some laurels bush beside the drive. That took until supper and Mrs B had made a stew.
The stew was so good! And I was feeling good as well.
After supper it was too dark to do anything but hit the books for an hour or so after gardening and a shower.
On the doorpost to the den was a pink envelope labeled 'Peter': I pulled the drawing pin and opened the door, switching on the light, to read the note. It was from Lady M.
"Dear Peter," it began,
"This is difficult for me to write, but I feel I must. And I must ask you to burn this after reading: I trust you to do the honourable thing."
"You know of my relationship with Sophie, and she told me you were the mystery man in her bedroom, for which I thank you most sincerely."
"You are aware that I have had a difficult marriage with an absent husband, and that since Sophie turned 18 I have sublimated my desires with her. I am not assertive by nature and we have fallen into a kind of dom/ sub scene, as little as we know of it. I am not naturally attracted to women but I do need human contact, so long denied me. Sophie knew and respected that."
"Sophie has other relationships to build and I need someone. I am asking you - imploring you - to consider becoming that person, my dom. I know I am old to you - old enough to be your mother - and you may find the idea repulsive. But please consider it, I beg you. If you agree we can learn as we progress."
"After you have read this and decided, please burn this letter. If you agree I will be in your bed tomorrow at 9 o'clock. With Sophie's help, I have bought some things from the internet and a shop in Bristol, to get started: they will be in a bag beside the bed."
"If you are not interested or repulsed by this suggestion, please pin this envelope on the doorframe, with or without 'No' on it. I will never mention this again."
"I am embarrassed to write this. Part of me hopes you will say no and then we can go back to our old comfortable ways. But I so dearly want and need you: there is nobody else."
"Sincerely yours - sir,
Margaret De Vere."
I read it a second time. What was I to do? Obviously I had absolutely no experience of what was being asked for. Sophie must have told her mother about being tied in the stable and manhandled. Surely they didn't think this was serious dominance and bondage? And what was the difference? I had some reading to do on the web.
Wait a minute! What was I thinking? That I was going to go through with this? Did I want it?
There was no doubt it my mind that Lady M. was a desirable woman, at least to me. I had masturbated many times to thoughts of having her. Yet I had only seen her body the one time in Sophie's bedroom, and I was so confused at that time I hardly remember what her body looked like.
I know she has a beautifully serene face, an engaging smile, generous lips and a creamy complexion. Wavy dark hair to below her shoulders. Makeup? I don't think so: she always looked so fresh and flushed after riding the hunter. Her breasts were not large: probably 35 or so, and her waist 26 or 28. But then, what do I know about women's bodies?
Regardless I would say she is a knockout, at least to me.
What do I know of the dom/sub scene? Don't you need to be a bit strange to become involved? On the other hand, would I ever get another opportunity like this? If I don't follow this, at least give it a try, I may regret it for the rest of my life.
Perhaps there are sites on the web - well, I'm sure there are. I must read.
This was my frame of mind at that point. Lady M needed me, desperately it would seem, and she had been so good to me for so long: time to pay my debts! I left the doorpost bare, and spent the evening on the web but not with science. I burned the letter.
My sleep was fitful and I was up by 7. I tidied my mess in the den and walked around the back garden checking out the pond, the reeds, waterlilies and carp. Not much to do there. I noted that the roses around the pergola needed trimming. The stone wall backing on to the lane was finished, and I realized I was marking time until breakfast at 8 with Mrs B.