The Virtuous Wife's Tale

A different pupil, a tall girl of about the same age as her, dressed in a pale blue shift, her hair pulled high on her head, revealing a leather collar with the initials LS in gold leaf, entered Isabella's room.

'I am to wash and prepare you for your first lesson,' the girl said softly, taking hold of Isabella's hand.

'I do not require any assistance,' Isabella growled, snatching her hand away. 'Go away, I will wash and dress myself.'

The girl remained, infuriating Isabella further. Why do these people think they can control her every move? She had no intention of complying with their silly rules and regulations, and was certainly not going to endure any of their lessons in behaviour.

'If you do not allow me to prepare you, my master will consider it a failure on my part,' the girl said, her lip trembling.

'I care not for what your master thinks. Leave me.' Isabella snapped.

The girl opened her mouth as if to speak then quickly left the room. As the door was pulled shut, Isabella thought she heard a small sob.

Perhaps she was being a little hard. It seemed to Isabella that the other girls were terrified of disobeying their masters. Were they all here by choice? She certainly hadn't wanted to be here and she definitely did not want to marry. But sometimes life does not go as hoped. Isabella opened the door. The girl was standing in the corridor as if she did not know what to do next.

'Come in, let's get this over quickly.'

The girl smiled gratefully and quickly set about preparing Isabella for her first lesson at Pendragon Hall. After Isabella had been washed, her hair combed and dressed in a fresh pure white silk shift, she allowed the girl to take hold of her hand and lead her down the long corridor, down the wide staircase and through a carved oak door.

Isabella looked around the large panelled room, lit only by candles, leaving the edge of the room in shadow. The girl left and the door shut behind her. Isabella was alone. The room, warmed by a fire crackling in a large grate, was dominated by a huge granite fireplace. Facing the fire was Miss Frobisher. She did not turn around or even acknowledge Isabella's presence.

'You ordered that I should come and see you,' Isabella announced, holding her head high. She was becoming increasingly irate at being treated as if she were little more than a servant, rather than the daughter of a Baronet and the fiancée of an Earl. When she was married, and eventually became Lady DeVillier she would demand respect, there would be no place in her household for such a person as this so-called Mistress of Pendragon House.

'I understand you spurned the assistant we sent to dress you,' the Mistress said without turning from facing the fire, her voice colder than a harsh winter frost.

'I did not need anyone to help me, and certainly not one of those girls. I am used to my own ladies maid,' Isabella missed the familiar presence of her maid, and wished Mary had been allowed to accompany her, silently she promised to be kinder to the girl in future. 'Anyway I did allow her to dress me.'

'It was not for you to dismiss at your whim then call them back as if they were mere servants. Those who are sent to you do it because they want to please their master. As we speak her master is deciding if she failed by being so treated, and of course she will have to face any punishment he devises for such failure.'

'It was not her failure. I did not really need her,' Isabella protested.

Miss Frobisher sighed. 'When you have been here for a few weeks, Isabella, you will understand how important it is to be obedient. The girl who accompanied you from your home, Hannah has been sent here by an aged aunt to learn obedience and service, and she did not obey so she had been punished. The girl, charged with assisting you with your preparations, a task set by her master, was to learn to serve without question.'

'But, I did not know, I thought.....'

'Isabella, the problem is that you do not think, and you are unaware of how your actions affect others,' said the Mistress turning from the fire. Her face was hard and unforgiving and Isabella shuddered, cold fingers of fear creeping down her spine. 'Now, I think you ready to learn your first lesson.'

Isabella stood, unable to move, or to answer. She had a sinking feeling inside that if she protested whatever Miss Frobisher had planned for her, may be have just been made much worse.

'Sit.'

A finger jabbed out and pointed to a small leather footstool. Isabella had no choice but to sit on the edge. The green leather was smooth to touch, but felt cold through the thin silk shift.

'As we discussed you have been sent to learn how to live a virtuous life. I will therefore ask if you remind me why you are here.'

Isabella nodded, still not trusting her answer.

'You must speak.'

'I have been sent here...' the words caught in Isabella's throat. She had been sent here because she had been caught, she had been sent here because her fiancée insists he will not marry until she has learnt to be a good and faithful wife. Isabella dreaded the prospect of becoming someone she didn't want to be, like a piece of clay to be moulded into whatever form her future husband wished. But, sitting on the leather footstool she knew she had little choice but to comply. 'I have been sent here to learn,' Isabella eventually said quietly.

'Good, now we can begin your education,' the mistress pulled at a chord next to the fireplace. A few minutes later, a young man entered the room, wearing a long white chemise reaching just above his knees. He walked towards Miss Frobisher. Isabella noted that underneath the chemise he wore little else, his strong muscular legs were bare, and a hint of what lay at the top of his legs occasionally, tantalisingly, were revealed. He knelt before the Mistress and taking her hand, kissed it.

'You are here to be trained in the virtues a woman should possess,' Miss Frobisher said, turning to Isabella. 'Your diary is a sad indictment of a life lived for your own pleasure and without any thought for others, will be used to guide your education. Your fiancée requires you to receive instruction in virtue, however for each virtue there is a corresponding sin. There are several entries in your diary detailing how you took pleasure from servants and stable-hands, of how you have feasted on their eagerness. The sin of gluttony can only be cleansed by learning temperance. You will pleasure this man, one of my personal servants, and he will report to me if you have been greedy, showing only abandonment for your own pleasure, or have been temperate, and have shown self-control.'

'I most certainly will not,' Isabella said jumping up.

'That is your choice, however Isabella you must remember that if you choose to leave, it will be your father and mother who will suffer from your petulance.'

Isabella sat back down, there was no way out. If she refused to submit to the regime Pendragon House, her father would end up in a debtor's prison, while she and her mother would be reduced to relying on charity and this was not a prospect Isabella relished.

'I will do as you ask,' she said reluctantly, sitting down again on the stool.

'Good,' said Miss Frobisher. 'We will begin as soon as you master arrives.'

Isabella held her breath. He will be here, watching her every move. The prospect excited and frightened her. All she wanted was to feel his hands on her body again, but this time he would be watching while she was to give pleasure to the young man standing next to Miss Frobisher.

'My master, I am not to know who he is?' asked Isabella.

'All girls who come to this place the patronage of a master, your master Lord De'Villier has insisted that your master is to remain unknown to you while you are here undertaking your instruction. Just as Hannah's master was chosen by her aunt, your master has been chosen for you by your fiancée.'

'Simon may be my fiancé but what right has he...' Isabella began only to be silenced by the sound of a door opening at the far end of the room.

Miss Frobisher beckoned the young man to move closer. Behind her Isabella heard a door close gently, but in the room lit only by a couple of candles and the fire, she was unable to make out anything more than a tall dark shape in the shadowy corners. The hidden figure settled down in a deep leather chairs and raised his hand.

'Your Master has arrived and we can now begin your first lesson.'

The young man moved from the headmistress' side and stood a couple of inches from her. Isabella, to her horror, realised that the seat she was on was so low that it ensured that her head was level with his groin. Slowly he lifted his chemise to reveal a long, but flaccid penis. Isabella turned her head away.

'There is no need to be coy, Isabella. May I remind you of your diary entry on this very subject?'

Wednesday

Mother and Father spent the afternoon taking tea with Mrs Wilson. I spent a joyous time tasting the new stable-hand. He is very well endowed and the distraction of taking him into my mouth, savouring his earthy taste, and then bringing him to the brink was quite wonderful. His discomfort at having his mistress on her knees only served to heighten my delight. I will most certainly be making use of him again.

Miss Frobisher snapped the diary closed and sighed. 'Yes it is a very detailed entry, however you do not say if the poor stable-hand enjoyed himself or not. We only hear of your pleasure. Therefore, your lesson will start by you tasting and consuming this young man.'

She could smell his musk and it sent a frisson of warmth between her legs. Miss Frobisher moved behind her and, with strength belying her small frame, took hold of Isabella's head. She held Isabella's head steady, facing young man's groin and the steadily hardening penis waving in her face.

Isabella closed her eyes. She felt the hard bulbous end of the boy's penis pushed against her lips and opening her mouth accepted it. She felt the weight of it on her tongue, and as she closed her lips around it, the hardness of it filled her mouth. Reaching up Isabella took hold of the base and squeezed it, sucking hard on the rod of hot flesh in her mouth. Taking it in deeper, she heard the young man groan, and Isabella, warming to her task, began to gobble hard pulling at the foreskin until she could feel him fill her mouth and he soon hit the back of her throat. Gagging, she relaxed her throat taking in his full length.

Isabella sucked and swallowed and, relishing the feel of the pulsing veins on her lips, she began to eat the young man as if she were a starving urchin. Warm waves of desire began to course through her body, her nipples hardened and she could feel the thin silky material against them, the softness of it teasing and tantalising her hard breasts. Between her legs dampness lubricated her sex and she could feel her secret inner lips swelling. Surreptitiously she moved her hand down. Isabella opened her mouth wider to accommodate more of the throbbing penis, tasting the dewdrop of salty pre-cum on her tongue. Parting her legs slightly she rubbed at her hot frustrated sex through the slippery silk.

'This is enough of the test. Withdraw,' commanded Miss Frobisher.

Isabella's heart sank as the young man's stiff member was quickly removed from her mouth. She could taste the promise of more of him on her tongue and disappointment washed over her like a cold shower of rain. Isabella opened her eyes and looked at the young man, his chemise barely covering his erection.

'Now, has Miss Isabella, given you pleasure?'

The young man looked directly at Isabella. 'No mistress. She is too intent on her own gratification. She merely used me for her own devices and arousal and had no thought of my needs. Her tongue was greedy for my taste and, although she took me deep inside her, she did not use her mouth as an instrument to heighten my satisfaction. It was a truly disappointing attempt a pleasuring a man.'

'Thank you, now you may go and relieve yourself.'

The young man, his penis swaying, left the room and Miss Frobisher turned to Isabella and ordered her to stand up. After complying with the request Isabella stood. Miss Frobisher ran her hands over Isabella's body, describing in detail her findings to the shadowy figure in the far corner of the room.

'Her breasts are firm and eager, and the nipples are hard.'

Isabella squirmed under such close scrutiny. The hands moved down.

'She has taken a great deal of pleasure from her task, and the silk is damp where her excitement has overflowed.'

Miss Frobisher motioned for Isabella to remain standing while she waited for a sign from Isabella's hidden master to continue. A nod of the dark head and the mistress turned to Isabella.

'It is clear, Isabella, that you only think of your own pleasure, you are a glutton who only wants her own gratification. Over the next five days you will learn how to be temperate, once you are skilled in the virtue you will demonstrate to your master how much you have learned. Now return to your room and await instructions.'

Isabella stared into the dark corner where her master had been sat but the chair was empty. She determined to discover who he was and why Simon DeVillier had sent him.