(It was 1885 and, as a nineteen year old boy, I was staying with family friends at their large house in the English Midlands. My name is David Shaw and I was there to learn French conversation under the tutelage of Miss. Marie; the family had two 18 year old twins, Anna and Sarah who were also learning French with me, this is part nine of my tale.)
***
I returned to their room just as they were buttoning each other up. They had changed into turquoise blue dresses, again resembling those depictions of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by the engraver, Sir John Tenniel.
I marveled at their young bodies, inside their crisp white petticoats, ripe again for my lechery and personal gratification.
"Oh Mr. Shaw how dare you enter a young lady's room without knocking; you might have caught us in our undergarments," said Sarah smiling at me like a cat who had just drank all the cream.
I watched her lips as she spoke and recalled vividly the sensation of her sucking my erection and my subsequent eruption within her soft warm mouth.
***
Benjamin, the gardener's son, was standing in the stone portico when I emerged from the house. The lad still looked windswept from the night before.
"The bridge approaches are still flooded sir, but Isaac Teller has managed to get Miss Marie and Cook across the river by boat," said the boy who was roughly my age and height.
"Quickly then we must go and help them," I said, realising that I must bear some responsibility for the safety of the two stranded women.
We ran down the long drive. The weather was crisp and cool. The air felt very clean as if the storm had washed it and it was now hanging out to dry.
In the distance I could see the bridge surrounded by water and several figures emerging from a small rowing boat.
"Mister Shaw," yelled Cook, "How are the twins? And is the house damaged?" she shouted across the lawns.
I was too breathless to reply at such a distance but as soon as we arrived at the waters edge I confirmed to her that Sarah and Anna were indeed in good health and as far as I could assess the house remained undamaged.
"Oh thank the Lord for that," she replied," I could barely sleep through worry."
Miss Marie looked disheveled. Her clothes appeared damp and she glowered at me in a strange way.
"You will carry my valise," she said to me curtly as she handed me her overnight bag.
We walked towards the house leaving Isaac Teller to row his boat back to the other bank. Benjamin helped Cook and I helped Miss Marie with their belongings.
"That storm last night was the very Devil in disguise if I were to tell the truth," said Cook in her delightful country accent.
"Master Shaw," said Miss Marie in a very formal manner, and taking me to one side, "I have never felt so humiliated than I did at the Ladies Choral Society Meeting at Buxton," she exclaimed, "And it is all due to your childish prank," she said.
I thought long and hard and could recall nothing that resembled a 'childish prank'.
Then I suddenly remembered. I had introduced Miss Marie to a new English word, the verb 'to wank', and remember that I had described it as a word that one might use to express immense pleasure.
I clearly remembered telling her that if she enjoyed an operatic aria she could tell her fellow opera-goers that she had 'wanked' at the singer, or just plain 'wanked'. I now feared the worse. She had actually used the word in polite company. I felt suddenly full of panic but at the same time grinned at the thought of her using my very naughty word.
"Oh my goodness Miss Marie," I exclaimed suddenly feeling very guilty, "What did you say?"
"I prefer not to talk about it, and I am trying to forget it," she said piercing me with her hawk like eyes.
"But since you ask I will say this only once," she said in her French accent.
"After the second act of Monteverdi's 'Orfeo' we retired to the small refreshment room under the staircase at the Buxton Opera House and I told the other ladies how much I enjoyed the performance. One lady asked me whether I had heard it before and I told them that I had not. She also asked me to rate 'Orfeo' on a scale of between one and ten. I told her that it was above the scale and was so impressive that I had continuously 'wanked' myself throughout the performance. I told them that the music made me 'wank'. I have never seen so many shocked and angry faces. One kind gentleman took me to one side and told me that the word 'wank' was a vulgar term for 'masturbation' and was never used in polite society. I was so embarrassed and felt so ashamed and will erase it from my memory."
I laughed quietly to myself and pictured Miss Marie being ostracised for the second half of the performance and the rest of the evening. Poor old Miss Marie.
*** In Miss Marie's Room.
***
We walked down the long gravel drive in complete silence until we arrived at the main entrance to Newbeck Hall. I observed that the roof appeared intact and had survived the malevolent violence of the thunderstorm. Miss Marie asked me to carry her valise up to her room, which I did, and stood at her door while she opened it and walked in.
"You will follow me in please," she said with a gruff voice. "I have just experienced the worse night of my life thanks to you and I demand recompense David Shaw. Do I make myself clear?"
I nodded and was told to shut and bolt the door behind me. I had no idea what she was talking about but sensed that it might hopefully involve sexual gratification so stood awkwardly in this most feminine of rooms.
I had never set foot inside Miss Marie's private bedroom and was intrigued to see her little collection of small framed pictures arranged on her dressing table. She had pictures of horses and of her parents and of jars of flowers. I was amazed that she had brought these all the way from France; she surely enjoyed art, evidently. There were fresh meadow flowers in little jars spread across the mantelshelf. She clearly studied botany too.
"You will now please me physically so remove your clothes please," she said casually to me as if she were discussing the weather.
My heart began to thump loudly and my penis stirred inside my trousers.