Mary had been brought up in a conservative household. Her parents were fundamental Christians. Very fundamental. Her father's strictures were such that they made the Amish seem a model of progressiveness. All her life it was drilled into her that her father was the patriarch and that his will was not to be questioned. Her female mind couldn't hope to understand the subtleties of his masculine ingenuity.
Home schooling was essential, as the wild progressiveness of state schools would only corrupt her innocent mind, and the dogma that was passed off as religion in the schools run by the major churches was anathema to her father.
Now, however, Mary was eighteen, and her father had decided she should go out to work. There were rules and regulations put into effect regarding this of course. Her father would find a job he thought suitable, and she would deliver her pay to him each payday. He would make her a suitable allowance.
The job her father found her was working for a lawyer. A woman lawyer, naturally. She was not permitted to fraternise with members of the opposite sex. The actual job consisted of research for the lawyer, establishing case history and precedents that might apply to the cases that the lawyer was currently working on.
It turned out that Mary actually has a good and inquisitive mind, an extremely retentive memory and she loved research. By lucky chance the job she was given fitted her like a glove, and the employer was quite impressed with her abilities. That was how Charles came to meet her.
Charles had a case, but he was finding precedents hard to come by. While discussing this case with Brenda, Mary's employer, she suggested that he have a word with Mary.
"She's the best researcher I've ever come across," Brenda told Charles. "Come over to my office later and you can give her the details."
So later that day Charles was introduced to Mary. He explained his requirements and Mary nodded, taking notes as they talked. She then vanished into her back room to work her magic.
Charles was quite amused. Mary seemed such a little mouse of a girl, and that horrific dress! How could she bear to step outside wearing it?
Charles commented to Brenda about her mousey employer and Brenda nodded.
"I know what you mean," she said. "She's got a terrific brain and if she'd only put a little effort into her appearance she'd be sensational, but she's completely under her father's thumb, and he dictates her every move. If he knew you were giving her a case to research he'd probably try to forbid it. A real dictator type."
The next day Mary approached Brenda.
"I've found two precedents that could be said to apply to Mr. Charles' case," she told Brenda. "One is reasonable, but the second would probably be far more useful if you use a bit of twisted logic on it."
She went on to explain what she meant to Brenda, who laughed when she finally worked out where Mary was heading with it.
"Twisted logic, is right," she said, "but I love it. Why don't you run these down to Charles' office and explain it to him."
Seeing Mary hesitate, she chased her out.
"Go, go, it'll be fine. He's waiting for a break in this case."
Reluctantly Mary departed, heading out of her sheltered back room into the larger world. Reaching Charles' office she was ushered straight through.
This time, Charles paid a bit more attention to Mary, and he had to admit that Brenda was correct. Mary had a lot of potential. He listened intently as Mary went through the precedents she'd discovered and her explanation of how the second one could be applied.
"Oh, yes," he thought. "She definitely had a fine mind as well."
Subsequently, Charles arranged a deal with Brenda, whereby Mary would research some of his cases. He'd pay for Mary's time as required.
The deal worked quite well, as Mary had been under-utilised just researching Brenda's cases. If it hadn't been for the heatwave, the situation could probably have continued for a long time.
I can see you're wondering how a heatwave can screw up a lawyer's office procedure. What happened was that Mary was doing some heavy research for Charles during the heatwave, and had to traipse over to his office one day during the worst of the heat. To add to that, she still wore the heavy god-awful clothes that her father insisted on.
When she arrived at Charles office she was sweating like a pig. Forget that bit where they say horses sweat, men perspire, ladies merely glow. Mary was sweating, big time.
To make matters worse, the air conditioning in Charles office had broken down, so the heat in there was just as intense as the heat in the street.
After five minutes of watching Mary sweat as she explained the precedents she'd brought with her, Charles had had enough.
"Why on earth are you wearing a dress that heavy in this heat?" he demanded. "Why don't you just take it off?"
Then he could only sit and watch dumbfounded as Mary blushed, said "yes sir," and took off her dress and laid it to the side.
Her underwear, he noted, was in accordance with the dress. It was atrocious. Something, he decided, had to be done. Some judicious exploring of the way her mind worked was also called for, starting with why she had taken off her dress like that.
"Mary, why did you take your dress off," Charles asked.
Mary looked confused. "You told me to," she pointed out.
"Do you do everything you're told?" Charles queried.
"Men know far more than me, my father says, and that I should obey them. I can't hope to work out how their minds work, he says. I just have to accept that they know best and do as I'm told."
"Does he say that about men in general or about himself?"
"Well, I have to admit he says it about himself, but it seems to me that if applies to him then it would have to apply to other men."
Charles nodded thoughtfully. "True, true. However, when I said take off your dress, I really meant to exchange it for something lighter. I should have been a bit clearer. My apologies. I assume that you don't actually have anything lighter that you can wear around the office?"
"No, sir," replied Mary. "My father arranges for my mother to make all my dresses and he always insists that this material be used. Should I put my dress back on?"
"Not right now," said Charles, "you're quite adequately covered as you are. However, you definitely need to have a change of dress."
Picking up the phone, Charles called through to his secretary, telling her to go down the street and pick up a sundress and some light underwear for a woman. Looking carefully at Mary, he quoted the sizes he wanted.
