I'd never worked in a private college before. I had my basic teaching qualifications and had assisted before but I did not have a great deal of experience. I had applied on a whim to be a house mistress at the finishing school in Tarbury. The college catered for 18 to 21 year olds.
I'm not sure how I had landed the job, but I had, and now I was waiting to meet my new employer.
I straightened my shoulders, knocked and entered the Headmistress' office door.
"Ah, Julie," Miss Pendrane said. "Welcome. Lovely to see you. I am sure you will fit in here just fine." She rushed through the introduction in the way of some busy people. She was reading through my CV and references.
"No experience in a residential setting? No matter we will settle you in, I am sure."
"I am placing you in Launcelot house." She said, "They are lovely bunch. They are in their last year here so most will be around 21 years old so shouldn't cause you too much problem." She laughed aloud.
"Don't look so worried, you will be fine. They really need little more than some help if they need it and a little enforcing of the rules if they step out of line. Either of which is easily dealt with by a kindly but firm disposition. Do you think you will be able to cope with that?"
"Er, yes." I said and then "Yes." more confidently.
"Now I see that you are quite young." She looked down at my CV, "Twenty eight, I see. Mmmm," She seemed to think to herself for a while.
"No, no it should be fine."
She looked archly at me over her glasses.
"Just don't let any of them try to seduce you!" Again a laugh. "No really." She added a little more seriously.
"Anyway, go and settle in. We can catch up at dinner. Main hall, 6pm sharp."
With that I was dismissed. I left and got my case, walking out into the sunshine. I looked around at the extensive manicured grounds. A beautiful setting. I saw the finger post pointing to various houses and saw Launcelot halfway down. I followed the gravel path to a lovely old boarding house and then inside. My apartment was on the ground floor by the main door so I was inside and flopped down onto the couch in moments, it was fantastic. My own apartment on the job. No commuting to work and all meals included. I'd fallen on my feet here.
I unpacked and laid out my work clothes; a crisp white dress, knee length with popper fastening up the front. It looked very clinical and official. I quite liked it. It went well with the slightly sensible black stockings and black shoes. It didn't require anything underneath but underwear so it was very practical. I put it on and immediately felt more in role.
I decided to have a walk around my new domain. I thought I would do a circuit of the building first and walked out of the doors. I followed the path around towards the rear where trees and bushes grew thickly. As I walked around the corner I was greeted by a waft of smoke and two guilty looking students who dropped their stubs to the ground grinding them out with their shoes.
"Sorry miss." They chorused, "Won't happen again miss."
They bent their heads and began to walk off.
"Hey, what's your names?" I called after them.
They stopped, looked briefly at each other and the first said "Walker," the other "Davids, miss."
I wasn't too sure what should be done yet so I just said "Thank you, that will be all, off with you now."
They looked immensely relieved and jogged away.
I explored the rest of the immediate grounds and then had a bit of a wander within. It was an old building, probably from the late 1880s or similar. There were reading rooms, locker and changing rooms, a common room, wash rooms, a large communal shower room and dormitories stretching away upstairs onto the upper two storeys. Large but small enough to become familiar with time.
At ten minutes to six I walked across to the dining hall and at the top table were the other staff members. Miss Pendrane saw me and waved me towards them.
She sat me next to her and introduced me to those immediately around me. A heavily bearded man in his fifties was Mr Stevens, Geography. A lady opposite, thin and pinched looking was Mrs Brine, English, and a younger woman in a neat suit was Miss Peacock, French. They appeared to have their job roles as part of their names as far as she was concerned. I wondered if I would be Miss Armstrong, House mistress, in her future introductions.
"So," said Mr Stevens, "Settling in?"
"Oh yes." I replied "It's lovely here. I have had a bit of a tour." I smiled. "I caught a couple of the rascals having a sly smoke behind the house." I added with a slight chuckle.
He sucked in his breath and looked sharply at Miss Pendrane.
"Who were they?" She asked very seriously.
"Well, they said they were Walker and Davids. They seemed very relieved to be sent on their way." I laughed at the memory of their guilty faces.
"No." said Miss Pendrane looking very stern. "We have strict rules here. It is one of the reasons students attend here, because we have those rules and we enforce them regardless of the ages of the perpetrators. If we allow offences to go unpunished it would undermine the very essence of the college, and if the parents got to hear of it we could start to lose students. Well this is sooner than expected but you will have to administer punishment. Can't be helped I suppose. Call them in to see you this evening. No point stretching these things out." With that she dismissed the discussion.
Food was then served by the kitchen staff.
I leaned in to Miss Peacock and quietly asked "What is this punishment that i'm meant to do?"
"Oh, you can use the cane I suppose." She said "but that might be a bit severe for smoking. I'd just go for spanking. It's easier and you can adjust it to whomever you are dealing with."
"Really?" I asked, surprised. "but they're both 21! ."
