I like to keep my girls in order. Eighteen year old girls without discipline will run wild, acting like little harlots as soon as your back is turned. But a girl who has been taught to be properly obedient will always be a credit to the academy. Take Miss Presswood. There have been some regrettable lapses, minor incidents on the whole, but chastisement certainly required. But on the whole, Miss Presswood is one of what I call my Good Girls. Always willing, always eager and -- and this really is the key thing you know -- always knows when she has done wrong and always accepts her punishment willingly. And afterwards there is no sulking, no resentment. She really is a very good girl.
Miss Di Ruffia, on the other hand, does tend to give herself airs. And she does not understand fully the need for strong discipline. I notice her in the corridor -- just after I have punished Miss Presswood for a most unusual breech of the dress code -- and as I send her on her way I see Miss Di Ruffia is wearing stockings! Stockings! The regulations are quite clear: white knee socks in the summer months and stockings only to be worn between October and March. I call her to me directly. She looks surprised. And there is always something rather insolent about Miss Di Ruffia's look.
'Yes, sir,' she says. Her voice is so perfectly English, you'd never believe she was Italian. Excellent diction -- it's a pleasure to watch her lips form the words.
'Stand correctly when you address me, Miss Di Ruffia,' I say. Some girls just cannot remember the simplest things -- or are deliberately disobedient. Either way -- silliness or wilfulness -- the method of correction is the same, though with the silliest and most wilful it can take many, many months of frequent punishments.
'Yes sir.' She stands to her full height -- she is a very tall, leggy girl -- the tallest in the academy by some inches -- and clasps her hands behind her back so her small breasts press against her blouse. I look her up and down. I make it my habit to scrutinise most closely the areas of their dress where the regulations are most often flouted -- the hem of the skirt (often too short), the buttons of the blouse (often one or two may be undone), the bosom (sometimes the more shameless hussies will not wear a bra!), the lips (lipstick!) and eyes (mascara!). I never rush this inspection -- it unsettles the more wilful girls like Miss Di Ruffia. Her skirt is perhaps a trifle short, exposing rather more of her slim, silk-clad thighs than is quite proper, her blouse somewhat clinging. No make-up that I can discern, just flawless lightly tanned skin, but when I move close I can smell the scent of sandalwood.
'Perfume and stockings, Miss Di Ruffia? Are you deliberately flouting the rules of the academy? Or have you some explanation that will satisfy me?'
'I have no excuse, sir.' Her diction really is most beautifully clipped.
'No excuse, Miss Di Ruffia?'
'No, sir. I am very sorry, sir. Please punish me as you see fit.' Her voice trembles very slightly as she utters the last words.