Elisabeth closed her textbook and took off her glasses. She again took the opportunity to bemoan her faith; that her parents saw fit to send her to this remote finishing school. She was two months into her yearlong stay and already it felt like a life sentence. Her parents had assured her that this was not a punishment. Rather it was a chance to gain that extra polish a woman requires to gain an advantageous marriage. Elisabeth knew this to be a lie. If she hadn't been friendly with John, she had no doubt she would now be attending a good college or touring Europe and not stuck here. So what if John was merely a carpenter. She sighed, she wondered if her parents were aware that this was 1953 not 1853.
She turned to stare out of the window. At least she was out of Ireland for the first time in her eighteen years, even if it was only in some bleak Scottish moor. She shook her head to try and dispel her self-pitying brooding. She knew her parents were crass, social climbing snobs but they were trying their hardest to do what was best for her. Their definition of what was best for her however, left a lot to be desired. As far as they were concerned, marriage to a rich settled man should be the extent and fulfilment of her ambition. Elisabeth thought better of herself and was more interested in finding her own place in the world, based on her skills and intellect, not her ability to smile dutifully at her husband's jokes.
She checked the time. It was 8pm, one hour to lights out. She wondered where her roommate was. She smiled to herself, however isolated or depressed she felt, Jenny could always cheer her up. Elisabeth had not considered herself sheltered; she had allowed John to kiss her on the lips, once even opening her mouth, but if even half of what Jenny said was true then she was truly innocent. Jenny was from some family of minor nobility. Her family had only their name, an overly large house and a great deal of pride left to them. It was imperative that Jenny snared a rich husband and Jenny was completely at ease with this. She had told Elisabeth that a rich husband would mean security for her and her family, but it didn't mean she had to be a good wife.
Jenny's shocking stories were not based on experience but on observations. Her large house contained many servants and her family's poverty did not bar then from owning several horses. She had become acquainted with the mechanics of reproduction from an early age. It was her pioneering spirit of exploration however that revealed to her the shocking world of what actually happened between adults behind closed doors. Her home was centuries old, built when her family was one of the richest in Britain. The grandiose architecture included a veritable labyrinth of secret passages and discreet spy holes. She had gained an education that would surpass that of even the most libertine gentleman. Elisabeth giggled to herself when she considered how shocked Jenny's husband would be on their wedding night.
Elisabeth refused to believe even half of what Jenny told her but took a guilty pleasure in hearing the stories. Listening to Jenny relate a scene, always through a mouth locked in a cheeky grin, had caused her new and unfamiliar sensations. Sensations centred in that place between her legs. A fluttering, a heat, that not even when she kissed John would become so inflamed. Lately she was finding herself tempted to explore these sensations further, allowing her fingers to possibly find the centre of this feeling, touching that area she had been taught to never touch.
She took a deep breath and tried to put those thoughts out of her head. She looked at Jenny's empty bed and again at the clock on the wall. She smiled ruefully. Jenny had always made a habit of pushing the school rules to the limit but while known as a troublemaker, by the Martinet nuns that ran the school, she never allowed herself to be caught actually breaking the rules. There were only ten minutes left to lights out. Elisabeth knew that in all probability Jenny was somewhere in the west wing, most likely keeping company with one of the young seminaries that were housed there. Jenny had made it clear to Elisabeth that she felt it her duty to corrupt at least one prospective priest in her time here. While Elisabeth knew it was mortal sin for her to even know about Jenny's project she didn't feel it to be wrong. She had experienced enough unpleasant priests at home to know that even one less of them would be an improvement for the world.
She watched the clock tick towards the hour and her worry grew. She knew that Sister Paulette would be around to check the rooms in under five minutes time. She muttered a few words that Jenny had taught her under her breath and quickly moved to push some clothes under Jenny's bed. Satisfied that it would pass a cursory inspection she removed her heavy school dress and put on her ankle length white night dress. While nude underneath, it gave ample warmth and more than protected her modesty. She put the grill in front of the open log fire, turned off the light and hopped into bed. Feigning sleep she waited for Sister Paulette to march in unannounced, as was her usual practice. At two minutes past the hour Elisabeth heard the door handle turn and felt the presence of Paulette in her room. The nun grunted her approval and left within seconds.
Elisabeth got up and sighed in relief. She decided that as a friend she should find Jenny and make sure she got back to her room before being discovered. She made up her own bed to make it appear occupied, placed her feet into a pair of slippers and quietly opened her door. She saw Sister Paulette and waited for her to enter another room before leaving and ran as quickly as she could to the open dormitory door. She kept running until she came to a corridor she knew might be used. She glanced up and down its length and once behind her before sprinting to the last door on the left. She opened it and closed it behind her in mere seconds. She waited for her heart to stop trying to escape her chest, knowing that she was now relatively safe from discovery till the return trip. This was a little used back stairs that had several unused rooms off the landings. It also connected the main area, where the finishing school was located, with the west wing where young seminarians had their determination tested by being kept in isolation from their old lives for a year.
This staircase was where the strictly policed separation was usually broken. Assignations were kept, but more usually this was where a roaring trade in cigarettes, illicit wine and chocolate was carried out. And it was not unknown for letters from home sick young men to be posted to their mothers by sympathetic girls in the finishing school. Or if not sympathetic then at least avaricious. Jenny was generally acknowledged as the lynchpin in this mercantile adventure. She had the bravery to visit here regularly and besides her avowed intention of corrupting a 'baby priest' as she called them she also had a sweet tooth. Elisabeth had even begun to worry about her own figure so much chocolate was finding its way into her room.
Elisabeth pushed back her shoulders and began to walk up the stairs slowly. She wanted to find Jenny but didn't want to embarrass her by bundling into her if she was kissing some one. She reached the first landing and checked the room that led off of it. It was empty. She continued up, checking the rooms on the second, third and fourth landings. All empty and Elisabeth began to worry that she may have made a mistake. She continued upwards however to the fifth floor. She sighed in relief as she heard muffled voices from above her. She reached the door and saw it was open from the flickering candlelight that was lighting up a tiny section of the landing. She inched towards the door and looked around it, making sure not to be seen by its occupants.
She relaxed as she saw Jenny sitting on some frayed looking cushions sharing what appeared to be a bottle of wine and some cigarettes. With her were two boys; no they were men. They must have been in their late twenties at least. Elisabeth paled as she realised that Jenny must have been caught and was now been spoken to by two of the priests from the seminary. What she couldn't understand however was why the three of them were sitting and sharing a convivial bottle of wine. Surely they should be marching her to Sister Paulette and demanding her immediate expulsion. Instead they were chatting and as far as Elisabeth could ascertain from their postures and gestures maybe even flirting. Unfortunately they were being so careful to remain quiet that she was unable to hear them properly. She did work out that they were called Simon and Adrian and that Jenny was addressing them in this familiar fashion. While shocked by Jenny's brazen behaviour she was even more taken aback by the priests' acquiescence.
