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CHAPTER 1

Young people are eminently adaptable, and I soon got used to the everyday routine of
living at Mrs Smith`s, different though the life was from what I was used to at home. As
the weeks went by, I discovered that Mrs Smith`s disciplinary procedures were applied to
many other young ladies in addition to Charlotte and me.

Some of the girls who honored the punishment room with a visit came from some distance
away. Mrs Smith had an extensive correspondence with worried parents and guardians who
were at their wits` end in knowing how to deal with their growing daughters.

Once a young lady reaches the age of sixteen or seventeen, she begins to think she knows
better than Mama and Papa, and indeed is sometimes inclined to say `Shan`t!` and `Won`t!`
Most reprehensible, I know, but that is the fact of the matter. Many a parent, faced with
such truculence, has found their eye drawn to one of Mrs Smith`s advertisements in the
press. `Idle, hysterical, willful girls can be dealt with`, the adverts say. `Advice
available.`

Before the end of my time with Mrs Smith, she came to trust me sufficiently to allow me
to read some of the letters which arrived in response to such notices. And very concerned
the authors of those letters were too.

`Our daughter will no longer obey us,` was the constant cry. `She lies in bed all
morning, and has even begun to swear!`

My word, the nerve of these girls.

Mrs Smith spent much of each day replying at considerable length to these anguished
souls. She made a charge of course: half a guinea for each letter. And she would normally
add that, if the worst came to the worst, the girl could be brought to her for correction;
or, better still, deposited as a boarder for a month, or six, or twelve. Reduced rates for
longer terms.

Alternatively, Mrs Smith was prepared to travel, taking her cane with her. The fee for
such visits would be five guineas, plus expenses. And such is the moral temper of our
times, dear Reader, and so common is the incidence of idleness, hysteria and the like
among the female young, that Mrs Smith found herself with more work than she could cope
with. She could have gone visiting every day of the week, she told me, and I did not doubt
it.

For those who lived locally, of course, the situation was much simpler. They sent their
willful daughters, or lazy servants, or incompetent employees, round to Mrs Smith`s house
to be dealt with there. Thus it was, that on Wednesday afternoons, Charlotte and I usually
found ourselves witnessing the application of the cane to a number of bare bottoms other
than our own.

On the first half-dozen such occasions, the scene made my heart thump and my palms sweat,
but gradually I grew accustomed to the sight of the cane swishing through the air and the
sound of the sharp cries of the strapped-down victims.

There was one particular afternoon which I remember well. There were two candidates for
punishment: one a mature woman of about twenty-five, and the other a girl of barely
sixteen.

The older person was dealt with first. Who she was I had no idea at the time; neither did
I know why she was referred for correction. Perhaps she had referred herself, I thought;
stranger things have happened. All I knew was that she was ravishingly beautiful, and
that, as Charlotte and I watched, she quite took our breath away.

This person was unusual too in that she took her twelve strokes of the cane almost
without making a sound. Perhaps in deference to the fact that she was older than most of
us, she was not subjected to the indignity of being strapped down. Then, when the beating
was finished, she knelt and kissed Mrs Smith`s hand.

Only a single tear on her cheek and a slight pallor of the complexion gave any indication
that this handsome lady had just been punished. As she rose to go back into the ante-room
and dress herself again, I noticed she wore a wedding-ring.

A few minutes later, the second candidate arrived. She, I suspect, was just a little shop
girl who had dropped a plate or had otherwise irritated her employer. Whatever the
offence, the girl was clearly terrified, and for once Mrs Smith did not make her strip.
Neither did she go through with the girl the usual catalogue of offenses.

This time, Mrs Smith simply had the girl stand in front of her.

`Now, Emily,` said Mrs Smith, `you know you have been sent to me because you have been
naughty.`

Immediately, the wretched creature clasped her hands together in supplication and hopped
in anguish from foot to foot.

`Oh, please, Mrs Smith,` she begged, tears flooding out of her eyes, `please do not beat
me! I will be good, I promise!`

For the next minute or two, Mrs Smith talked softly to the girl, so softly that, for the
most part, Charlotte and I could not hear what was said. But once or twice the girl again
pleaded for mercy and did her little hopping dance of anxiety.

Beside me, I could feel Charlotte fidgeting, but I ignored her. As a matter of fact I was
cross with her, as I feared we might both get black marks if we were judged to be restless
and impatient.

At length, the unhappy little shop girl was sent away with nothing more than a quiet
talking-to, which in my experience was unprecedented. Let off with a warning indeed!
Perhaps the old bat was getting soft-hearted in her old age.

The day`s discipline applied, Mrs Smith went back to her correspondence, Charlotte rushed
off to her room, and I returned to my needlework.

An hour or so later, Charlotte appeared in the living-room, where I was sitting alone.
She appeared slightly flustered, and moved from the window to the couch and back again
several times.

Eventually I was obliged to speak to her. `Charlotte, my dear,` I said, `whatever it is
that is bothering you, I think you had better spit it out, don`t you?`

Charlotte sat down beside me with a troubled look on her face. `I think I must be a very
bad person,` she said.

`Oh? Why so?`

`Well.... Because I take pleasure in the misfortunes of others.`