Chapter 1

 

The autumn wind was blowing hard around the ancient eaves of Castlebridge Hall, whistling in the chimney pots, rattling the panes of the upstairs windows and whipping the piles of newly fallen leaves into dancing columns in the eddies formed in the corners of the Hall's wings. The venerable poplars lining the drive to the front façade swayed alarmingly in the powerful gusts and white fluffy clouds were driven frantically across a blue autumnal sky, occasionally occluding the sun, and casting racing shadows to flit over the parkland and countryside about the Hall. In spite of the strong wind, it was a day to cherish; a day when the air seemed clear and the autumn hues seemed vivid and sharply defined. You might perhaps have had to hold on to your hat or clutch your skirt about your knees and raise your voice against the note of the gale but it was nevertheless a day on which it felt good to be out of doors with the wind in your hair and feel alive.

But the rushing wind had little effect on the solid masonry of Castlebridge Hall and, within its massive walls, the gale was but a distant murmur and a low whistling in the fireplaces. In the old great library of the Hall the wind outside was barely even that and scarcely touched the sombre reverent quietude of that great formal chamber of sober study and reflection. Indeed the only noticeable sounds in the library at that moment were the ticking of the library clock and the soft whimpers from the young chambermaid kneeling on a bench facing the wall with her hands on her head.

The reasons for this young lady's quiet sobbing and evident distress were not hard to discern. Her skirt and petticoat were raised above her waist and tucked into position. Her knickers were folded neatly on a nearby table and her exposed buttocks and backs of her thighs were red and swollen with livid crimson welts. Seated at a large desk a few feet away, Thomas Greenwood, the Hall's majestic butler, was making an entry into a large leather bound ledger in front of him.

 

This imposing tome was the most feared book in the entire library and one in which nobody desired to have their name inscribed, for it was the Hall's punishment register; the record of all formal disciplinary measures carried out in the Hall. Greenwood was writing carefully in his neat precise hand. It was his solemn duty to record that Penny Wainwright of the housekeeping department had been found guilty of negligence and wanton carelessness, endangering the safety of other members of the household and blatant dishonesty when confronted with the evidence of her misdeeds. It was his further duty to record that, as a result of her behaviour, the said young lady had been sentenced to, and received, fifty strokes of the cane on her bare backside.

The great library was the usual forum for disciplinary inquiry and the administration of formal punishments at Castlebridge Hall and it was well equipped to serve those functions. There was a large desk before which any suspect was obliged to formally present them-self and account for their conduct before a senior staff member or panel. Should their guilt be established, their explanations judged to be inadequate and they be unfortunate enough to have a sentence of formal punishment passed upon them, then all the necessary tools and items of furniture required for the execution of that punishment lay readily to hand.

Not least among these items was the library's ancient and much feared caning stool. This massive oak stool with its restraining straps on its legs and the broad leather strap across its top for the securing of the waist was the item of furniture that poor little Penny Wainwright had, in the last half hour, become so intimately acquainted with. It was quiet in the library now perhaps but, just a little earlier, it had been anything but. Strapped firmly down over the stool, with her toes clear of the ground, Penny had screamed loud and long as Greenwood had applied the long cane firmly to her naked bottom and the backs of her legs. Now, as was customary, she was obliged to remain kneeling motionlessly on the bench against the wall, with her beaten rear exposed, to absorb the lesson of her punishment and to reflect upon her conduct for a minimum of thirty minutes.

Greenwood finished his entry in the punishment register and picked up a smaller file that lay next to it. It was Penny's own personal disciplinary and conduct record. These files were a relatively recent innovation in the Hall. In the summer, Greenwood and other senior staff members had become increasingly concerned with the falling standards of diligence and application to their work of the Hall's small army of serving girls and housemaids. When Lord Castlebridge himself had taken Greenwood to task on the matter and he had decided to act decisively to arrest the erosion of the work ethic in the household.

As an immediate consequence of that decision four of the worst offenders had been ordered to the library and birched to set an example to their colleagues. It had been a memorable day at the Hall. The punishment register recorded that Alicia Taunton, Betty Clark and Magdalena Alvares had each received fifty strokes of the birch switch at the birching post while Charlotte Grayson, as the most persistent transgressor, had been obliged to suffer seventy five.

The day stood out in the Hall's collective memory not only because of the birching administered to the four young ladies but also because it was on the same day that Lord Castlebridge had sentenced his own wife to fifty strokes of the cane for foolishly squandering seven thousand pounds on the horses at Ascot. There had been workmen in the library at that time so Greenwood, as the Hall's official disciplinarian, had been obliged to administer Her Ladyship's caning in his pantry. To complete what had proved to be a remarkable week, only a few days later, Brenda Brideshead, the beautiful but somewhat foolish wife of one of the junior partners in Lord Castlebridge's business emporium had had her name entered into the punishment register as well. For her criminal indiscretion, leading to considerable financial loss to His Lordship's business, she had been strapped naked to the very stool so recently vacated by Penny Wainwright and received the severe sentence of one hundred strokes of the cane.

The immediate effects of this swift application of discipline had been gratifying and there'd been a noticeable tightening of standards about the Hall. Greenwood and his senior colleagues however had not been content to rest upon the fruits of this immediate improvement. Unless constant vigilance was maintained it was all too likely that the domestic staff would retire into complacency and their slip shod habits would begin to re-emerge.

 

In order to prevent such an eventuality Greenwood had initiated a policy of strict surveillance and monitoring. Thus each young lady of the staff had now a personal file. At the end of each day they were to have their file signed by their superior and the standards of their work and conduct for the day noted. These files would then be examined when each girl was presented for a formal review three or four times a year. Should their record have proved exemplary over the interim since their last review then they could expect to be rewarded with a bonus or promotion. If however their record was less than satisfactory then they would be punished.

The system had shown much promise since its inauguration. Some girls had indeed improved beyond recognition. Most notable of these was Charlotte Grayson, the girl who had received such a severe birching in the summer. The seventy five lashes she had endured must have had a most salutary effect on this young lady for her behaviour and deportment since had apparently been blemish-less and she had displayed admirable qualities of hard work and attention to her duties since. Charlotte had had her review just the week before and it had been the opinion of the review panel that, should she maintain her reformed standards up to her next review, she should be recommended for promotion and the subsequent augmentation of her salary that would entail.

In other cases however the results had not shown the same improvement. Two days before, Helinka Piotrowski had had her review and her persistent lack of punctuality and tardiness had been evident from her file. It had earned her thirty strokes of the cane and a severe warning that if things did not improve over the next two months she would be facing the birch. And then of course there was Penny Wainwright.

Greenwood opened Penny's file with a sigh. Penny was due for her next review in ten days and, unless there was some remarkable change around in that time, she would be back in here for another thrashing. This latest episode was just one more incident in Penny's woeful record. She had been caned back in August for carelessness leading to the breakage of a valuable item. There had also been several instances of her misconduct being dealt with within her department with informal punishments that were nevertheless recorded in her dossier. She had twice been strapped for laziness by her head housekeeper and, on another occasion, been paddled by the Head Gardener for sneaking off for a smoke in one of his sheds. Altogether there were far too many negative remarks in her file and this last misdeed was just the latest in a sorry line of her misconduct.

She'd broken one of the vacuum cleaners through foolish carelessness and, fearing punishment, had failed to report the breakage and tried to conceal her part in it. The machine had been in a most dangerous condition as a result of her action and the Hall's head of maintenance had expressed the opinion that it was a wonder that the next person to use it hadn't been electrocuted. Fifty strokes had been the minimum Greenwood could have awarded her under the circumstances and, judging by the story told by her personal file, it was not the end of her troubles.

Greenwood glanced at the young lady still snivelling against the wall and shook his head grimly. The welts from the cane across her rear were starting to turn purple and she was squirming slightly from the pain still throbbing in her nether portions. She still had another ten minutes to remain in her present position. After that she would be allowed to recover her knickers, adjust her dress and be dismissed. Then, unless there was an enormous improvement to be seen, her bottom would have ten days to heal before her review and the administration of its next corrective measures. Greenwood had already decided that, failing such an improvement, he would recommend a severe lesson with the birch as a means of reforming Miss Wainwright's unacceptable record of conduct.