The corollary to technological advance is the loss of personal connection.
Lucretia Sinclair was an old maid. At two and thirty, she was a confirmed spinster. Tired of her family’s cruel rejoinders, she’d gone west seeking her manifest destiny. She found instead, the loss of her maidenhead and the serenity of over the knee. The hows make the tale.
She alighted from the 3:45 from Denver. Stark landscape, muted pastels and strong earth shades all pummeled by the soaring turquoise sky. Waiting for her was Mrs. Parker, widowed some twenty years, swathed in black silk befitting her station as matriarch of Juniper Falls. Lucretia had responded to an advert seeking ‘unmarried women of quality desired for tutor to wealthy family’ by post. The correspondence escalated rapidly, more so when the telegraph link was completed to Juniper Falls. Mrs. Parker set a stern example through her terse missives. Lucretia could hear the sniff in her words, the distaste of East Coast debutantes living off stolen largesse and western gold. Still, she came. Dressed in muted poplin, traveling weeks by train across the breadth of a dazzling country, Lucretia left her past behind.
Erect carriage, she stared into the distant future as Mrs. Parker perused her as carefully as any prized range horse. More so, because a horse could be out down, a woman of loose morals more destructive than any locust horde in fall. Passing inspection, Lucretia lifted her satchel, porter behind with the rest of her worldly goods and followed in the tremendous wake of Mrs. Parker. Hats tipped, heads bowed, she parted the dusty and dung smeared street as if brandishing a cannon. Determined not to be cowed, Lucretia was nonetheless impressed by the display of personal power rivaling any DuPont. Juniper Falls may have been small by eastern standards, but it was run not by the sheriff or mine owners, but by a woman of a certain age with unsmiling countenance.
In her letter home that night to her younger sister, Lucretia was hard pressed to explain the atmosphere in the town. The best she could say was: It, the town sweet Margaret, seems placid and serene. Not bustling as New York, yet, an air of smugness all emanating from a short female form. No gentle sex I fear from Mrs. Parker. She wields a stern hand, perhaps, dare I say, even harder than Papa. In closing my beloved, I have chosen to stay. You may write me at this address. Mrs. Parker is providing room and board in her ‘mansion’. Nothing on 5th Avenue I’m afraid, but passable in extremis. I am to commence my position on the morrow so must now retire.
With the sun, the house too rose. Lucretia was prompt for breakfast. The food was welcome after the long journey: the company marginally less so. Not for Mrs. Parker a mixed table. Only the finest ladies were ensconced in her home. The oldest was a dowager visiting from San Francisco with the youngest being her niece barely out of finishing school. A blue stocking would have felt right at home except… there was a sense of mystery, of hidden vices lurking behind the facade of propriety. Lucretia was polite when spoken to and kept her replies and curiosity firmly in check. Finishing her meal, requesting to be excused, she retired above stairs to complete her toilette and met Mrs. Parker in the parlor precisely at eight. She refrained from flinching when the matriarch ran a clothes sweeper over her plain dress. Satisfied at last, she sallied forth, Lucretia bobbing dutifully one step behind.
High collar, purple cravat, and diamond stickpin did not catch her attention so much as the wide leather belt wrapped round his trim waist. She listened closely to his instructions. The children were attending school until noon meal, so Mr. Mallory conducted a brief tour of his abode. The servants introduced, Lucretia was ushered into the room set aside for tutoring. Every day, after school, the children, Robert, Sally, Jenny and Polly would be her charge until five. Saturday she was to conduct exams from nine until one, the rest of the day and Sunday would be free. Services at the Methodist church were at eight, the family pew to the front right. Mr. Mallory gestured to the tallboy near her desk. Inside the doors were a variety of straps and paddles hanging from gleaming brass hooks. Lucretia barely heard him as she fondled the heavy oiled leather ‘objects de correction’.
He left, not before crooking an eyebrow at her mesmerization for the family disciplinary tools. They saw regular use; he’d dismissed the last four tutors for failing to rigorously apply as needed. He felt sure Miss Lucretia would have few qualms in chastising his unruly children. Pausing at the door, he added the caveat her performance would be monitored closely and subjected to discipline should she fail to meet his expectations. Lucretia blushed and demurely replied she’d do her best to please him. When he left, she sat on trembling legs behind the desk, trying in vain to banish the sudden heat rising in her nether regions. Well read, less so in the amorous arts, Lucretia was not completely naive, yet no man had ever so dominated her emotions and mind as Mr. Mallory. She’d been informed in stark terms the fate of the late Mrs. Mallory and whatever gossip existed in Juniper Falls was yet to be revealed.
The town clock chimed the noon hour and soon, the bustle of children scattering to familial dwellings motivated Lucretia to cease her rigorous cleaning and present herself to Mr. Mallory in his study. Nodding, he escorted her to the dining room, the children rising to greet their father and newest tutor. Curtsies and a bow with polite introductions of age and grade were graciously acknowledged. Mr. Mallory queried his brood in turn by rote they recited the day’s lesson. Only little Polly stumbled over a math equation. At her father’s frown, she rose; meal half-eaten and went upstairs to await her fate. When several minutes later he rose as well, Lucretia asked if she was not to provide Polly’s punishment as per the position? Deferring with surprise, Mr. Mallory acquiesced and Lucretia, heart racing and palms damp, opened the door to the schoolroom.
Polly was seated in her chair, hands folded in her lap, eyes downcast. If she were late back to school, the teacher would punish her as well. Lucretia stood, one hand resting on the smooth oak surface of the sturdy desk pondering the miscreant. She called Polly forward to the chalkboard and asked her to repeat the math lesson. Again Polly failed in solving the rudimentary equation and Lucretia patiently coaxed her until answering correctly. The one o’clock bell rang, the children all returned to the schoolhouse, except for Polly, now bent forward over the desk. Lucretia, aware of the girl’s tender years, selected a smaller strap and decided on a total of ten spanks. Unsure as to protocol she slowly lifted Polly’s ankle length paisley dress. When the girl silently assisted by raising her hips, Lucretia sighed inwardly realizing she’d ascertained the correct course of action. Carefully folding over the hem, she parted the muslin drawers to reveal a pair of trim buttocks still rounded with baby fat.
Stepping to the side, Lucretia raised the strap and brought the leather down with a firm stroke. The loud slap brought little reaction from Polly so she felt no reticence in lying on the blows with a strong hand. By the tenth, Polly’s white skin was a pleasing shade of delicate pink. Directing her to rise, Polly arranged her clothing and politely thanked Lucretia for her correction and tutoring. Eyes were bright, but privately Lucretia was impressed by Polly’s stoicism, even more so when she retrieved the punishment book and neatly recorded her punishment. She requested dismissal and curtsied before hastening back to school where she knew more spanking was in store. All in all, Polly was feeling quite good. This afternoon’s tutoring session was going to be very interesting.
At 2:30, class was dismissed for the day and all but Polly went home. She went over Miss Dexter’s lap and received a brisk ten-minute hand spanking over her dress for being late after lunch. By the time she’d returned to the schoolroom, Lucretia was into the day’s lessons with Robert, Sally and Jenny. Lucretia merely nodded Polly to her chair and continued the session. She noticed Polly wincing slightly, but refrained from commenting. No need to be cruel. Lucretia full well remembered hard spankings over Papa’s knee and could commiserate with the state of Polly’s bottom. She sternly reminded herself she was the children’s tutor, not friend and certainly not mother. By half past four, Lucretia had a firm grasp of the depth and breadth of the children’s education and interests. Deciding to be forthright, she asked Sally to fetch the punishment book. Reading it for the first time, Lucretia was astounded by the number of times the children had been punished by previous tutors. Mr. Mallory had strongly stated discipline was slack, but according to the book, scarcely a day passed without spanking of at least one child, if not all.
09/03/2010
Categories: D/s, fiction, short stories, spanking . . Author: lurvspanking . Comments: 4 Comments