From the Top Shelf - In a Mist, Chapter 4

The story so far:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

It's the first morning of a new term for Elizabeth. How will she and her tutor get on today?

IN A MIST - Chapter 4 - In which Elizabeth discovers her tutor to be a man of his word!

By the following morning Elizabeth had overcome her mealtime tantrum. In the light of day she thought twice about disobeying her tutor's injunction to present herself in the schoolroom at half past nine, for despite his attractive exterior there were things about him which unnerved and quite frightened her. His tall powerful body seemed a reservoir of male strength and vigour, and his deep-set aquamarine eyes had scrutinised her thoroughly, as if looking for a weak link in her armour.

The previous night, angry at the way he had made her appear small and foolish, she had vowed to retaliate by locking herself in her bedroom all day and refusing to come out. But that idea now seemed childish and silly. She could not remain there indefinitely.

Even so, she nurtured a burning resentment at the prospect of being stuck indoors and made to read boring books and write long tedious compositions on such a glorious May morning. The sun had risen above the tops of the trees, dappling the smooth verdant lawns with its rays. Beyond the outer wall the woods were a colourful mass of wild flowers. She gave a groan of martyrdom, slipped on a white muslin frock, and went down to breakfast.

Her usual healthy appetite deserted her. She was hard put to manage one slice of buttered toast and a cup of Indian tea. Her guardian, as was his custom, was breakfasting in his room (he rarely made an appearance before eleven) and she was inexpressibly relieved to discover that Mr. Lennox had already eaten and departed. His athletically mobile figure could be seen from the bow window, striding about the garden, enjoying the sunshine.

Ten minutes after the appointed time, Elizabeth, trying to look nonchalant and unconcerned, opened the white-panelled schoolroom door to find her tutor, wearing a long black academic gown over his crisp grey suit, already installed at the massive mahogany desk. A brand new blackboard and easel stood before the french windows, blocking out the magnificent view of the estuary and the sea.

At the other end of the room, the humbler pupil's desk - with chagrin she last remembered sitting at when she was fourteen - had been cleared of its accumulated bric-a-brac, and a neat pile of new exercise books placed on top. The little white pottery inkwell had been filled for the first time in years; and a selection of pens, their nibs gleaming brightly, lay in the correct place. A few feet away from the left hand wall, halfway between the teacher's desk and the door, stood an old leather upholstered dining chair.

The long black gown made Mr. Lennox look sterner and more threatening than the previous evening at dinner. Elizabeth felt silly and foolish, standing there uncertainly in the open doorway.

"Shut the door and come and stand in front of my desk," he said. "I want to have a little talk with you, to set matters straight between us before we commence."

She slammed the door and flounced over to him like a rebellious adolescent schoolgirl. Mr. Lennox fixed her with a severe disapproving gaze before beginning.

"You have more than reached the age of being a responsible young woman," he told her caustically, "but judging by the reports from your guardian - as well as the evidence of my own eyes - you rarely behave like one. Therefore, it will prove extremely salutary for you to return to being a pupil. But this time under much stricter discipline, by all accounts, than at the school you last attended."

Elizabeth glowered and raised her eyes heavenwards in exasperation at such a tiresome lecture. Choosing for the moment to ignore her impertinence, Lennox continued, "As long as you are in this classroom you will be under my sole jurisdiction. So it will be no earthly use complaining to your guardian about anything which may take place within these four walls - for I can assure you your complaints will fall on deaf ears. Your guardian has washed his hands of you - and I cannot say that I blame him, considering the trouble you have caused him over the years."

Elizabeth shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. She felt herself becoming hypnotised by his voice, which seemed to be growing deeper and stronger all the time. No one had ever spoken to her like this before, so sternly yet so calmly.

"I expect you, Elizabeth, to arrive here promptly at half past nine - not ten minutes late like you did today. Lessons will break off at mid-day for lunch, recommence at two, and finish for the day at half past four. I am at present preparing a curriculum timetable, which I shall display on the wall above your desk as soon as it is completed. Is that clear?"

She gaped in thunderstruck amazement. Was he being serious , or was this all just an elaborate joke?

"While in my schoolroom, you should expect to be treated like a schoolgirl - and punished like one, too."

She bristled with indignation, trying to summon up words sufficiently acerbic to express her feelings towards what he was saying. But before she could voice her opinions he began again:

"You must at all times be diligent, attentive, meek and respectful. You will address me as 'Sir.' And if you fail, in any way whatsoever, to come up to the mark, I shall punish you in a way I do not think you will enjoy one little bit - in spite of your insolent remarks yesterday evening, at dinner."

Punishment? Elizabeth looked blankly at Mr. Lennox. Punishment meant little more to her than being lectured or sent early to bed. "I do not understand you," she said sullenly, "Kindly explain."

"Sir," he corrected her.

"Sir," she repeated mechanically. She could have bitten off her tongue.

"Very well," he said with grim satisfaction, "I mean that I shall punish you by the only method which, in your case, I believe will be effective: corporal chastisement."

"Corporal...?" she echoed uncomprehendingly.

"Corporal - meaning punishment inflicted on the body. Since words clearly have no effect whatsoever on you, I am determined to resort to deeds. Let me make it quite clear, Elizabeth," he said, slowly and precisely to the bewildered girl, "if you as much as put a foot wrong, I shall take you across my knee and spank you soundly. But for more serious misdemeanours, such as disrespect, disobedience, lying, and persistent neglect of your studies, I shall give you a good whipping with this -" He got up and went to the narrow cupboard built into the thickness of the wall on the left of the fireplace. Opening the door, he took out a slender rattan cane which he swished menacingly at the girl - whose face registered, confusion, fear and outrage all at the same time.

She stared at the cane in disbelief. "You cannot mean it! Surely you don't intend to use that dreadful thing on me? It would be absolutely barbaric!...Sir," she added the final word in a diplomatic afterthought. "Besides, my guardian would never allow -"

"But I have already told you, Elizabeth," he said with a complacent smile, replacing the cane in the cupboard, "your guardian has granted me complete freedom in matters relating to your education. So it will be no good running to him in tears when your bottom is on fire after a caning."

"My...bottom?" she stammered, blushing to the roots of her hair, for she had naturally assumed he intended to cane her on the hands.

Elizabeth was consumed with mortification. His calmly spoken proposal to smack her with the palm of his hand was bad enough and unpardonably vulgar - for Elizabeth, though incorrigibly naughty, was by no means immodest. Her background had been far more sheltered than most girls of her age and class. But for Mr. Lennox to actually intend using a cane on her, as well as baldly apprising her of that portion of her anatomy on which it would be employed - as though she were nothing better than a common reform-school slut! Well there were some things a well brought-up girl could take - but this was definitely not one of them!

She would not stay any longer to be bullied and threatened by a mere schoolmaster in her guardian's employ. She turned and marched defiantly to the door, intent on finding Mr. Harker and having this horrid man dismissed on the spot.

But Lennox, who had been one of the swiftest sprinters at his school, easily beat her to it, locking the door and pocketing the key.

"No you don't, young lady!" he said, catching her by the wrist," You don't get away as easily as that! I'm afraid you're stuck with me, just as I'm stuck with you - and the sooner you realise it the better!"

"Let me go, you cruel beast!" she yelled, beating vainly at his chest with her dainty fist.

"How right I was!" Lennox cried, seizing the struggling girl by the waist and scooping her up effortlessly so that her long elegant white silk-stockinged legs kicked wildly at thin air. "There is only one way to teach you how to behave - and what better time to begin than now!"

With that he carried her, still kicking and protesting violently, over to the leather -seated dining chair and sat down on it. Then, pushing aside the folds of his gown, he bundled her face downwards across his knee. His right arm rose and fell with slow weighty deliberation as he began smacking her bottom over her thin muslin frock.

Elizabeth, dazed by the alacrity with which it had all happened, couldn't help wondering if it was all a bad dream. But when she felt Lennox's broad heavy hand descend on her pert, pampered little backside, her whole body went rigid with shock. It wasn't just a dream after all, she really was receiving the first proper spanking of her entire life!

She took a deep breath then, acutely aware of the growing heat in her buttocks as the stinging smacks fell inexorably upon them. Elizabeth gave vent to her outraged sensibilities.

"Stop it! Stop it at once!" she screamed. "I'll tell my guardian about this, and he'll have you thrown out of the house in disgrace! Put me down, you beastly man, put me down immediately!"

Lennox's lap was, like the rest of him, of generous girth and Elizabeth found it impossible to wriggle off it. Not just because his left arm was gripping her tightly round the waist but also because she was suspended in mid air, her flailing arms and legs quite unable to reach the floor below in order to gain purchase.

Amid all her other woes came the chilling realisation that she was utterly at his mercy and that the more insults and abuse she spat at him, the more thoroughly and determinedly he would spank her.

The hot stinging discomfort in her bottom grew each time his powerful hand collided noisily with it. But far worse than the mounting pain in her hot little backside was the dreadful pang of shame - to be manhandled so mortifyingly across the knee of a virtual stranger so as to be punished thus, like a naughty child.

Swallowing her ravaged pride she begged him to stop, remembering in the nick of time the correct manner to address him: "Oh stop, Sir, you are hurting me so! I cannot bear the shame of it, please stop now, Sir!"

"I shall only stop spanking you, Elizabeth, if you promise to go down on your knees and humbly apologise to me for being so defiant and insolent." Although he spoke severely and carried on spanking the girl as hard as ever, nevertheless the faint suspicion of a smile was crinkling the corners of his mouth. In spite of her incorrigible naughtiness Lennox felt himself warming to Elizabeth, for she was a pretty little thing with lots of spirit, and who possessed an exquisitely rounded bottom, as his hand had so unavoidably discovered, ideally equipped to receive any amount of physical correction. He began patting it appreciatively, which caused its owner to squirm with embarrassment.

Then, inwardly chiding himself for entertaining such thoughts, he tightened his grip around her neat little waist and once more raised his hand in the air.

But before it had time to fall, Elizabeth capitulated and exclaimed hastily, "No more! No more! If you let me go, Sir, I promise to apologise!"

He released her immediately and she slid off his lap to the floor, clutching her sore bottom. He allowed her a few moments to rub and soothe away the worst of the smarting, then commanded her to kneel and kiss the hand that had spanked her.

She did so like a lamb, without a murmur, pressing his hand to her lips almost lovingly. Then, in a quiet chastened voice, she begged his pardon for misbehaving earlier. A prodigious change had come over the girl. She was a different person to the truculent little minx who had entered the schoolroom half an hour before. Her eyes, which had previously blazed with defiance, now had a wistful, far-away look to them. She spoke and moved now with a becoming air of gentle submissiveness, as though a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

Lennox felt both delighted and vindicated that the spanking, in addition to being well deserved, had effected such an amazing transformation in his pupil's behaviour. His previous experience in dealing with naughty girls, however, led him to suspect that the metamorphosis would be only temporary and that, once the stinging soreness in her bottom had disappeared, Elizabeth would revert to her former delinquent ways. Nevertheless, he would be able to present his employer with a most encouraging report later in the day.

The remainder of the morning was spent in quiet, peaceful study. Lennox soon discovered that Elizabeth's knowledge of history, geography and English grammar was hazy, and her grasp of mathematics practically non existent. Yet, motivated by her hot stinging bottom, she applied herself to her work with commendable zeal.

Even Mr. Harker at lunchtime noticed the improvement in Elizabeth's behaviour. She ate her meal quietly without chattering incessantly or answering him back. She obliged him instantly when he requested she pass the salt and pepper and she even enquired thoughtfully after his health.

The smarting in her bottom had by now abated although it still felt hot and tingly - a constant reminder of what had happened. Now and then Elizabeth gave a little wriggle on her chair to relieve the itching. Her guardian noticed this and was about to reprimand her for fidgeting when Lennox leaned over and murmured, out of Florence's earshot, but loud enough for Elizabeth to hear and blush helplessly:

"I'm afraid she is having a bit of trouble sitting still because I had occasion to warm her bottom this morning. However, I am glad to say it seems to have done her the world of good."

The old man chuckled with delight at the news, relishing the thought that his ward's dainty little sit-upon had at long last been thoroughly chastised. "Go to it, dear boy, go to it!" he exclaimed approvingly, raising his glass of burgundy in tribute. "It is clearly what she has been needing all these years!"

Elizabeth, deeply mortified that her spanking was being so publicly discussed at the luncheon table, opened her mouth to say something spiteful and cutting in retaliation - but instead bit her tongue and just sat there in purgatorial silence, riding out her anger. Normally she would have vented her feelings in no uncertain manner, ending up by deliberately smashing a plate or a wine glass. But that afternoon at two she had to go back to the schoolroom for another long session with her tutor - and a man who had summarily turned her over his knee and spanked her bottom so soundly was more than capable of repeating the performance at the slightest provocation. And as for that awful cane of his - she shuddered as she recalled its supple swishing menace.

That was too easy. I feel a relapse coming on for Elizabeth.