“Oh! don’t birch me! Please don’t birch me!” he exclaimed, bursting into tears, and stretching out his hands towards me, with an imploring gesture.
“Let down your trousers, and lie across the end of the sofa,” said I, sharply.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” he cried. “I know I deserve to be punished, but please don’t birch me. Punish me in any other way but that.”
“I will not punish you in any other way. Let down your trousers at once. I did not think you were a coward.”
“I am not a coward. I am not afraid of the pain. I can bear it. But I am ashamed to let down my trousers before you,” he sobbed out.
“Don’t be silly! When the lady spanked you, you had to let down your trousers; and it is more shameful for a boy to let down his trousers before a woman, than to let them down before a man. Now unbutton! Look sharp!”
“Oh! don’t make me let down my trousers,” he again said, beseechingly. I lost patience. “If you don’t at once obey me, I will send for Wilson and get him to take down your trousers, and then hold you on his back while I flog you,” I said, in a loud voice.
“Oh! don’t do that. Don’t do that!” he cried out, in terrified accents, with a look of horror on his face. “I will let down my trousers.”
He turned half aside, and with trembling fingers, unfastened his braces, and unbuttoned his trousers, letting them slip down to his knees; and then he laid himself across the end of the sofa, with his hands resting on the floor at one side, and the rips of his toes on the other side, thus bringing his body into a curve with his bottom well raised up in a splendid position for receiving the rod. I could not understand why he had made so much fuss about letting down his trousers. It seemed very absurd.
Standing at the end of the sofa, I rolled up the tail of his shirt, then tucking up his undershirt, I bared his bottom, and as I did so, he uttered a choking sob, covered his red; face with both his hands, and a shudder passed over his whole body.
“Now]et me see how bravely you can take a birching. Don’t attempt to rise from the sofa, or to put your hands behind you,” said I, raising the rod and making it hiss in the air over the doomed bottom, the flesh of which was instantly contracted in dread of the coming stroke.
I gave him eight strokes; not very severe ones, but they marked his bottom a great deal and turned it a deep red colour all over; for his skin appeared to be of delicate texture. He winced at each cut, twisted his hips from side to side, and cried with pain, the tears rolling down his cheeks; but he clenched his teeth, and never once bawled out; nor did he attempt to shield his bottom with his hands. In fact he took his punishment in a plucky manner, considering it was the first time he had felt the sharp sting of a birch.
He was not a coward after all. I told him to rise, adjust his dress, and go to his room; and he got up, standing with his face averted, holding his trousers up with one hand, and brushing the tears from his eyes with the other; then after a moment or two, he buttoned up, and walked out of the room sobbing, with his handkerchief to his face.
I put away the rod, and then went out to make some calls in the neighbourhood. I did not see Frank again until we met at dinner, and as he took his seat opposite to me at the table, he glanced at me shyly, and a deep blush spread over his whole face. As the butler was not in the room at that moment, I said laughingly: “Well, Frank, I suppose you feel a little tender behind. But what are you blushing so for, you young donkey? You are not the first boy who has had a birching. Most boys get a birching occasionally. They require it. I was often birched when I was a boy. It is nothing when you are used to it.”
He gave a little shiver. “Oh, isn’t it,” he said, in a very doubtful sort of way; then went on with his dinner.
I could not help laughing at the way he spoke, but as he appeared to be low and wretched, I gave him a glass of wine. When the meal was over, and I had drawn an easy-chair up to the fire, and lighted my cigar, he came and sat near me in his usual manner, but did not speak; so I chatted to him and rallied him until he brightened up and began to talk. He had not a sulky temper, and he did not appear to bear me any malice.
After being silent a short time, he suddenly asked me, again blushing very red as he spoke: “Do you think that girls are often birched?”
“Not as often as they should be,” I answered, laughing, “but many a girl does get birched by her mother, or governess.”
“Did you ever know of a girl being birched by a man?” was his next question.
“Well, I can’t say I actually know of a girl being birched by a man; but I have often heard that such a thing is by no means uncommon. And I have no doubt that some fathers birch their daughters.”
My answer appeared to have given him a certain amount of satisfaction; and he asked no more questions, but sat staring at the fire, in deep thought. He did not seem inclined to talk much, and he went early to bed.
III
After that everything went on well. Frank for some days was rather shy with me, often blushing when I looked at him; but as time went on he gradually seemed to forget all about the birching, and he became bright, cheerful and quite his old self. He was obedient, and there were no more fits of ill-temper; moreover he studied diligently, being always perfect in his lessons whenever I happened to examine him. Wonderful is the persuasive power of a birch rod, properly applied! A week more passed; then I thought I would run up to town, and spend a few days with a young lady named Maud, who lived in a pretty little villa in St. John’s Wood. The expenses of the establishment were borne by me. Frank was rather disconsolate when I told him I was going away; but he promised to study for three hours every day daring my absence. I committed him to the care of my old housekeeper, Mrs. Evans; a most worthy old lady, who had been at Oakhurst in various capacities for twenty-five years.
Then I drove to Winchester, and caught the afternoon train to London. On my arrival, I put my portmanteau and myself into a hansom, and went straight to the little villa; where I was received with kisses by Maud, to whom I had written the previous day. It is a great mistake for a man to pay a surprise visit to the young lady whose rent he pays.
She gave me a cup of tea in her prettily furnished little drawing-room, and we chatted for a short time; then she went away, returning in half-an-hour dressed well, but quietly, and looking very nice. She was a pretty, plump, little woman, with a lot of fair hair, and soft, brown eyes. She professed to be fond of me, and was, I believe, tolerably faithful. We went out, and had a good dinner with plenty of “fizz” at a West-end restaurant; then we patronized a theatre; had some supper; returned to the villa, and went to bed.
I remained a week at the villa with Maud, and we had a pleasant time; going about all day; dining at various restaurants, and visiting the theatres. I especially enjoyed the nights, revelling in Maud’s naked charms; her bubbles were large, round, and firm, with pretty little, pink nipples; she had a big, plump bottom, and her skin was very white, soft, and smooth; moreover she was a very good poke, and also skilled in all the “arts of love.” I was sorry to have to go back to Oakhurst so soon; but I had a dinner engagement which I did not wish to put off: so I started for Winchester by a morning train, and arrived at home about two o’clock. I was surprised to find that Frank was not in the house to receive me, and after waiting a short time I sat down to lunch, wondering what had become of the boy, and beginning to think that he had been up to some mischief. Just as I had finished lunch, a knock came to the door, and my housekeeper, Mrs. Evans, sailed into the room, gorgeously arrayed in her best black silk dress and white lace cap, with open-work mittens on her hands and a gold chain round her neck. Curtseying to me in the old-fashioned way, she said that she wished to speak to me. I was fond of the good old woman who had been in the house since I was five years old. She had originally come to our family as nurse, and I can quite remember that she used to spank me, and my brothers and sisters, when we were small children. I gave her a chair, saying that I was ready to hear what she had to say.