This ingenuous complaint spoilt Stella's effect. Her careful acting broke down. In harsh tones, she replied:
"It is not for you to give me orders, Miss. The signal for beginning will not be given by, you. I am charged with the task of whipping you and naturally I wish to do my duty conscientiously. What have you to reply to that?"
"Nothing! Nothing!" sobbed the victim. "But I beg you, I entreat you, don't delay any
more. Get it done as quickly as possible. Oh, how I wish it were already finished!"
"That I can well understand," replied crafty Stella, in her witch-like tones. "You shall be well whipped I promise you, so your desire is natural, I feel myself in good form to-day. My energy is unusual. I feel a sensation of nervous force and I thank our dear directress, gracious Lady Flayskin, for having kindly entrusted me with the task of punishing you. I am not about to prove unworthy of her con fidence, as I beg to declare.
"Oh! Oh!" cried Clara.
"This begins to be -intolerable," said Miss Sinclair. "Yes or no, are you going to hold your tongue? And will you be so kind as not to agitate your impertinent hindquarters in so indecent a fashion. Keep still, or I will strip off the skin and make the blood run in streams down to your heels."
"Pardon me! Have pity on me!" moaned the wretched child.
But her prayer finished in a lord shriek. The punishment had begun.
How that diabolical rod whistled and bent when wielded by the supple and vigorous, though childlike arm of the flogger! Never should I have imagined that this bit of a girl had so much strength. My imagination no doubt increased the terror of the spectacle. If only I had been dressed in my knickerbockers, with strong laced boots on my feet, instead of wearing those unsteady high-heeled boots and girl's skirts, I should have known how to face Miss Sinclair. I would have soundly boxed her ears and shown her how a self-respecting boy treats a girl who intentionally annoys him. But rigged out as I was, and sorely tried by the multiple experiences of the past forty-eight hours, it is not surprising that I had little courage left. It is known, too, how the mind reacts upon the body. I felt extremely weak and my body still smarted from the whipping which Betsy had given me the day before. Curious to relate, too, as I looked at Miss Sinclair operating upon the bare flesh of unfortu- nate Clara, my mind called up the vision of the powerful maid-servant. The white arm of the young girl became transformed. It was the thick arm of Betsy that I saw, the thick resolute 53
arm gloved in glazed black kid upon which my clenched hand had used itself in vain. So realistic was the vision that I forgot the presence of Clara. It was me receiving the blows, crying and begging for mercy.
Alas! what was then but a horrid nightmare was about to become a grim reality.
I listened as in a dream to the dreadful whistling of the rod, wielded by the untiring graceful arm of pretty Miss Sinclair. I heard the sobs, cries and entreaties of the victim, and her promises of amended conduct in the future. She confessed to having flipped the ball of paper and she accused her neighbour of having instigated her to commit the heinous deed. Then she said that she did not wish to accuse anyone. She had acted upon her own initiative alone. She shrieked in a heartrending manner, imploring for pardon and pity, declaring that she could not endure any more suffering, that she was going to die; that the whip had never hurt so much before.
She promised not to recommence her offences and implored Lady Flayskin to intervene and stop the flogging. Then she entreated Mr. Gostock to intercede with the directress that the latter might take pity upon her and pardon her.
She could not have entreated a deafer ear. For though at the time I was too much affected to notice Mr. Gostock, my observations later on showed me that this gentleman experienced the height of pleasure in watching the whipping of boys and girls by charming little Miss Sinclair. For from being likely to intercede for would, on the contrary, have been for a conti- nuation of operations, so enamoured was he or this kind of spectacle. This curious disposition of mind on the part of the gentleman will be clearly shown by the events which followed and which I shall relate in their own place. I must not anticipate.
No answer was made to the entreaties of the victim. Lady Flayshin, always the flawless and faultless woman of fashion, never for a moment forgetting that she was a rich American and a member of the innermost circle of British aristocracy, assumed a variety of attitudes while talking to Mr. Gostock, who replied to her in equally lofty tones. But, never for a moment did he cease to watch the elegant motion of the graceful white arm wielding the rod with unfailing energy and skill, and as gracefully as though it had been a fan.
At length, after a furious blow, to which reply was given in a despairing shriek, the torture ended.
Wretched Clara, slipping down upon her knees, wept with her head in her hands at the termination of the punishment, his prayers the side of the table upon which she had been whipped. No one paid any further attention to her. Miss Sinclair, on the other hand, received many congratulations.
The directress inquired in tones of some anxiety:
"I trust you are not over-fatigued? "
"Not in the least, dear Lady Flayshin."
"What energy! What skill!" exclaimed Mr. Gostock. "Allow me to congratulate you very sincerely, my dear, charming Miss Sinclair. But truly… You are not fatigued? No? I am afraid you do not feel equal to conducting the second whipping.
"It is now the matter of a boy's… ahem!
You understand my meaning? If the rod is not applied with severity, it will only cause him to laugh."
"Make your mind easy on that score, dear Lady Flayskin. I will make him shriek!"
At this assurance, of such interest for myself, the enthusiasm of Mr. Gostock knew to bounds. In tones thrilling with joy and admiration, he suggested:
"Rest yourself, if only for a moment, dear Miss Sinclair and take some refreshment."
"I am much obliged to you," replied Miss Sinclair, in her most bewitching tones.
In response to the electric bell, a maid came and was given an order. She returned a moment afterwards with a decanter, three wine-glasses and some biscuits. Miss Sinclair was the first to be handed a glass of old port, needless to say with much effusion by Mr. Gostock. She sipped her wine and nibbled her biscuit in the mincing manner of a cat, but with an air of perfect breeding. The other two glasses were for the American and the headmistress. Not even Mrs. Stuart was asked to 57
join in the refreshements. With a peevish air she sat apart and was able to do as we did, that is to say, to look on.
But the age of the wine and the delicacy of the biscuits were at the time matters of no moment to me.
Miss Sinclair's affirmation had greatly increased my distress. I did not doubt but that she would keep her word and would make me shriek. I could not rid my mind of her intention. But I registered an inward promise that I would make no sound at all. By my attitude of contempt, I would affirm the enduring power of my sex. They should see that a little boy had a spirit of more mettle, if not tougher than a mere little girl.
Miss Sinclair, however, was interrupted in her sipping that she might tell weeping Clara to go on her knees by the side of the high desk, keeping her petticoats raised as before. Her drawers being still down at her heels, her swollen hinder charms were to be looked at by all the scholars. The slender twigs of the birch had traced quite a network of weals of a livid red hue gradually getting purple.
The unhappy child obeyed, sobbing in a, heart-broken manner. By a refinement of cruelty, pretty Miss Sinclair went to the cupboard and took out a mirror which she placed on the ground behind Clara, telling the child to look therein at the pitiful state of her thighs. The effect of this counsel was a fresh outburst of grief.
No one, however, paid any attention to me. I seemed to have been totally forgotten. But I noticed, on all sides, covert glances in my direction. Some of the pupils fixed a compassionate gaze upon me; but most seemed to be simply in a state of curiosity not unmixed with cruel satisfaction.