Those Josh now held for inspection were a perfect compromise, they would never allow Susan to ignore them. She nodded approval.
"Oh, darling, thank you, thank you!" Sitting on the box, a naked Susan watched the hammer fetter her ankles for life. Her eyes were sparkling. "Ohhhh. . I'm going to make such lovely sounds when I walk."
They laughed with her at the first experimental steps and her shock at unexpected weight. But Ilona was wasting no time. Her command to Josh was stem. "Now mine." She took her place on the box. "The same as you've put on Susan will do fine for me too."
Back outdoors, Susan giggled while Ilona tested the surprising weight of her chosen footwear. But Nora was perturbed.
"You two's got yourselves fixed but good." She wailed.
"But what am I supposed to do?"
"I'm sure Josh would rivet your irons back on," said Susan archly.
"I'll ask Cicely to have him drive you to town." Ilona decided.
"You're not in much of a position to ask anything, Miss Paisley."
They clinked their newly shackled steps back to the post. Without a word the straps were loosed from tired wrists. Cicely Woods turned her wealed nudity to survey a sheepish feminine trio who knew not what to say. She said it for them, crisply.
"You are quite ridiculous."
"Yes, Mistress."
"Nora, why are you free?"
"I don't rightly know, Miss."
"Go back to Josh and have him iron you again. Hurry." With surprising alacrity the maid vanished. Cicely focused on the two chained nudities. Her voice was quietly pensive. "I've been whipped, and I'm glad. It hasn't changed me. A dozen whippings