The curtains were then pulled right back and a serving girl with her sleeves rolled up was waiting there. There was a hip bath and two tall pewter jugs from which rose scented steam. I guessed they contained hot water.
“I am ready, mistress,” said the maid.
The woman who had brought me in nodded. “Fill the bath,” she said; and to me: “Take off your clothes.”
I said: “I don’t understand.”
“You are here to obey orders,” said the woman with a smile, which was the first of the humiliations I was to suffer that night. I saw her in the role for which she was ideally suited; she was a pander, a procuress. I had heard of these matters.
The maid had filled the bath and turned to me giggling. I felt an impulse to turn and run. Then horrible images came into my mind. My father … my mother … And I knew then that whatever happened to me I must accept because it would be a means of saving them from tragedy.
Time passes. It will be over, I promised myself. Whatever it is I must bear it.
“Come, my dear,” said the woman. She had a deep, hoarse voice like a man’s. “We have not all night.” She laughed and the maid laughed with her.
“There is no need for a bath,” I said. “I am clean.”
“This is the way it is wanted. Are you ashamed to take off your clothes? Are you deformed or something? Oh, come, you look pretty enough to me. Now let us undo these buttons … quietly, gently. We don’t want to pull them off, do we?”
So I was stripped of my clothes.
“Quite commendable,” said the woman. The maid continued to giggle.
I stepped into the bath and washed myself.
The maid stood by with a big towel with which she dried me while the woman stood by smiling.
When I was dry she brought out a bottle of lotion which was rubbed into my skin. It smelt of musk and sandalwood which I had noticed before and reminded me of Beaumont Granville. The scent was mingled with that of roses.
“And now,” said the woman, who was growing more and more odious to me with every passing moment, “one which is to be especially for you. He has chosen for you the rose. He likes different ones for different people.” She rubbed another lotion into my arms and about my neck.
“There,” she murmured, “that will please, I have no doubt.” She turned to the maid. “The robe.”
It was wrapped about me. It was a cloak of fine silk—pale pink with black roses embroidered on it.
“There! Now let us go. My lord is impatient.”
I felt as though I had been brought into some eastern harem. The whole procedure was more hideously distasteful to me than anything I had ever known. I was trying hard not to think of what lay before me.
I followed the woman up another flight of stairs; she knocked on a door, pushed it open and led me in.
She left me there and went out, shutting the door behind her.
He came forward. He was wearing a cloak not unlike my own. The smell of musk and sandalwood was strong.
He took my hand and kissed it.
“I knew you would come. Have they treated you well?”
“Humiliatingly.”
He laughed. “It is simply the way in which you regard these matters. They did not ill-treat you?”
“Only insult me. But that was on your orders, wasn’t it?”
“I am a great believer in the bath,” he said. “And I have studied perfumes. I make my own, you know. Do you like the rose?”
“I do not like anything I find here.”
“There is one thing you have to remember about our -little adventure. You must please me.”
“Yes,” I agreed, “I know that.”
“That is what you have come here to do. You must not be upset because you have taken a bath and been anointed. Tonight is going to be one you will never forget.”
“That is something I can be sure of, although I shall do my best to put it out of my mind as soon as it is over.”
“Don’t talk of its being over when it is only just beginning.”
“Will you swear that you will save my father?”
“I have given my word. I told you, did I not, that I pay my debts? I promise you that if you give me what I want I shall give you what you want. Have no fear of that. I will tell you that I already have the matter in hand. Your father has been removed to a small room in the prison. He will spend the night there. In the morning, if you are good to me, the door of that room shall be unlocked and he shall go forth a free man. I have put our plan into action so far.”
“You must have great power and influence with this man who is murdering those men and women whose only fault was that they supported the losing side.”
He put his fingers to my lips. “You talk too freely. You must be careful, you know. We want you and your parents to be riding home within the week, don’t we?”
“Yes,” I said, “more than anything I want that.”
“Very well. You have come here to me. I appreciate that. Virtue in ladies is to be admired—but not above all things, eh? Tonight is mine. You belong to me tonight … completely. That is understood, is it not?”
“In exchange for my father’s life, yes.”
“You shall be paid for your services, never fear. Come close to me. How delightful you smell. I chose the rose for you to mingle with the musk. It’s a clever idea really. You are an attractive creature, Priscilla. I like your name. It is a prim name, you know. Primness can be very attractive as long as the owner of it knows when to discard it. You are aware of that, I am sure. First I am going to show you some of my pictures. I am an artist, you must realize. I am a man of great talent. There are many things I might have done if I had not been born a gentleman with no compulsion to do anything. I can blend my perfumes. I might have set up shop and supplied the Court. Scents to delight ladies in their boudoirs; scents to disguise evil odours, and there are plenty of those in the streets. Scents to titillate the senses and to arouse the passions of jaded gentlemen. Then I am an artist. I shall show you my pictures now. Come with me.”
The evening was taking an unexpected turn. I had not been prepared for these preliminaries. Although I was aware of the lust in him and I knew what the climax must be, I could not understand why all this cruel dallying was taking place beforehand.
There was a room leading from this one and he took me through to it. It was a small room and the walls were lined with pictures. He lighted candles and led me to the wall. There were drawings of women, all naked and in various positions which showed their physical differences clearly.
“Ladies I have loved,” he said. “I sketch them. You must admit there is a good deal of the artist in me.”
“I suppose so,” I said turning away.
“You would be surprised what a good aid they are to the memory. I come to this room and relive the hours I spent with each of these.”
“An occupation which doubtless gives you some gratification.”
“A great deal. You see this space on the wall.”
I felt great waves of horror sweeping over me, for I knew what was coming.
“It is reserved for you,” he said smiling.
“No,” I cried fiercely.
“You have forgotten our bargain already?”
“What purpose would it serve?”
“It would please me, which is the sole purpose of this occasion, is it not?”
“I was not told of this. It was not in the bargain.”
“You were told that you must do as I ask. I am rendering you a great service. It is not easy at a time like this to snatch a man from the hangman’s rope.”
“I must go.”
“Very well. I shall make no effort to detain you. Shall I ring for the woman? She will give you your clothes and I’ll send the carriage back with you to the inn.”