This left his lordship, Trant, and Grace all alone and his lordship, patting the bride's cheeks, complimented Trant on his selection of a wife.
“She is indeed a pretty piece,” he said admiringly, “and you must at least allow me to kiss her as I did not do so at the church.”
“By all means,” said Trant rather hurriedly, fearing that Grace might object to his lordship's caresses. “Go ahead, my lord. I am sure that Grace will allow you, and it is more than your due, I feel quite sure.”
“Come,” said his lordship, rising to his feet and taking the girl by the hand. “Arise and allow me to salute those lovely lips that I have desired ever since I saw you first.”
“But why not kiss me as I sit?” queried Grace, looking from one to the other with surprised eyes. “I am sure, my lord, that it will not be necessary for me to stand, as I can kiss you just as well here.”
“Not a real kiss,” said Lord Roxboro jokingly, lifting her to her feet.
“Now, Grace, stand here.” Passing his arms about her waist, he pressed her back against the table and, allowing his hands to fall to her plump bottom, drew her by its cheeks abruptly to him; gluing his lips on her breathless mouth, he laid over her so that she was bent back over the table while he sucked her breath from her lips.
“Oh, oh,” said Grace, putting a hand up to push away his face. “You are so-so heavy, my lord. Allow me to rise, I beg you.” Trying to squirm from beneath him, her dresses became awry and his lordship, drawing back, secured a good glimpse of her well-shaped legs and knee.
Grace straightened her flowered crown on her head and smoothed her dresses. Her face was rather flushed as she took her husband's hand in hers and looked searchingly into his face.
“Let us go, dear,” she breathed to him. “We have overstayed our visit and as we have many places to go and I am awfully tired, it is best that you thank our friend, his lordship, and we be on our way.”
Trant looked rather uneasy at this and Lord Roxboro, seeing that he was going to have a time in having the man carry out his part of the agreement, rang a little bell; Montgomery, who had been waiting outside with Carl, the stableboy, hurried into the room.
“Seize that man,” cried Lord Roxboro, pointing to Trant, “and take him away to the place designed for him.”
“As for the girl”-and he seized Grace roughly about the waist and drew her to him-“I claim her as my wife for the first night in accordance with my noble right.”
In an instant the entire room was in a state of great confusion.
Montgomery and Carl seized Trant and hurried him out, leaving the sensual Lord Roxboro alone with the half-fainting bride.
Lord Roxboro lifted her into his arms and carried her through the library to his bedroom and, despite her screams, kicks, and scratches, dropped her upon the bed.
Having some trouble in holding her there, he looked around for assistance and perceived the ever-vigilant Montgomery in the doorway; he beckoned to him to come and help.
“Come, Montgomery,” he said, “and see if we can place this little spitfire in a position so that I may not be in danger of being scratched to pieces by these pretty little claws that she wields so actively.”
Montgomery sprang to the fore and, securing a number of straps that were always in a nearby cupboard, quickly seized the helpless girl's arms and fastened them securely behind her back.
This left her thrashing about the bed. Her legs were kicking at her captors and her wedding dress was all disheveled, showing an adorable portion of silk-stockinged legs and a small portion of her upper thigh, a sight that was not lost on the sensual lord and his helper.
“My, my,” murmured Lord Roxboro. “I am indeed surprised at you, Grace dear!
“To think that you, a refined and discreet girl that I believed you to be, especially on this day, your wedding day, would act and cavort like this, displaying to us a portion of your bare legs.
“Why, I should think that your respect for the feelings of your husband would cause you to conduct yourself with more modesty, especially in the presence of two strangers and both of them men.”
“Help! Murder!” screamed Grace, her eyes almost starting from her head.
“Harry, Harry, where are you? Save me from the grip of these monsters. Help! Help!”
Lord Roxboro nodded his head sorrowfully and, again addressing the girl, said, “I doubt, Grace-or to be accurate, Mrs. Trant-that your husband is in a position, at least at the present moment, to come to your assistance.
“As I stated in the dining room, I intend to exercise my right as lord of my domain, and in doing this it will be necessary for you to offer your virgin's charms to me before passing them on to the one you so familiarly address as Harry.”
“Oh, oh, oh!” screamed the beautiful girl, straining helplessly at her confining bonds. “What on earth is to become of me? Release me, I beg of you, and allow me to go to my husband, whom you have lured here, and cease this terrible outrage, or I warn you, trouble will come of it.”
“Threats, eh?” said Lord Roxboro. “Well, our little lady promises to be some diversion after all, Montgomery.
“Let me tell you, young lady,” he said with a terrible scowl at the struggling Grace, “that you are here with consent and knowledge and sufferance of your dearly beloved spouse.
“Before you leave this room your virginity is to be taken. How does that strike you, my charming young lady?”
“Beast, ravisher,” spat back Grace, her eyes flaming fire. “I defy you, you old degenerate. I will scream and scream and if you do not release me, I will kill you when I escape.”
“Enough,” said Lord Roxboro shortly. “Here, Montgomery. Assist this young creature to her feet and allow me to see if all is in order for the piercing.”
Despite her protests, Montgomery assisted her to her feet.
Lord Roxboro, using the greatest of care to evade her kicking feet, thrust a hand inside of her dresses, searching the middle of her thighs. He slithered his hand farther up and grasped her by the heart of her sex.
“Oh, oh!” screamed the helpless girl at this supreme outrage. “You horrid brute. Oh how terrible you are, boo hoo!”
Lord Roxboro contented himself by feeling and molding her parts under the silken cambric that covered them. He bestowed many squeezes and pinches to all parts of her body within reach.
Montgomery held the girl firmly clasped in his arms to keep the subject firm for his master's roving digits.
“She is well protected,” said his lordship. “She has on the most modest closed drawers. See how she keeps them buttoned up so securely, no doubt to protect her virtue up to the entrancing moment when she sheds these covers and creeps into bed, awaiting the insertion of her darling mate's reamer. How horrible it must be to one who has been raised to protect her 'cherry' as though a mine of gold; who on her marriage day, just at the time she thinks she should be experiencing the divine conjunction she has dreamed of all her life in the arms of her husband, finds herself helpless and alone in the presence of one-or I may say two here”-with a bow to the delighted Montgomery-“strange men who announce to her in no uncertain terms, that they intend to take her for their own and enjoy the pleasure she has hoarded for her lawful spouse.”
Grace, who had become so interested in his lordship's remarks that for the moment she grew silent upon hearing to the full his lordship's intentions, again broke into a chorus of wild yells for Harry. His lordship unfastened her bridal gown at the shoulders and roughly pushed it down about her waist, and between the two of them they took it from her.
“What adorable curves,” murmured his lordship, “and what divine flesh,” pinching it as if he wished to assure himself that it were real and not an hallucination; “I warn you, Montgomery, that we have here indeed a jewel of the very first water and in taking of her virtue I am sure that I will experience a thrill that has been rare to me for many a year.”