He next asked two or three other questions, which I answered, Then one of the parlormaids announced dinner and we went into the big dining room.
The table had been beautifully decorated with flowers and fruit. The glass, linen and other appointments were of the finest description, and the great sideboard of old, polished mahogany glittered with massive silver plate which had been in Randolph’s family for generations. The dinner was of many courses, with all sorts of dishes which I had never heard of, and it was accompanied by wines whose names also were new to me.
Randolph talked away gaily, eating heartily and drinking a bottle of champagne. I, being nervous and depressed, hardly ate anything. I could only answer in monosyllables, and I blushed whenever I happened to catch his eye. I was thinking constantly of the dreadful thing he was going to do to me that night.
In order (I suppose) to cheer me up, he filled my glass with champagne and insisted that I drink it. But the wine only went to my head and made me giddy without exhilarating me in the least. When he saw the effect which the liquor had on me he did not give me any more.
When dinner was over and he had smoked a cigar, we went back to the drawing room.
Seating himself comfortably in an easy chair, he continued to talk, not taking any notice of my silence or making any remark about my downcast looks. He was in high spirits, induced, I suppose, by the thought that he soon would be in possession of my virgin body. He told me that he had heard that Miss Dean had got safely home to Philadelphia, and he added with a laugh: I don’t think that the prim Quakeress will ever again take to running an ’underground station.’ She got a real smart whipping and she will always carry the marks of it on her bottom. But you won’t be marked in the least, Dolly, as your skin was not cut.
I shuddered, and my bottom seemed to tingle as I thought of the whipping.
At ten o’clock he rose from his seat and said jocularly: Now, Dolly, since this is our wedding night, we’ll go to bed early. Come upstairs.
I blushed furiously and began to cry. After all, I could not resign myself quietly to my unhappy fate. I thought that I had become resigned, but now that the moment had arrived, all my feelings of modesty rose in revolt against the sacrifice of my maidenhead.
I made a last despairing appeal for mercy. Oh! Mr. Randolph! I exclaimed. Will you not spare me?
His countenance grew dark, he frowned and a hard look came into his eyes. Don’t be a fool, Dolly, he answered harshly, You gave me your promise, and I thought that the whole affair was settled. Come along.
Oh, do not hold me to my promise! I wailed. You know that when I made it I was half-mad with pain. Oh! Do let me go away from your house.
Now listen to me, he said in cold, incisive tones. I am not going to stand any nonsense. You are completely in my power, and I don’t intend to spare you, as you call it. If you do not come upstairs and submit quietly, I’ll have you carried up by four of the women, and I will make them hold you down upon the bed, so that I shall be able to do what I like to you at my ease. Now will you come quietly, or must you be carried up and held?
My appeal for mercy had failed, and I was thoroughly frightened by his threats. To be held down by four women while the deed was being done would only add to my shame. The very idea of such a thing made me shiver with horror. Resistance being useless, there was nothing left for me but to submit.
I will go quietly. I sobbed in a low voice, with the tears trickling down my cheeks. (Oh! how wretched I felt as I said those words!)
That’s right, he said. Then taking me by the hand he led me up to my room.
The shaded lamps had all been lit, so the apartment was filled with a bright, soft light. I at once noticed that a large bath towel had been spread over the silken coverlet of the bed, and that a nightshirt of his had been placed on one of the pillows.
He closed the door. Then, turning to me, he said: I am glad that you have come to your senses. I hate struggling with a woman, but I would have had my way in the end. Now continue to be sensible, and let me do whatever I like to you, without making any more remonstrances. First of all, I am going to undress you with my own hands. I like undressing a pretty girl.
He did the work in a way that showed it was by no means the first time he had stripped a woman. Making me stand in front of the mirror, he unfastened my dress, and, taking it off, threw it on a chair. Then he deftly unlaced my stays and removed them, thus exposing the upper part of my bosom, which I endeavoured to hide by crossing my arms over it.
Next he loosed the strings of my petticoats, letting them fall to the floor and making me step out of them. Then, kneeling down, he took off my shoes, after which he slipped his hands up my legs, unbuckled my garters and pulled off my stockings.
Now, putting both his hands under my chemise, he untied my drawers and drew them off my legs. As his hands strayed over my body and limbs while he was thus slowly stripping me, I shivered, but I offered no resistance. It would have been of no avail. He had determined to do the deed in his own way, so there would have been no use in my resisting.
Nothing remained now but my chemise, and that he soon pulled off over my head, leaving me standing nude before him. As I saw my whole figure reflected in the mirror, I could not help uttering a little cry of shame, and I instinctively covered the spot with both my hands, while my face and neck and the upper part of my bosom became scarlet. I shut my eyes’, but the tears forced their way between my closed eyelids and trickled down my cheeks.
Randolph now turned me around, looking at me on every side, and holding my hands so that I could not screen any part of my body. But he did not feel me: when he had sufficiently gratified the lust of his eyes, he lifted me up in his arms, carried me to the bed, and laid me down upon it on my back. Covering the spot with one hand, and with the other hiding my scarlet face, I lay trembling while he quietly undressed himself and put on his nightshirt.
I hoped that he would extinguish the lights, but he did not. Getting up on the bed beside me, he removed my hand from my face. Then, clasping my naked body in his arms, he kissed my lips, eyes and cheeks, saying: Now, my-dear little girl, I’ve got you at last.
It was the first time he had made use of a tender word to me that night. While stripping me he had not spoken a word, but had treated me as if I had been merely a mannequin.
After kissing me, he proceeded to gratify his sense of touch. Laying both his hands on my bosom, he played with my breasts, squeezing them, tickling them and kneading the flesh with his fingers. Then, bending his head, he took one of my nipples in his mouth and nibbled at it with his teeth.
Uttering a startled cry, I shrank away from him, plucking my nipple out of his mouth. Keep still, whatever I do, he said sharply. Then, taking my other nipple between his lips, he sucked it and rolled his tongue over it as if it had been a bit of candy.
I forced myself to lie still, and, after a moment or two, he let go my nipple. Then he stroked my belly and ran his hands several times over each of my thighs. Finally, separating my legs a little, he touched the spot, twining his fingers in the hair and pulling it rather hard.
Now he inserted the tip of his forefinger between the lips, making me squirm and quiver from head to foot — but not with pleasure-and extracting from me a stifled shriek: Oh! Oh! Don’t do that! I exclaimed. Oh! Do take your hand away!
Don’t be silly, he said. You’ll feel something else there in a minute or two.
With a strong effort I controlled myself and lay quiet again. Turning me over onto my face, he looked at my bottom, saying: The marks of the whipping are not quite gone. There are still a few faint pink lines on your skin.
Then he played with my bottom in all sorts of ways, stroking it, pinching it all over, gently spanking it and squeezing the flesh with both his hands. He finished up by separating the cheeks and rubbing his hand up and down the division from the upper part to the cleft of my thighs.