Someone knocked at the door.
Willie got up and I slipped off the stool.
"Come in!"
It was Harry.
"They've come, Gertrude!"
"All?"
He nodded. "It's time you put in an appearance. They're all anxious to see you."
"Where have you put them?"
"In the Temple."
I nodded.
The Temple was a large, sparsely furnished hall at the back of the house, its ceiling domed like that of a mosque. There was a pulpit and beside it, a large whipping block. Chairs were arranged as in a church, in three segments with two aisles running between. Behind the pulpit and dominating the whole auditorium was a sculpted version of the picture I had first seen in the reception room, the Virgin Death.
"I shall come now. Go and prepare them."
He bowed and went out.
Willie helped me to dress in the plain toga of black cloth. Underneath, apart from a chain of iron drawn tightly about my waist and the black crown which fell from my cunt against the soft white surface of my right thigh, I was stark naked. My nipples and my navel had been treated with mascara. I stepped into my leather thong sandals and wound my soft black hair out of sight under a tall black turban.
"Be near, Willie," I said just before I went out.
There was a trapdoor in the pulpit so that the bearer of the Holy Seal could appear suddenly and impressively among the Congregation.
A moment later I was standing high in the pulpit, a green arc-light directed skillfully at me, and below me in the auditorium, a complete silence reigned.
I could see the faces craning up towards me: old faces, young faces, handsome faces, ugly faces, tired faces, fat faces, thin faces, gaunt faces, all alight with anticipation. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Harry, wearing a black mask across the upper part of his face, standing naked and rampant, the Whipmaster at his block. I raised my arms, my long fingers extended, making an impressive cross of my body.
"I am Gertrude!"
"She is Gertrude!" Harry echoed in a deeper voice.
"I am the bearer of the Holy Seal!"
"She is the bearer of the Holy Seal!"
"I am come to live amongst you as Pain!"
"She is come to live among us as Pain!"
Hazel, behind the wings, struck across her quivering buttocks at that moment by the five-fingered-spranger, let out a bloodcurdling scream of agony.
When that died away, I spoke again to the sea of white, straining faces.
"I am Gertrude!"
"She is Gertrude!"
"I am your Painmistress!"
"She is our Painmistress!"
"I am Mistress and Minister to your pain!"
"She is Mistress and Minister to our pain!"
I looked down to the front row and my eyes singled out a plump but pretty, well-dressed woman who sat next to an impressive-looking man with a military moustache.
I pointed my finger at her. She cringed closer to her escort.
"Stand up, woman!" I said.
She hesitated. Her escort looked indignant. But after a few seconds she shifted nervously to her feet. She was really quite beautiful in spite of the slight plumpness. She would be about thirty-five, I guessed. I could imagine the soft white flesh, tremulous and slightly damp under her fashionable dress.
"You are a Member?"
"Yes … my Lady!"
I smiled and stretched out my hand toward her.
"Come," I said gently. "For my first Mass I have chosen you to perform the Rite of the Virgin Death!"
A wondering murmur ran through the auditorium. I knew why. Harry had told me that the corruption in our Congregation extended even to the holiest of rituals so that for this particular Rite, Mr. Oakes had been in the habit of employing a professional to be whipped on the block below the sculpted passion of death. Thus my command struck deep at corrupt usage, especially as I had chosen a woman from the front row, that's to say, one who was probably a celebrity or the wife of a celebrity in the outside world.
"I…" Her gaze broke with mine and she glanced at her escort. He was already on his feet and he looked furious.
"Come!" I repeated, ignoring him.
She still hesitated.
The man spoke. He was furious but his voice was restrained.
"Excuse me, my Lady, but this is not the usual practice in our Congregation. My wife…"
"Silence! In this Temple she is not your wife, nor are you your own master, sir! You are the creatures of Pain and by your obedience, Pain will judge you! Sit down, sir, before you offend mortally!"
I raised my right hand, and a beam of white light fell on the gentleman's face.
"Lord E.," Harry's deep voice intoned, "you will obey the Seal!"
The woman, terrified, made as if to come forward, but her husband gripped her by the wrist. He turned to face a thin, gray-haired man who sat quietly at the end of the front row.
"What have you to say to this, Sir William? It's an outrage!"
"I, Lord E.?" Sir William said in a hushed tone. "What should I have to say?"
"Can you not control this upstart?" Lord E. demanded.
I realized at once that Lord E. knew Sir William's identity within the Order. Corruption, it seemed, had spread far. I glanced at Harry. He too had understood and his eyes flickered dangerously behind his mask.
"I…" Sir William stammered, coming to his feet.
"Silence!" I cried. I pointed an accusing finger at Sir William. "Sit down, sir, or by Death you will answer!"
Sir William flopped back into his seat, a broken man. I clapped my hands. Two masked men appeared suddenly. They were dressed in black tights and black turtle-necked pullovers. They moved like ballet dancers.
I pointed to Lord E.
"Take that blasphemous rogue to the cellars!" I commanded.
Lord E. gasped and was about to speak, but one of my men in black had produced a short length of lead piping. He struck Lord E. once, hard, across the cheekbone, and the gentleman collapsed in their arms. Then, swiftly, they removed the unconscious body.
Harry meanwhile had descended from beside the block and was dragging Lady E. toward the dais by the wrist. The rest of the company were shocked. Half of them were standing up.
"Members, be seated. You are in the presence of Pain!" This was blared through the auditorium as if by megaphone. Harry and I had arranged a number of these stage effects against any eventuality. The reaction was instantaneous. The audience sat down.
"Now let us have silence!" I cried.
The hall was silent.
"Strip naked!" I said to Lady E.
She hastened to obey.
Her slightly fat, milk-white breasts sprang free of the brassiere like startling rubber balls. The soft fat on her shoulders and upper arms was pink and quivering. In silence she undressed, removing her girdle so that the soft flesh of her creamy belly fell in a tremulous melon-smooth disc over her thick-chevroned cunt. She stood shyly before the multitude.
I raised my arms to form a cross of my body once more.
"Let us pray!" I said.
The Congregation went down to its knees.
"To thee, oh Pain, we consecrate the agony of this woman's flesh! Help her to suffer! To feel the quick brightness of your movement in all the muscles and fiber! Teach her to scream! Teach her to treasure every humiliation, every violence that we, thy servants, inflict upon her trembling flesh! Take unto thyself her utmost misery and turn it by the shard of thy cruel tongue into the fire of purity in her veins! Amen."
I turned to Harry.
"Let us proceed."