Turning over possibilities that were not by any means dissimilar, Lavender asked Pamela whether she would not like to stay. She saw much to be gained by the girl's taking up residence with them, for she could act as companion, lure, and go-between.
For her part, Pamela had considered the idea already but briefly, though she felt extremely warm to Lady Waterhouse, who was neither so sly nor devious as her female employer and was delicious to watch in the throes of passion. How best and most politely she could refuse she knew not, but finally decided to do so with honesty, being grateful that with Lavender she could do so.
Casting herself down upon the velvety sward in a manner that invited Lady Waterhouse to follow suit, the two embraced tenderly, pecking at each other's lips like doves.
“Fond as I have grown of you, I though must needs move on,” Pamela murmured, adding quickly, “I shall stay another night with you if you wish.”
“That I do desire, though perhaps we must not be so naughty. But why will you not stay?” Lavender implored.
Thereupon for the first time Pamela unveiled to her completely the events of the night at Sir Richard's house, to all of which Lavender listened intently. What she herself had gained from Mary was that her Papa had been very naughty indeed with her, but now she saw in a new light all that had transpired and was ready to forgive the two in the heat of the moment.
“Indeed, so it should be,” Pamela said wisely, “and hence you see that my mission is complete, for now she takes her injections as prettily as ever you do, having quite properly learned-as you have-to vary your steeds.”
“Oh! and is that your purpose?” laughed Lavender, though she could not help but blush.
In her strange little way, however, Pamela preserved her serious mien.
“Such treasures as we females possess must be properly nurtured and handled in a manner that becomes them, Lavender. It would not do at all if girls were put about to all manner of crude and rough gentry. 'Tis better that they undergo their trials first, and then they may choose as they will, for they will have gained knowledge and experience thereby.”
“Really, what a quaint and lovely creature you are!” Lavender declared, hugging her. Thereupon they set to discussing the whole matter until Lady Waterhouse felt herself quite converted and vowed to expound the philosophy as far as she was able. Working on all sorts of possibilities, her agile mind at last saw an opening that Pamela might wish to entertain, for the place she had in mind lay but not ten miles away. Thus, as she explained, they would not be too far distant from each other.
This intelligence Pamela received with pleasure, already having decided to leave the Bromley abode as soon as possible since her mission there was also finished. So the two lay talking, being refreshed with iced lemonade and minding not the time-until lunch was announced.
Mary being seemingly too shy to appear-though having been given her hors d'oeuvre by Roger, who left her bottom looking somewhat like a cream bun- Lavender and Pamela partook of lunch alone. Roger and Rupert had departed to change their attire and return for dinner, it being agreed that they might do so “if they behaved themselves,” though neither was minded to and Lavender secretly hoped that they wouldn't.
That afternoon, therefore, Lavender and Pamela sallied forth in an open carriage to visit the house where, as Lavender thought, some possibilities might lie. En route they stopped at an inn to slake their thirsts, though with due thought Pamela partook only of lemonade, being determined to look her most respectable and to have no smell of wine upon her breath. Indeed, she had adorned herself in one of Mary's primmest dresses, which though an inch or two short for her, fitted her otherwise admirably and was pleasingly tight about her hips and bosom.
The house they were to visit was known as The Grange, Lavender explained. The head of the household was one Thomas Tomkins, who had gained his fortune from the railways. He was a kindly yet stern man, given to keeping his daughters and sons under firm rein.
“That he is stern may be an asset, for sternness may be moulded into firmness, which is all that is required,” Pamela avowed wisely. As to Mrs. Adelaide Tomkins, that lady was of attractive appearance, but quiet and not given overmuch to excitement.
“Where there is not excitement, there is not desire, but both may be engendered and aroused,” said Pamela, who was keen indeed on learning every detail that she could before setting foot in the establishment. Of daughters there were four, she gathered, their ages ranging from sixteen to twenty-one. Of sons there were two.
“I believe also several others-it is quite a large household,” Lavender averred, but within another half an hour they were in sight of The Grange itself, set in rolling countryside and with a well-laid drive of a quarter-mile leading up to it from between a pair of large iron gates flanked by stone pillars.
Receiving few visitors at this hour, Mr. and Mrs. Tomkins were not displeased to greet their friend, Lady Waterhouse, while expressing also much pleasure at being introduced to Pamela as, in Lavender's words, “a dear friend.”
The Grange was commodious and with so many bedrooms that-being shown around it-Pamela's nimble mind was already at work in memorising each and every one and how best the relationships of the various doors would best suit her kindly purposes. The daughters, if not entirely as pretty as Mary Waterhouse, or Helen and Miranda Bromley, were comely, fresh of complexion, and firm of figure, none being either plump or thin, but properly curved in such places as it suited them to be. In addition, as Pamela was intrigued to discover, there was a thirty-year-old sister of Mrs. Tomkins who had remained unwed (a piece of news that caused Pamela some kindly consternation and not a little further thought that she must be injected as soon as possible) and a shy niece who was staying “quite a while,” as Mrs. Tomkins said.
'Twas in the midst of all this amiable chatter that the subject of a governess was raised, whereat Adelaide Tomkins sighed and said that none would stay long because of the isolation of The Grange. How deviously Pamela's name was inserted into the conversation, neither she nor Lavender remembered. Suffice to say that both Adelaide and Thomas Tomkins expressed particular delight at the suggestion that she might be persuaded to join them, even though it might be only for the remainder of the summer. By the end of the week, as Adelaide declared, their sons would be home from boarding school and she knew not where to turn to keep them all in hand.
“Permit me to consider your offer overnight, if you will,” Pamela said softly, raising her eyes to those of Mr. Tomkins, who unaccountably blushed a shade and crossed his legs. There was something quite magnetic in her look, he thought, though he deemed it an illusion. The mere whisper of her stockings rubbing together where one thigh lay over the other excited him to a degree he had all but forgotten.
“Shall you?” Lavender asked quietly as they left The Grange, though a certain twinkle in Pamela's eye gave her the answer.
“There are possibilities, I do believe,” Pamela declared, then laughed and hid her face in Lavender's shoulder. They would have a wonderful night of it-she was determined of that-and then in the morning she would take her farewell. Four daughters, two sons, a niece, and an unmarried sister-oh, indeed, she would have her work cut out, but it was a challenge she could not deny herself.
Watching the coach depart, Thomas Tomkins sighed and placed his arm about his wife's waist. For no reason at all, he felt suddenly amourous.
“I do hope she comes, Tom. I'm sure she will get on well,” declared Adelaide, who quite unexpectedly felt her husband's hand roam around her bottom as it had not done in daylight for years. Not displeased, she wriggled it agreeably for a moment and then moved away, chiding herself for behaviour that was quite unseemly outside of bed.