The Ornaments of Love

by G A Dazio

  “Secondly, you will have taken the opportunity to dress for the occasion, and by this, I mean that your nightgown shall have been removed so that he will not have to go through the ritual of seductively getting you out of it. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not an opponent of seduction, but there is a time and place for it. This will not be some grand operatic sequence. Your objective is to merely experience the physical act itself, and only to truly learn what it means. You are to be naked under the sheets of your bed as you await him, ready to receive him without hindrance or fuss.

  “Next, you must understand that the man I choose for you will not necessarily be the most accommodating of lovers, he should not even be viewed as a lover. Indeed, he will not be. I expect you to be prepared to experience the physical actions, even if you find that you are unable to fully grasp the mental pleasures; the sought-after goals of sex. If you choose to relax and give yourself to it, some measure of pleasure will find its way to you. And understand, while he is with you tonight, you will not concern yourself with whether he is enjoying himself. I would have you remain fixed only upon your more selfish designs this one time. The truth of the matter is that a man will always experience these pleasures, for it is virtually impossible for a man not to. And it will be fairly evident when he has finished, not merely from the deathly finality that will overcome him, but also because I will have instructed him to quickly dress and leave you there. Do not think it necessary to speak to him at any time. You will save any questions for me.”

  The precision of her teacher’s instructions seemed too well-considered for the girl to ask anything at all. Veronica was horrified by all of this, almost numb from the idea of being naked in front of a stranger. She did not even attempt to clear her throat before her aunt continued.

  “When he has finished, and has left you, you will come to me and we will continue where we have left off here. At no time should you fear for your safety with this man, for I will not choose for you someone who is reckless or insensitive to your situation. But you must take note and remember that when a man is in the throes of his passion, he will often become another being. His reason and rationality may leave him for a short time. If you feel that he is too rough with you, intentionally or not, this one time you will do everything in your power to keep this truth from him as much as you can. I assure you, I will see to it that he is as gentle with you as possible.

  “Again, the point of this exercise is for you to feel everything you can, to take note of it all. And if at any moment, you too experience the pleasures he is feeling, I want you to give your mind over to those sensations and allow them to engulf you. Don’t worry about anything that you do not understand, dear. All of it will reveal itself to you in its own time. It is better perhaps that you don’t understand everything before it happens. Apprehension has a way of marring the senses.”

  Veronica was too fascinated by everything that Marcelina had told her to be concerned about her appearances; that seemed to be all past now. It was too intriguing, this idea of her aunt’s, which eluded her still. She resolved to give herself over to the cause of the assignment, even though she did not understand. For all of her confusion and misgivings, Veronica was confident that everything to happen by her aunt’s decree was in her best interest.

  “I will do as you say.”

  With this submission, the woman's face relaxed, and she moved her head to indicate that they should both leave the room. Walking slowly together, Marcelina added one final bit of instruction. “Now, I have much to do to prepare for your lesson tonight, so you will assist me by going about today as if nothing were unusual. Do your very best to appear happy and without alarm or anxiety. It is important that you not alert the staff to what we are undertaking in any way. They will be a greater enemy to you than any indiscreet lover could ever be. There is only one here that you could ever hope to trust, my Dolça. But one hint that something is suspicious with you, and the others will make it their mission in life to uncover it, and then take the prestige allotted in revealing it to every servant in the neighborhood. This would mean disaster for my purposes, and you must see to it that there is no possibility of it ever happening.

  “I know you keep a diary, which I assure you, is read by someone in this house. Do not trust diaries with your truly important secrets, and certainly never write a word of what we will accomplish.”

  “I understand,” Veronica answered, staggered that someone would violate her in that way. “I will write nothing of this, I swear.”

  “Good. Now, go about your day, my love. By the end of the week, I will have given you the foundations of character that you will need to choose any man you wish to be your suitor. And remember that I love you, dear!” said the Marquesa, erupting as if she were afraid she had forgotten to make it clear. With a final kiss on the cheek, Marcelina left her and turned back toward her rooms.

  Astonishment—it was a word that Veronica did not fully understand until she attempted to make sense of her present feelings. To say that she had been brought from exaltation to surprise and back again was only the beginning of what she felt toward this constant series of changes over the last two days. It was incredible to her that so many things could happen in such a short span of time.

  What had her life been before she had come to this house?

  Veronica stood frozen in the hallway, staring at a portrait of a woman who appeared as she might expect to when she reached her late sixties. The woman’s expression was somber and dignified. Veronica’s eyes couldn’t have been forced to leave the canvas. She was compelled to examine every line, every expression of color, until she could no longer see the elderly woman, but rather the girl she once might have been. Beneath the figure captured, there was a shy, unsuspecting girl without any knowledge of the underside of society, the great production of secrecy that Veronica was only beginning to see. She knew that the regal woman in the portrait could be a promise of her future, the result of accepting this secret knowledge.

  After a time, she moved away from the portrait and set about to roam through the castle, desperate for anything distracting to turn her thoughts upon. Veronica would have to scream at the top of her lungs to release this strange anticipation burning in her shoulders. She would not make it through the day to dinner if someone in this slumbering house did not wake and talk to her about the weather or how green the grass was. Anything, Lord, just to make the anxiety stop!

  In the distance down the hall, Veronica heard footsteps and the sound of people engaged in conversation. She was terrified of allowing them the slightest sight of her, terrified of running down to them and pouring out the contents of her soul.

  Veronica found the doors to the east sitting room fixed open, and she slipped through them as quietly as possible to find Doña de Flores and her daughter entertaining a priest touring from the Vatican.

  “Veronica, come and meet Father Mateu,” the woman called out to her with unusual gaiety.

  Chapter Seven

  “Father, this is the Marquesa’s niece from Madrid, here for the whole summer. She is preparing to be presented at the ball on Friday,” Blanca said approvingly, with beaming affection for the young girl.

  “Ah! Congratulations, my child. What an exciting time this must be for you,” said the priest. He was a striking man with dark sandy hair and grey-blue eyes, all at once so friendly and piercing. “I remember those great galas as a young man, when it was my family’s mission to find me a wife just to be rid of my talk of joining the priesthood,” he laughed. He was not nearly so old, she thought, to be recollecting his youth as if it was ages ago. He seemed hardly over thirty, his light complexion still very fair.

  She thought him to be a rather charming man and wondered what he would have made of himself had he not taken the path to the priesthood. He seemed to have escaped the usual nature that befell the priests of her parish; that old, tired, and charmless manner about them that did not lend itself to gaining invitations to dine out. Rather, this man was entire
ly agreeable and had set Veronica’s anxiety aside for a brief sweet moment.

  “It is not something so moving, I should say,” Angelica remarked before his laughter subsided. “A party is just that: a party. I don’t see why older people think it such an event. Really, what should she expect to happen? That some fairly tale will be staged because she is no longer a child?”

  Blanca shot her daughter a venomous look, angry beyond words for possibly having offended the Father.

  “You’ll have to be patient and forgive Angelica’s rash words, Father. She sadly does not yet understand the blessings that marriage holds.” She turned to Angelica. “I wonder sometimes, my dear, what are your intentions for your future? Will you remain forever in such a foolish mind? Is it your intention never to have a family of your own? I should think your father would be most interested to know we will have the privilege of providing for you while you waste the rest of your life mastering this mindless cynicism.” The woman let a silent rage color her last word. “Really, do you intend to throw away all of your opportunities to sit in smug disapproval of others? At least Veronica has the intelligence to look forward to this time in her life and not take it for granted.”

  “I fail to see how it would do her any good to think there will be an army of suitors awaiting her entrance, as if she were the prize doll of the season,” Angelica lashed back at her mother, incapable of giving ground now that she had been embarrassed so thoroughly.

  It was remarkable, Veronica thought, that such a wealth of opportunity could coexist with such an absence of imagination. She seemed oblivious to the dynamics of what the Amontoní name and the Marquesa’s graciousness in inviting the Flores family to her house could mean. At this ball, Angelica too would also have the opportunity to be presented before the elite of the country on the tails of its social empress. Surely, even she could see this.

  Blanca at once smothered the intended fire of her reprisal, exhaling the frustration that only a daughter could produce in a mother. “I’m sure you know better than that as to the influence that this family has in the city,” she answered, calmly. “I know Father Mateu has said many times how the good will of the Marquesa is spoken of throughout Europe. Isn’t that right, Father?”

  “Yes, the Marquesa has been such a patron of the poor here in Barcelona, as well as a supporter of the Church’s charities the country over. The Archbishop himself has remarked to the Holy Pontiff of the generous angel the Church has within these walls. I’ve told the Marquesa of the blessings the Pontiff has sent upon her. Such a modest woman, she would not even bear to hear her charity praised, even by the Holy Father himself. Indeed, she is such a noble woman.”

  It fascinated and confused Veronica that her aunt was thought as such a holy woman by this priest, and even by the Holy Father. If this man only knew half of what the girl had only just become aware of!

  “Then you are a long acquaintance of my aunt’s, Father?” Veronica asked curiously.

  “Yes, I have had the great fortune to know and work with the Marquesa even before the Marqués passed to God. She has been a great friend to me and the entire parish for years. Between us, if it wasn’t for the Marquesa’s kindness and generosity, the other great families of the city might not be so willing to assist with the plight of the underprivileged. Her works have provided such direly needed funds for the Church’s lesser flock. We respect her as if she were our parish’s own patron saint of sorts,” he effused, smiling warmly.

  This knowledge made Veronica so very happy, leaving her much more at ease. There was so much she wished she could say to the man in private. Indeed, she felt she could trust him and find in him the guidance she so desperately needed right now.

  The three continued to chat on for a long while after Angelica asked to be excused, which Blanca was only too agreeable to permit. They continued on with their conversation about Veronica’s coming ball and laughed at how much the Father confessed to loving the Marquesa’s parties. He admitted that he could think of few things that could keep him from attending every season.

  “And I promise you this, you can be very certain that I suffer a great deal back at home for it,” he winked at Blanca. The woman laughed to simply hear his voice, she was so comfortable with him.

  After the Father’s confession, the Marquesa appeared in the room accompanied by the General. Veronica thought she might die if Don de Flores were to look at her. The shame from only a little while before returned as a scarlet blush on her face.

  The two walked in gaily and joined the trio, and Veronica found it as difficult as ever to speak now. She mostly observed the conversation, which eventually covered politics in France, as well as current situations in the Americas, each giving Marcelina another opportunity to shine with her usual charm. She displayed an obvious wealth of knowledge and opinion on the matters, all spoken with a great deal of affection for Father Mateu’s attention.

  “It’s so good we have you here in the city. If you were to leave again for so long, I could not bear it,” she remarked tenderly to her beloved guest.

  In time, Veronica became relieved when the tension of sitting so near the General lessened, and she even found herself taking courageous secret glances at him. Not having died from embarrassment, Veronica came to realize a strong fascination for this man who could sit in the same room with both his wife and his mistress, not to mention a priest, and still not show the slightest care for the scandalous situation he had placed himself in.

  The day passed on in this fashion: people sitting around and doing ordinary things. There were walks, the women played cards, and the men discussed life at sea. After a late lunch, some slept, and others wrote letters to family and friends. Father Mateu even said a small mass and took the ladies’ confessions in the castle’s small chapel. By the time the servants had come to dress Veronica for dinner, she’d been allowed to process much of her fear. The anxiety she had begun her day with had significantly lessened, if not disappeared, due to the normality of everyone’s behavior around her.

  The butler soon entered the grand salon at half past eight in the evening to announce that dinner was ready. The party moved pleasantly to the dining room where Angelica was already seated in her usual position at the end of the table. The Marquesa and the General took their seats on one side of the table center, the Father and Blanca opposite them, with Veronica moving to the opposite end from Angelica.

  It was noticeable all through dinner that the General and the Marquesa would whisper to each other privately and then glance back at Veronica, both smiling. The girl conceded to this obvious design of her aunt’s that it would be the General himself who would come to tutor her lesson. Their smirking glances proved faithful all throughout the evening, and after a while, the thought of him did not seem so terrifying. Her aunt obviously loved this man and trusted him far more than should be expected. After an even longer time, Veronica’s anxiety began to change to resigned excitement for the idea. The startling image of his naked body in her aunt’s sitting room, smothering Marcelina in loving and affectionate kisses, had thrilled her, she now realized. There was something about the man, though so much older than she, that Veronica was drawn to.

  The dinner went on for an eternity before the Marquesa finally brought the torment of time to an end for the girl. She excused Veronica from joining the group for after-dinner games and drinks in the salon, whispering in her ear before the girl left. The top drawer of her bedroom armoire held a note for the girl to read, said the Marquesa.

  Veronica made every effort not to allow her steady ambling to turn into an all-out dash up the staircases. Her heart was in her shoes when she finally made it to the armoire, and she stopped herself for a moment when a spell of lightheadedness caught up with her.

  Veronica reached up to feel inside of the highest drawer and came across the letter sealed in Marcelina’s personal stationary. In hindsight, she would remember that she had exerted all her faculties toward the extraordinary feat of not ripping the note a
s she pulled open the wax seal in haste. Veronica brought the paper into the light from the oil lamp by her bed:

  As we agreed, you have a rather important and delicate task to complete before your instructor arrives to assist you in your education. You will take the instrument located behind the potted palm tree on your balcony, the only place I could think of where your maid might not find it and clean it with water from the basin behind your bathtub. Once it is clean, you will use the cream I have placed on your cosmetics table to lubricate the head and shaft of the instrument. Take care to apply a generous amount of cream to yourself before you begin.

  You must start this ritual by rubbing the cream on your sex for at least ten minutes. It is essential that you relax as much as possible while you massage yourself. A reliable indicator that you are ready for the next step will be when the massage begins to feel unusually pleasurable. The next step requires you to insert the instrument inside the base of your sex. This will be difficult to do at first, but when you have pushed through the barrier of your hymen, and the small pain attached has withered, you will be able to insert the instrument fully.

  Do not fear for your health should there be much blood, for it will not endanger you. I have placed fresh linens on hand for you to avoid leaving any traces that would arouse your maid’s suspicions. Lay down and rest afterward, and when you are feeling better, continue the other preparations we discussed. Above all, remember: proceed slowly.

  You have all my love with you. - M.

  The mere sight of the hand-written words, so precise, so planned out, so orchestrated, produced an apprehension in Veronica about the whole ordeal. She ran to lock her door and then hurried to find the infamous instrument on her balcony. She knelt down to feel for the device behind the pot, which was so large that she could barely reach behind it. At once, she pulled out the phallus and her fascination for it took her by surprise. It was in the general shape of a man’s organ but extended long and straightened out. It was made from polished ivory, carved with uncanny realism in detail. She examined it over and over, rolling it in her hands to see every minutia before washing it.