by Susan Thomas
"I used his necktie to bind his hands and then when he woke I persuaded him that I would cut pieces off him unless he told me what he was up to. Seems he had been sent to murder me."
Everyone gasped and Emily screamed and hung onto to Charles.
"Who would do that?" John Spencer sounded angry as well as concerned.
"It was a lady. Tall, very well dressed, prim in manner. Long thin face with a long thin nose and piercing blue eyes. A looker when young, he thought, but with grey hair piled up high."
Beth gasped. "Oh my! That's my mother. That's my mother no doubt about it."
There was silence following this announcement as everyone sat looking at Beth's shocked face. She had gone completely white with her freckles standing out like beacons. Finally, Henry spoke slowly and reflectively.
"I guess Charles was right. There is something very deep and dark going on here if they are prepared to murder to keep their secrets. Charles, have you heard from your friend concerning your enquiry about the two men?"
"Not yet."
"Right! No more trips or adventures until we do and then only after we all talk it out. Now we must all be on our guard with strangers. What did you do about this character that wanted to kill you?"
"He had to send a telegram addressed to 'Hortense' just saying, 'job done.' I persuaded him to simply send it. If he was ever discovered, he could always say he must have got the wrong man."
"Good." Henry was firm. "Not a word to Arthur. In the meanwhile, we must be on our guard and await more information. They don't appear to know where we are and we don't know what's going on. We must get more information before we reveal who and where we are."
Chapter 8
Beth realized that she had not written to Martha, who loved her almost as if she was her own daughter. She had breast fed her, nursed her through illness and given her all the care of a mother, only to be dismissed when Beth became twelve. It had been a bad time for them both. Martha had helped her to escape and her husband had given her $100. Martha at least ought to know that she was safe, happy and married; but even though she was now married, it was still best that neither her parents or Rankin Blake learned where she was. Then there was Arthur to consider. If Martha didn't know, there was no possibility of her having to lie or accidentally letting it slip. A letter could explain much without actually giving the address and would at least reassure. In the future maybe she could be more open, but not yet.
She composed a long letter explaining how well everything had gone at the school and that, although it was quick, she had married a good man and was very happy with him. She left out any reference to Emily. She was certain that Martha had no more idea than she did that she was a twin but it was something she might really find hard to keep to herself. She also made no reference to Arthur. Having posted the letter Beth felt her conscience easing. Later maybe she could really tell Martha all that had happened.
As the week went by there was great excitement among the females of Kirkham. The League of Moral Women, aware of the competition from the new rival league, had called in a favor and on Saturday would have a distinguished visiting speaker. The Rev. Tobias R. Shawcross would speak on the 'Ideal of Womanhood' followed by refreshments and a cake sale.
The League of Women was holding an inaugural parade with as many musical instruments as could be mustered. They persuaded Miss Gloria Tannock, a resident of Kirkham and a highly educated woman, to speak about 'The Sisterhood of Women' after the parade ended. Emily arranged for the 'band' to stop right outside the meeting place where the Rev. Shawcross would speak. Beth knew this would cause trouble but she stubbornly refused to argue with her sister and just hoped for the best.
The excitement of the parade was denied to Arthur, not that he cared one bit. On Friday night he was going home with Timmy Hancock so the two boys could spend some time together out of school. The Hancocks would return him with Timmy on the Monday morning. Beth had a private word with Mrs. Hancock about Arthur; she explained that he had been very cruelly treated and had scars to prove it. Mrs. Hancock wasn't surprised, given her own history, and she promised they would be careful around those issues.
The parade was a great success even given the many musical failings of the hastily created band. Many small boys joined in, banging saucepans with wooden spoons and playing tin whistles, and the noisy parade came to a halt outside the meeting place of The League of Moral Women. The Rev. Shawcross was in full flow. Few had any idea what he was talking about but he was saying it beautifully, so it was all very uplifting. The parade outside began to disturb him when it was quite some distance away. The noise of the band, the small boys and the shouts and cheers of everyone who loved a parade whatever the cause could be heard all over town - but when it stopped right outside, the noise was so great that Rev. Shawcross came to a full stop.
Mrs. Emmeline Philips and Mrs. Annabelle Beck were furious. This was deliberate provocation and they steamed importantly out of the meeting place to deal with the leaders of the upstart league.
"Stop that disgusting racket this instant." Mrs. Philips had drawn herself up to her full height and, with her white hair piled high on her head, she looked imposing. The 'music' stopped and a hush fell over the crowd.
The much shorter auburn-haired Emily turned with a mischievous look on her face. "Oh, are we disturbing you? This is our inaugural parade. Perhaps you'd like to join...we are open to all women."
"You-you...you little hussy. How dare you behave in this way?" Emmeline Philips seemed to grow in size as she said this. Without any warning her hand went back and she smacked Emily across the face very hard indeed, which sent her reeling backwards.
Beth stepped between them. "How dare you? That's disgraceful. You leave my sister alone."
Whether it was that they were twins or whether her temper now had the better of her is not certain, but Emmeline Philips suddenly smacked Beth across the face with considerable force. Beth lost her temper. "You evil, evil woman," she cried and smacked Mrs. Philips across her face hard one way and then, for good measure, smacked her again on the other cheek. Mrs. Philips shrieked loudly and, grabbing Beth's hair with both hands, started shaking her head from side to side violently. That was just the start. By now the League of Moral Women had piled out to watch their leader in action and when they saw Beth smack Emmeline's face they piled in. Soon all the women were screaming, shouting, spitting, clawing, pulling hair and smacking faces for all they were worth.
The boys were delighted and cheered indiscriminately. The Rev. Shawcross stood wringing his hands and pleading ineffectually for a cease fire. Miss Gloria Tannock smiled sourly and left quietly. Men in the Kirkham Saloon came out onto the sidewalk to watch the entertainment of the 'cat fight'. They had no real idea what it was all about but didn't care much...it was great fun. There were cheers and advice thrown at the women which probably weren't even heard. Husbands were not amused and men came running from all directions to extract their wives.
Henry was the first and, grabbing Beth by one arm, he dragged her from the melee, his loud, strong voice cutting through the noise. "Beth, go home and wait for me. Do it now."
It had a strange effect, that command, for other women stopped and their husbands seized the opportunity to give the same order. Soon women could be seen...hair and clothes disheveled...streaming home, heads down, in an oddly quiet and subdued way. The husbands gathered together in the street and Henry spoke to them. He didn't say much, but he said it forcibly, and the other husbands could be seen nodding grimly. Soon the husbands were striding sternly towards their homes.
Mary Spencer was in the kitchen when John arrived back. She was pretending to be busy while being very pleased indeed that Arthur wasn't at home.
John strode in. He was short. "Mary, go and get your hairbrush."
"John, no, please. This isn't-"
"Hairbrush."
"Please John, I'm sorry. Please just use your hand."
John said nothing. Mary took one look
at his face and fled upstairs to get her hairbrush. He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her and said nothing, just pointed at his office. She scampered to obey, her heart pounding. She hadn't been spanked since Emily was about ten years old. Eight years ago. John pulled out a chair and sat down on it.
"I warned you Mary. You, a mother and fifty years of age, as you reminded me the other day, and you behaved like that. You should have been a calming, controlling influence on the girls, not join in with them."
"But John, the League of Moral-"
"From the looks on their husbands' faces I would say those women are right now in the same fix you are. Now get your drawers down."
"Please John, I know I'm in the wrong but can't you just use your hand?"
"No, I am going to blister your rear end and give you a good, hard spanking. It's what you deserve, Mary Spencer."
Mary lifted her skirts and fumbled with the draw strings of her underwear which soon pooled down around her ankles. John had her over his lap very quickly and lifted her various skirts and petticoats up and over her back exposing her plump bottom. The first crisp smack of the brush made her squeal and Mary knew for sure she was in for a painful session. Soon her cries and yelps filled the office and reverberated up around the empty house. Mary was making the discovery that being spanked at fifty is just as unpleasant as being spanked at eighteen.
When Charles had sent Emily home he added, "And put your nose in the corner." Emily obeyed, her heart banging like mad. She knew she was in for a good hard spanking and really it was deserved. She had been amazed at how out of control everything had got and so quickly. She hadn't intended for any of that to happen. When Charles came back in he looked sterner than she had ever seen him before.
"Do I need to go over the reasons why you are getting a good, hard spanking?"
"No Charles. I am so sorry. I didn't intend for any of that to happen...it just did. Who knew Mrs. Philips would be so aggressive?"
"Never mind that lady. She will be paying her own price. This is about you. Take off all your outer clothes. I am not fighting with all those skirts."
Emily undressed obediently down to her drawers, shift and stockings. Charles had banned corsets as the 'work of the devil' that did women no good and made life hard for husbands.
"Now give me your hairbrush please, Emily."
"Oh no! Charles, please, not the hairbrush... please just use-"
"Emily!"
Emily obeyed and found her hairbrush, wishing like mad that it wasn't such a sturdy one. She handed it to him, her head down. Really, she was very ashamed of herself and she guessed that she had gotten poor Beth into trouble as well. Soon her drawers were cast to one side and she was over his lap while the hairbrush told her very firmly indeed that it spanked much harder than a hand. Her yelps quickly turned to cries which turned to wails and finally Emily did what she had never done before. She pleaded for her spanking to end. Charles ended it and began to cuddle his sobbing wife.
---oOo---
From the moment that Henry said, "Beth, go home and wait for me. Do it now," Beth felt ashamed. She had let Henry down. She was the schoolteacher who should set an example but she hadn't. She had known it was all getting out of hand and she could have calmed it all down but she did nothing. She had promised Henry there would be no trouble but there had been and terrible trouble at that. Now she knew precisely what he was going to do. He was going to spank her bottom very hard indeed and she deserved it. In fact, she was so ashamed of herself she hoped he would do it very hard. Since she had so little experience of being spanked she wondered how it would happen. She thought he probably would use her hairbrush, for this was serious, so she went upstairs and got it, placing it on the kitchen table. Should she undress? Should she stand in the corner as Emily had to do? Well, that couldn't be a bad idea as at least it would show she was contrite. Feeling terribly guilty and ashamed Beth went in her usual quiet way and stood facing a corner. She was still there when Henry came back. He couldn't help smiling when he saw the hairbrush and where she was standing.
"Beth, come here to me."
She obeyed like one of the children in her school when they had done something wrong. Her head was down and she was very contrite indeed.
"You know what I must do now don't you Beth?"
"Yes, Henry. I am so very sorry. It's all my fault. I did most of the organizing and I should have put a brake on everything. Now I've gotten all our league into trouble with their husbands."
"Oh, not just your league. There wasn't a married man out there this afternoon who wasn't going to set fire to his wife's rear end. I've not spanked you before Beth but I am now going to spank your bottom very hard indeed."
"I know. What do I have to do?"
"Take off your dress and petticoats. I want to be able to concentrate on spanking your rear end and not have a war with female clothing."
In spite of all that had happened between them, Beth still blushed at having to undress in day time and downstairs. Finally, she was clad only in her shift, drawers and stockings. Henry sat down on one of their plain chairs and she went and stood precisely where he indicated on his right hand side. Her heart was thumping wildly for, although she deserved her spanking, she knew it would hurt. Her face burned when Henry himself undid the ties and her drawers fell down around her ankles. He helped her down and across his knees, a position she had never been in before. Her quick mind worked out that this was an ideal position for her husband to administer her correction and she tried to relax into it as good obedient wife but it was very uncomfortable.
Henry began to spank her. Beth gasped in surprise at how much his hand stung when it connected with the soft skin of her bottom. He spanked quite slowly, his hand smacking down hard on one cheek and then a pause and down onto the other. In spite of the slow speed of the spanking the heat and sting on her bottom grew steadily and she began to make soft gasps and sounds of discomfort. Her legs began to twitch at every smack and Henry, watching her, knew that she was beginning to feel very uncomfortable indeed. Almost imperceptibly he began to spank faster... not harder, but the pause between smacks disappeared. Beth's discomfort grew quickly and her legs seemed to take on a life of their own, moving up and down constantly in time with her gasps and small cries of distress. Her free arm, the one not lodged against Henry's strong body, shot away from the air in front of the chair and reached back to protect her bottom.
"Oh, no you don't." Henry's voice was firm and he took hold of her arm and held it firmly against her back before resuming his spanking which grew steadily faster with every smack. Beth's cries now became louder and shriller as her bottom grew hotter and the sting reached ever more painful levels. She kicked her legs so hard her drawers parted company and sailed through the air to land in a heap on the floor. Beth didn't notice.
"Uh! Oh! Ouch! Oh Henry... it hurts. Henry. Oh please."
Henry ignored all that. His wife had to be spanked and much as he hated to do it he knew she would never really respect him if he let her off lightly. He increased his speed of spanking yet again, noting just how very red her whole bottom was. Her legs began to kick wildly and her whole body jerked and wriggled on his lap. Her cries of distress filled the room and must surely be audible outside in the street. Her bottom was now an angry red and Henry decided on one last flurry for this hand spanking. He went very fast and very hard. Beth shrieked and kicked hard as the spanking reached its crescendo.
"Please Henry, stop!"
He did stop and she collapsed over his lap sobbing. Henry rubbed her back gently and then helped her to stand. He wiped her eyes and blew her nose for her and then told her she must stand in the corner for a while before the next part of her spanking.
She gasped out a horrified, "You're going to spank me some more!"
"All the other wives are getting spanked with a hairbrush or something similar. I've not given you a proper hairbrush spanking because this is your first from me and you've only had that other one
from John. But what you women did out there was disgraceful. Can you imagine what you would have said if we men had a mass fight like that in the street?" Beth hung her head in shame. "After some time in the corner for you to reflect, I will give you a short hairbrush spanking. If ever you do anything like this again the whole spanking will be with your hairbrush."
"Oh Henry, I'll never do anything like this again I promise."
"Good. Now. Corner." He softened the stern words by giving her a quick kiss.
Beth stood wriggling in the corner for some while, her hands itching to rub her sore bottom but she made them keep by her side. When Henry called her back her stomach did a somersault for now her bottom was in for more punishment. When she was uncomfortably across his knees once more, Henry wasted no time in bringing the hairbrush down on her red bottom with a good crisp smack.
"Yeow!" Beth bucked wildly on his lap at the intense sting of the brush on her very sore and tender skin.
"Hurts doesn't it. Well that's what Emily will have been getting. I'm giving you another eight like that."
Beth bucked and shrieked at each smack of the brush. The initial harsh sting seemed to dig deep down into her bottom and make it throb horribly. It was a tough lesson to learn on an already well spanked bottom and she burst into tears at the second smack. Finally, Henry counted off the ninth smack feeling he had done his duty as a husband although it had not been a pleasant one.
When Henry finally let her up she stood, naked from the waist down but for her stockings which now were at half-mast. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she wriggled around on the spot, craning her head around to see her smarting bottom. Henry stood up and took hold of her and Beth put her head into him and sobbed her heart out. He soothed her until she stopped crying, although the wriggling continued as her bottom throbbed and burnt after her spanking.