Chapter 5. The aftermath
Shaking from his experience, Eric held Violet tightly for some moments before
sitting down with her alongside him. "I have never experienced anything remotely
like that," he enthused. "It did happen didn't it?" Violet assured him it had.
"It was like seeing a film, a film you could move around in. But it was horrible
too. That poor girl. I have often wished to see a girl thrashed for real. Now I
have, I am not sure I want to again. What became of her? What happened when you
went into the room?"
"All in good time, Eric dear. First you must relax and calm down and then we
will talk about it." Violet filled a kettle from the pail by the sink and put it
on the stove. "First though please go to the pump and fill this bucket."
Groaning at having to do such a chore especially as it was now raining, Eric
asked why they couldn't return to his time. "We can," came the reply, "but I
thought it would add more atmosphere if we stayed here for a bit. However, I
know you will want to put this day's adventures on your computer so we will
return there later. With you and I together, there are only two times we can be
in solid form. Here, like now in my real era, and in your real time, September
27th 2001. At rare other times usually aniversaries, like when you saw the
train, we appear solid but as you found when I landed on you, I wasn't solid at
all."
Later, when they were again seated together Violet asked, "You thought you would
have an erection if you had been solid when you saw Millie strapped down. Would
you still have kept that hardness after her birching?"
"I don't know. Probably. Especially if she had been gagged. It was her appalling
screams that might have put me off."
"What about if I had been the victim rather than someone you didn't know?"
"I would have tried to help you. It was so frustrating with Millie to know I
couldn't do anything. The time I tried to get between the birch and her bum, the
birch just went straight through me as if I wasn't there. I suppose I wasn't.
Being a ghost has its disadvantages. Funny though, I could feel you although you
were soft and sort of spongy and I could hold your hand to come back here."
"You'll be even more frustrated and upset at some of the scenes I want to show
you later. Scenes in which I am whipped front and back and raped and forced to
do other obscene things. You will not be able to do anything to help. You will
only watch. You can shout but your voice will not be heard except by the ghost
me. But you asked what happened to Millie and what I did when I entered the
room. Things for her actually turned out surprisingly well. I won't take you
back to view it. You've have had enough excitement for one day and I think I can
tell the story well enough for you to get it down on paper or disk as you will
probably use now."
Violet began her story.
"I wanted to help Millie because she had always been one of the nicer maids to
me even if she hadn't been in our service for long. My face didn't seem to worry
her. I'd had to bite on the blankets to keep from crying out myself at her
treatment but I knew I could do nothing at that time. In any case I wasn't
supposed to have seen anything but I couldn't pretend not to have heard the
screams or the ringing of the bell. However, I was very incensed and angry and
even at 13 years, I was a bit of a fighter. I'd had to be to combat the effects
of my face, not only the pain of the actually face but the taunts and snide
comments of others. So shortly after cook left, I slipped away, and a few
minutes later went directly to the servants quarters and burst in on Millie and
Vicky."
"Go to your room Miss Violet," Vicky ordered, "This is no place for a young
girl."
I stood my ground, "You don't order me around, Victoria, I want to know what was
done to Millie and why."
"I'm sorry Miss. You'll have to ask Cook that."
"I am asking the pair of you. Millie, why did Thompson beat you?"
Vicky answered with a question, "How do you know it was Thompson?"
I'd slipped up there but I was determined not to give in. "Millie, I asked the
question." Crying she told me what I already knew. Laziness. Next I asked Vicky
to explain why she was washing out Millie's inside.
"Just to make sure it is clean," she lied or at least gave me half the truth.
"Make sure you treat her carefully," I ordered, "I am going to get some of
mother's pain killing medicine to help soothe her. She's in too much pain." I
knew where the blue bottle was kept. I know in 2001 it is an illegal strong
morphine mixture but in those days it was readily available. Not knowing any
better, I gave her the maximum dose. It seemed to ease the pain after five
minutes or so but made her drowsy. Vicky kept applying cold towels to her arse
but didn't dare try to apply any goose fat which seemed to be the accepted salve
by the kitchen staff.
Seeing I could do little more good I left her to Vicky's attentions but returned
an hour later. She was alone and sleeping face down on the top of a bed. The
morphine was doing its job in shutting her mind off from the pain. I found Vicky
cleaning the dining room. "Victoria," I used her full name when I wanted to
sound authoritative, "At 3.30 bring Millie to my room. Get some help if
necessary and when Cook asks why she isn't down to help with the tea say I
ordered her to help tidy my wardrobe."
"How do you.....?" Vicky halted. I had slipped up again, I wasn't supposed to
know Millie had to be back at work for teatime. "Yes, Miss," she continued.
"It took two of them to carry the near unconscious Millie to my room and lay her
on my bed. There she stayed until next morning. Several times in the night she
woke and I gave her water but otherwise she just lay there, groaning from time
to time. Cook tried to question me sharply but I stood my ground and told her
Millie was working under my orders for the rest of the day and would be doing so
in the morning as well. I knew she didn't believe me and went away muttering. I
heard some of the other girls getting the sharp end of her spiteful tongue but I
didn't hear any beatings.
We had a stroke of luck as far as Millie was concerned. The ship that was to
have taken my parents to France ran aground on the Goodwin Sands in strong winds
before it reached Dover and was likely to break up. Father decided they should
return home and turned up unexpected and unannounced the following day.
After lunch both mother and father sat resting and reading in the drawing room
so I went in. "Father what degree of punishment would you expect to give a maid
who was a little bit lazy and didn't clean the pans properly?" My father was
strict but fair. He punished servants but in moderation.
"Violet, that seems to be a loaded question with more behind it than the
questions asks."
"Father, it is important to me that you answer and I will give you my reasons."
"Well, for a first time, a sharp verbal reprimand or if the laziness was severe
perhaps a spanking or at worst half a dozen strokes with a strap. Now what is
this all about. Something must have happened while we were away." I went and
rang the bell and summoned May, the parlour maid.
"May, will you please bring all the servants in here except Thompson and Cook.
Millie may need some help, she is in my room."
"What is this all about? The servants are not your responsibility."
"Today they are father. Please bear with me for a few more moments otherwise you
may have a worse situation on your hands." Father nodded to May to authorise my
order. In a short while all the house staff filed into the drawing room and
stood silently. Thompson put his head in the doorway and was rather taken aback
when I ordered him to wait in the kitchen with Cook. Father also seemed shocked
but again nodded.
"You had better know what you are doing daughter otherwise you may well be on
the receiving end of a good spanking."
Being a semi recluse because of my features, I read a lot and pretended I was a
courtroom barrister. "Millie will you step forward please?" With a little help,
she did so. "Turn round and raise your skirt." Millie hesitated. "Go on Millie,
almost everyone in this room saw your bottom yesterday." Reluctantly she raised
her garment as showed my parents her swollen, vividly coloured bottom. Mother
cried out in anger. I suppose I took after her in my dislike of thrashings.
"Who did this to you, Millie?" she shouted.
"Thompson and Cook, Ma'am."
"Why?" asked father quietly. I knew from past experience that when his voice was
quiet, he was at his most dangerous. If I messed up, I would certainly feel his
wrath.
"I didn't clean the pans properly, Sir."
"And was it the first time?"
"Yes, well almost, Sir."
I took up her case again. "Susan, you are Cook's chief helper. How bad were the
pans?"
"Two had bits of food left in the corners and two others were a bit mucky, Miss"
"Millie, what punishment did you receive for this offense?"
"Eight strokes of the birch, Miss"
"Who ordered punishment of this severity and who carried it out?"
"Miss..." Millie hesitated."
"Go on Millie, I know what happened and you know I know, so lying is not an
option."
"Miss, Cook ordered it and Thompson did it."
"And did anything else happen afterwards?"
"No.... Miss."
"Don't lie Millie. I know it's distasteful but everyone in this room except my
parents knows what happened afterwards." Some of the other girls started crying
and the men looked down at their feet.
Gradually I drew it from her and it was confirmed by the others.
Mother was very angry and demanded father do something. "It is disgusting what
these men did to the poor girl. Perhaps we should get rid of the lot of them."
"No mother, they only did what Cook and Thompson ordered. They feared they would
be sacked by either the butler or the cook if they didn't comply. They deserve
some punishment certainly but the main culprits are Cook and Thompson. They are
they depraved ones."
Mother agreed. "We should flog them and throw them on the streets. Unfortunately
we would then have the problem of finding a new cook and butler."
"It shouldn't be much of a problem Mother," I interrupted feeling very important
at being in charge, "Susan I know has done most of the cooking for some time now
while Cook has sat and watched. Isn't that true Susan?" Susan nodded. "We could
promote her to full cook status. Fletcher could do the butler's job at least for
the time being. Is that so Fletcher?"
Jack Fletcher was taken aback. "Sir, Miss, Ma'am. I don't rightly know. I could
do the job at times like this but you'd need to get someone with more training
when you has those big dinner parties."
"Violet," Father spoke, "I am not going to ask how you came by all this
information but it seems a very unjust punishment has been given to one of my
staff. Before I pass judgement, I wish to hear what Cook and Thompson have to
say." He sent for the pair and at first they denied what happened but when
confronted by the evidence of all the staff who now could see a change coming
where they would no longer be under the control of the hated pair, they started
to apologise and say they would make amends. Father sent them to their rooms
while he made his decision. He dismissed the staff telling them to get on with
their work as usual. To Susan he said, "Please prepare tonight's meal. Whatever
was planned. We'll see if it is to our liking and decide on your status then.
Millie," he went on, "Take the rest of today off and do what you can in future.
I can only say I am sorry this happened and I will do what I can to make
amends." I was dismissed as well.
In my travels as a wandering soul, I did find out what happened afterwards.
Mother was all for flogging the pair and then handing them over to the
authorities. Father in his quiet way was also in favour of punishing them. In
the end he decided they would be sent to Mr. Wilson's for punishment. He was one
of the officers in the local prison who took on punishment jobs for a fee in his
spare time. It was decided each should receive a birching double what Millie had
and dismissed without references. The punishments were to be witnessed by two of
the elder members of staff. A man and a woman who could report back to the
others. He chose Emily and Fletcher who were married and had been on the staff
for many years. There would be no rape of the now demoted cook. The men who
raped Millie would also receive six strokes of the cane. I wasn't allowed to
witness these punishments but of course I have since seen what happened.
