Anonymous - A WEEKEND VISIT

One morning, when I came down to breakfast, I found the following letter on my plate-

The Nunnery, Wednesday

Dear Jack-What are you doing with yourself? Have come here for a few days, but find the place most terribly dull, only mother and Alice being here. Can't you come down for a long weekend and amuse three lonely females? I am writing at mother's suggestion. Do come.

Yours ever

MAUD

The invitation was very welcome. I was at a loose end that week, and London in July is not the pleasantest of places. Moreover The Nunnery was a charming house to visit. So promptly I wired grateful acceptance, adding that I would arrive that same afternoon by teatime.

Now allow me to introduce my reader to my dramatis personae and to the scene.

'Mother' was my old friend, Mrs Helen Bell; we were children together, and I was present at her wedding and godfather to her only child, Maud, my correspondent. Helen was scarcely seventeen when she married. Maud was born the following year, and was now twenty-two; Mrs Bell was therefore not yet forty, and was frequently taken for Maud's elder sister. She now was in her prime, a splendidly shaped woman, rather tall, slightly inclining towards embonpoint but very graceful in her movements, and very attractive. Her husband had died three years ago, and had left her a pretty place and ample means; her re-marriage had been confidently predicted but so far she had shown no desire to re-enter the wedded state.

She lived quietly and was the Lady Bountiful of the neighbourhood. She was wonderfully free of prejudices and particularly tolerant of the frailties of her own sex.

Maud, her daughter, was also a widow, her husband having died just a year ago, leaving her well provided for so long as she did not marry again and lived 'a chaste and proper life', to quote from his will. I was her trustee as well as her godfather, and it devolved on me to see that the conditions of the will were conformed to. But she was of a particularly ardent temperament-as also was her mother-and her involuntary cry of dismay when she heard her husband's will read warned me that there would be trouble unless I took care.

She was a beautiful girl, having inherited her mother's good looks together with her father's height-in fact she was unusually tall. She possessed a most voluptuous figure and loved to display it. Unlike her mother (who was a brunette) Maud was a charming blonde with a mass of golden hair and blue eyes, which fairly captivated me when after some years' absence from England I returned home just in time for her wedding, and I found myself horribly envious of the good

fellow whom she married and who thus obtained the fullest rights over her charms. On his death my duties as her trustee constantly brought us into close relations, and it was impossible for me not to note how her enforced celibacy was distressing her, while she could not but be aware of my passion for her. One day when I was nearly mad with desire after her and she had been unusually confidential, I ventured to suggest that so long as the trustee was satisfied in his capacity as such, he in his capacity as godfather and dear friend might afford her the relief she so ardently craved. She delightedly conferred on me the further appointment of lover, and as opportunities presented themselves she received in my arms the solace that her ardent feminine temperament required from time to time, the happy gratification of which tended to heighten and ripen her attractions as well as to maintain her in perfect health.

'Alice' was Mrs Bell's companion, practically her adopted daughter. Her mother was a schoolmate and dear friend of Mrs Bell and on her death the latter took charge of Alice (who was totally unprovided for) and had her educated properly. When Maud married, Mrs Bell brought Alice home as her companion. She was a charming little maiden of that almost indescribable English type that necessitates the use of adjectives such as 'sweet', 'cuddlesome', 'dainty', 'scrumptious', etc., a universal favourite and one of the accepted belles of the neighbourhood; and although she had only just turned eighteen she had received more than one good offer of marriage, all of which she had refused. Mrs Bell used to say half in fun and half in earnest that Alice was in love with me and that no one else would ever get her. I cannot say that I reciprocated the affection, but I will confess that I began to think Alice was a flower the plucking of which would be a treat for a god.

She absolutely worshipped Mrs Bell, and whatever her own private opinions and ideas might be she was ready to conform to the slightest wish Mrs Bell might express-a characteristic that will be found greatly to affect the events that I am about to relate.

Mrs Bell's residence, The Nunnery, was a comfortable old-fashioned house that stood in its own grounds some four miles from a country town. There were really two buildings, the house itself, and the wing that contained the domestic offices and the servants' rooms. The house had a ground floor and first floor; a sort of one-storeyed passage gave the servants access-so that at night the family and visitors were quite separated from the domestics, a feature that also will be found to affect my narrative. Mrs Bell's bedroom occupied the whole of one end and looked out over the grounds, and communicated with Alice's bedroom and the room generally allotted to visitors by curtained doors.

As I journeyed down I wondered whether Maud's invitation meant anything of special significance. I knew that she had told her mother of our relations, and that Mrs Bell in her broad-minded way did not object (in view of the terms of the will and knowing her daughter's erotic temperament) so long as no scandal arose. But to allow Maud and me to have each other under her own roof seemed to me too improbable to be expected.

Maud met me at the station. She was driving herself in a waggonette without a groom. My light baggage was soon put inside-I took my place beside her and we started off for The Nunnery.

When clear of the town the road began a long and somewhat steep ascent. Maud made the horse walk, then turning to me said: 'Now, Jack, I want to talk to you seriously.'

'Good Heavens! what have I done now!' I exclaimed. Maud laughed. 'It is not what you have done but what you are required to do that I want to talk about,' she replied. 'Now Jack, be a good boy and promise you'll do as we all want-all of us mind!'

'Of course I will if I can!' I rejoined gallantly. 'What is it?-anything very serious or very difficult?'

Maud shook with laughter. 'Jack, you're too funny! Yes, it is very serious and it may be difficult! I'm going to call a spade a spade as it will be the easiest and quickest way! Jack, we all-all, mind you, including Alice-want you tohave us! There!'

'What!' I exclaimed, staring at her in absolute surprise. 'Its quite true, Jack dear!' Maud replied, colouring faintly, 'that's what we want you to do. Now listen!

'I've been wanting you badly, my lover!-Oh, so badly-and I told mother that either you must come to me or I must go to you! She didn't like your having me under her own roof. I didn't want to go up to town. A sudden idea struck me. As you know, Jack, mother is still a young woman-I get my hot temperament from her, and I know how she hates her lonely bed! And she loves you, Jack! So I slipped my arm round her, and whispered coaxingly: "Look here, mummy, let us get Jack down andshare him!" She blushed like a schoolgirl. "Mummy," I again whispered-"you know you wantsomethingvery badly, just as badly as I do!"-she quivered responsively-"Won't you let me get it for you?"-again she blushed deeply-"Come, mummy darling, share Jack with me!" And I kissed her and kept whispering to her, till she murmured, "Very well, my darling-it's sweet of you! If Jack is willing it shall be as you wish!" There, sir, what do you say?'