On the Thursday named as the day for his meeting Douglas Rivers’ little girl at the rural railroad station, Charles Cameron dressed himself in his finest suit and bowler hat, not forgetting his spats, hitched up the roan mare to the surrey and set out to meet the train. He had spent a rather restless night, reflecting on his folly at having shown such a humanitarian attitude to old Rivers. On the other hand, Rivers had taken advantage of his good nature in a rather maudlin way. However, there was nothing that would be done about it now. There would be problems with a child, especially a female. It would be well if he looked about the neighborhood to see if he could hire a housekeeper, and make temporary plans for the summer. It would probably curtail his own intended endeavors in the amorous field, but that was the price he would have to pay.
It was a beautiful day, not too hot, with a balmy breeze, and the roan mare trotted proudly down the thickly arbored lane towards town and the station. It was a pleasant little town, Charles Cameron felt, with sufficient shops, including a greengrocer who catered to a rather wealthy clientele and thus stocked, in addition to fine melons and strawberries and raspberries from the Continent an excellent wine cellar. Charles Cameron was fond of port and, at times, good German hock, though there were times when a good sparkling Burgundy suited his palate to a T. The town itself had a population of about seventeen hundred, and most of the residents were affluent country squires or retired pensioners who had had good fortune in their ventures on Fleet Street or speculating in the stock market Altogether, there were refined country gentry here, quite different from the hustle and bustle of London. Scenically, the little town of Rushton offered as much pleasure to the eye as it did to one’ s peace of mind. There was a little stream not far from Mr. Cameron’ s house, and farther to the north there was a fresh water creek where he could swim if he had a mind to. To the south there were rolling hills and clumps of trees which made hiding a decided sport He sighed dolefully as the station hauled into view; taking out his gold watch and opening the face, he saw that it lacked five minutes till the arrival of the train. The station- master was on the platform with a flag and after Charles Cameron had tied the reins of his mare to the hitching post, he struck up a conversation with the rather portly gentleman. It served to spend the five minutes amicably enough, until at last smoke towards one side of the railroad tracks indicated the oncoming train on which Douglas Rivers’ little daughter would be arriving. Perhaps, Charles Cameron thought to himself, she had been accompanied by Rivers’ own housekeeper, Mrs. Beddlington, although the latter had not mentioned as much in her letter to him. Certainly if the woman were trustworthy, she would now allow the child to travel by herself, even for such a short journey as from London. Well, that could be seen to when the time came. The immediate thing was to welcome Maude Rivers and try to comfort her over her certain grief through this bereavement and at least try to make a good face of it and give the child a proper home for the summer.
With a great deal of huffing and puffing and squealing of brakes, the engineer drew the train to a halt, and Charles Cameron watched intently as the porters opened the doors and helped down the several passengers who were alighting for a respite. In the first car nearest him, there was a heavily set gentleman with a ruddy complexion and a kind of helmet which suggested that he had seen service in Bombay or elsewhere in Her Majesty’ s sway over the embattled provinces of India. He was smoking a black Indian cheroot, which further authenticated his earlier locale.
In the second car, two elderly spinster sisters, twirling parasols and chattering like magpies were helped down by the friendly porter, who took their valises to a waiting surrey driven by a short little fat man with horn rimmed spectacles. Well, now, where was Maude Rivers? There was a stunning young woman alighting from the last coach, with a parasol and a pink flouncy dress which modestly hid even her ankles. She had golden hair and a swan- like neck, and her dress was decorous to the utmost, but it did not hide from him the splendid development of her bosom. Charles Cameron eyed the blonde arrival with a glow of sensual appreciation in his eye. She was still in her teens, to be sure, but this did not prevent his admiring the magnificent formature of her haunches and bosom and her legs. To be sure, the word “ legs” was one that was highly improper in polite society, but among men of the world, one knew precisely what was meant by it. And despite the bustles and stays and voluminous petticoats which the opposite sex were wont to wear in these days, a discerning male with experience in the boudoir could ascertain what charms were hidden by the thick concealment of garments and of undergarments as well. Charles Cameron rather prided himself on being able to appraise a figure of a woman and detect her flaws and virtues in the twinkling of an eye.
No one else had descended from the three coaches, and now the stationmaster was talking to the engineer, who had once more ascended to his cab and was ready to start on the rest of the journey. Meanwhile, the golden haired young girl, for such she was, approached in his direction, with the porter carrying two of her valises and looking about anxiously, aware that the train was about to start up without him. She espied Charles Cameron and in a sweet voice inquired, “ Are you by any chance Mr. Charles Cameron, sir?”
“ Why, yes, indeed I am,” he replied excitedly.
“ My name is Maude Rivers. Then I believe you are here to meet me, Mr. Cameron.”
“ I- er- yes, of course.” The mature bachelor solicitor recovered his aplomb and strode forward to seize the valises from the porter, whom he generously tipped. The latter hurried back to the coach and clambered aboard, just as the engineer tooted the whistle as a kind of farewell to the rustic village of Rushton.
Charles Cameron felt as if he were transported to another world. Beside him was one of the most beautiful young girls he had ever seen in all his life. She was of medium height, perhaps five feet five inches or a quarter more. Her form had that ripe voluptuousness without excess which can be found in an adolescent female of good breeding. Her skin was a satiny pink, with a gloss and freshness such as one might find on a freshly picked peach. Her eyes were widely spaced, enormous, and a translucent blue, appealing and poignant and utterly feminine. Her forehead was rounded and pure, her nose dangerously snub, with just a saucy hint of a flair to it, while her mouth was ripe, sweet and full It was a heart- shaped face of character and alluring feminine mystery.
“ Then you must be Douglas Rivers’ daughter,” Charles Cameron said rather astonishedly. “ You see, I had Mrs. Beddlington’ s letter, but I somehow thought my old friend had led me to believe that you were still in the nursery.”
“ Oh, fie, no indeed, Mr. Cameron,” Maude Rivers protested. She blushed divinely. Charles Cameron’ s keen eye swiftly rode over her face and form, and this blush assured him that she was of a sanguine temperament which augured well for his own sensual interests. It was not without a certain foreknowledge that he found himself enraptured by the sensuous charms of this golden- haired young girl, for after all she had been entrusted to him by a dying man, and he was honor bound to give her every tender care and aid in this her hour of great loss. But he had already come to the reflection that he would be her legal guardian, under the terms of Douglas Rivers’ letter, and that even in a court of law the lovely creature beside him would be handed over to him until her twenty- first birthday.
For the first time he began to be conscious of his great good fortune, and he began to congratulate himself on his foresight in having agreed to Douglas Rivers’ plea.
“ Oh, what a lovely mare!” cried Maude. “ It was very nice of you to come to meet me. My father spoke highly of you, you know,” her high, sweet voice assured him. Charles Cameron helped her into the surrey, not forgetting to feast his eyes on the neatly turned ankles which she exhibited, chastely veiled in rather drab and unprepossessing black cotton hose. She behaved quite like a little lady, holding her skirts just so, and there was a proud bearing to her. Yet the softness and loveliness of her curvaceous body had already begun to excite him. He reflected to himself that the old adage about casting bread upon the waters and having it returned a thousand- fold had never been more truthfully borne out than on this particular day.
On the way back to his house, Charles Cameron put himself out to behave as affably as possible, so as to make the best possible impression on his lovely young ward. For her part, Maude chattered away like a veritable magpie, exclaiming over the natural beauties of the scenery around her, the peacefulness of the landscape and he general neighborhood. Interspersed with these amenities, she provided spontaneous tidbits of information about herself and her father which helped document Charles Cameron on the cruel set of circumstances which had brought her to this virtual orphan’ s estate. She revealed also, unwittingly to be sure, that her elderly and ailing father had practiced a kind of deception on her new guardian: Douglas Rivers had purposely neglected to inform Charles Cameron as to his daughter’ s actual age, preferring to have the younger man suppose that Maude was a very little girl.
“ But I promise I shan’ t be the least trouble to you, Mr. Cameron,” she exuberantly declared as the vivacious mare at last stopped before the house. “ I learned quite a few things in school and from Father’ s housekeeper, you see, and I can sew and cook rather well and I shall try to make myself very useful to you, Mr. Cameron, in return for all you are going to do for me.”
“ No, now,” he chided with a pleasant smile, “ there is certainly no need to try and compensate me for taking care of you. After all, I was your father’ s good friend, and it is little enough to do for so fine a man.” This sentimental speech which Charles Cameron made without unction, and, indeed, with a definite effort to keep from smiling and thus revealing how hypocritical it really was, seemed to delight the lovely golden- haired young girl She clasped her hands together, sighed, and gave him a dazzlingly beatific look from those enormous and expressive soft blue eyes of hers. That look alone repaid Charles Cameron for having disrupted his placid schedule in going to the railway station to meet his unexpectedly grownup ward.
“ Oh, thank you, thank you,” she cried delightedly. “ But just bear in mind, Mr. Cameron, all you need to do is just tell me what you wish, and I shall learn to try to anticipate your desires. I wish to make myself useful to the extreme in this my new home.”
Had he been more cynically inclined, the handsome mature bachelor would have retorted that there were innumerable ways in which she could do precisely that. But as to that subject, which was far too titillating and risquй in that day and age for a young lady’ s ears, he contented himself with a smiling nod and the noncommittal retort that he would try not to make too many demands upon her good nature.
Her delight was unbounded after he had taken her through the house and shown her the room on the second floor, to the left rear, which was to be her very own. She found his accommodations extremely spacious and much more handsome than she had been used to in London, and she innocently inquired, “ But this must be quite a bit of work for you, Mr. Cameron, to take care of so large a house all by yourself. And you say you don’ t even have a housekeeper to look after you? Now I know how I can repay you- I shall be your housekeeper.”
Laughingly, he took her soft little hand, brought it to his lips as a Continental cavalier might do, and kissed it, saying, “ Then assuredly no house in all England could ever boast a more lovely housekeeper.” He was rewarded by seeing the soft satiny pink cheeks of his new ward crimson vividly, which made him, connoisseur that he was of female aptitudes and instincts, aware of the intensely and emotionally excitable temperament which his new ward must certainly possess. It would, he thought, augur quite well for the future. For already he had made up his mind to enjoy his authority and his legal tenure of this mouthwatering specimen of young, unprofaned femininity by adroitly, consummately and deliberately seducing her. He had not in all his career as a bon vivant and amorist ever had the opportunity to enjoy an intimate relationship with so young and ravishingly lovely a partner. There were, to be sure, certain technical grounds, and he being a member of the legal profession knew them better than most men, which might cause difficulty in attaining to such a degree of felicitous collaboration with the charming young Maude, but his agile and ingenious mind was already leaping far ahead to determine just how to circumvent even these temporary obstacles.
From some of Maude Rivers’ comments along the return journey home, Charles Cameron had deduced that for all her sweet docility she evinced a certain latent spirit all her own. Now, he told himself, if judiciously he could arrive at provoking her disobedience against his edicts, by challenging that very spirit which he sensed lay within her innermost psyche, then she would be certain to rebel and, naturally, being under age and completely in his realm of authority and power, such rebellion might be exquisitely chastised in the manner which he himself most enjoyed.
By this, dear reader, it must be known that Charles Cameron, though to this date no scandal had ever been bruited about his name and conduct with the fair sex, had a predilection for the use of the rod as a stimulant to those flights of Cythera on which he was wont to pilgrimage on occasion. Now it was also true that not all of his paramours in the past were complacent to this manner of seduction, but it was equally true that a number of others, notably bolder and more intrepid divorcees and young matrons who had traveled as he had on the Continent, were quite willing to lend themselves to this fascinating sport.
But since in the main he could not always be certain that an amorous conquest would permit him to indulge himself as his secret and erotic nature yearned to do, Charles Cameron had provided himself with a magnificent library, of which at least a third was devoted to works of erotology in several languages, handsomely bound in buckram, tooled leather and hand- canvas, for his leisurely perusal. These books, French, German and also some from the Orient, were kept in a special bookcase under lock and key, and it came to Charles Cameron’ s mind that this very safeguard might be used as the very first pretext under which he could subjugate his lovely ward, Accordingly, having shown Maude through the house, he led her into the library and pointed out the fateful bookcase.
“ I am sure,” he sententiously declared, “ that you will wish to continue your studies and your comprehensive knowledge of cultural things, my dear, and here you will find many excellent books for that purpose. However, the books in that case with the green baize drape over the top are those which I do not wish you to read, and I have consequently locked the doors with a key which I keep on the hook beside it on the wall. I trust that you will observe my one little domestic rule, as otherwise I should regretfully be compelled to punish you for disobeying.”
The golden- haired young girl uttered a charming little laugh, and her pink cheeks colored divinely as she retorted, not without a flair of sauciness, “ My gracious Mr. Cameron. However would you do that? I shall be seventeen on my next birthday, which is only a month from today, ‘ I’ ll have you know. And Father never punished me at all, except perhaps to scold me when I did something he didn’ t quite like. I shall try to be very good, of course, and I will do what you tell me to.”
“ So long as you remember that cardinal principle, my dear,” he at once replied with an affectionate smile which hid his true feelings, “ I am sure we shall get along famously.”
From the roguish glance which the golden- haired young girl gave him, Charles Cameron felt certain that she would essay to show her independence against this categorical tenet, which of course he had made up on the spur of the moment.
The rest of the day passed quite pleasantly and, having been a lonely bachelor for longer than he cared to remember, Charles Cameron found himself looking forward almost impatiently to the evening, when intuition told him he would have the very first opportunity of taking emprise of Maude. There was, to be sure, a feudal concept involved, whereby to all intents and purposes the virginal, lovely creature whom the dying old Rivers had trustingly put into his custody would actually become his little slave- girl. For Charles Cameron, being in the legal profession himself, was well aware that he could exert the sum total of parental authority in his capacity as Maude’ s guardian- and that is what he proposed to do. It would, he was certain, be much more logical if the pretty minx would give him the opportunity he sought without his taking the first step, he assured himself. In that way she could bring upon herself the logical outcome of having flaunted his authority.
He allowed her to prepare supper, and found that she could make good her boast of being quite able to cook. It was a pleasant contrast to have a charming young girl opposite him at the table to wile away the evening which would otherwise be spent in locking himself up with his beloved books and conjuring up fantasies of those secret erotic intricacies which had become so keenly absorbing to his desires. And the prospect of having a flesh and blood virginal ingenuous and totally helpless partner at his disposal for experimental purposes in carrying out these fantasies was absolutely breathtaking.
At about nine- thirty, he judged that the day had been sufficiently exciting to the newcomer in his mйnage, and so tactfully suggested that Maude would feel more receptive with a good night’ s sleep. Accordingly, he rose and with a final smiling reminder that she might, if she so chose, sit up for a little bit and amuse herself with all the books in his library except those in the locked bookcase which he had already pointed out, he took himself off to bed. His own master bedroom was on the first floor at the back, so that Maude was directly above him, and the thought that only a flight of stairs and a door separated him from her virginal bed was positively intoxicating. Pouring himself a glass of sherry from the cut- glass decanter which he kept on the little buffet stand hear his bed, he savoringly sipped it and, closing his eyes, let his mind run riot with the most vivid and speculative pictures of delights to come.
About an hour later, having donned his dressing gown over his night shirt, and slipping his feet into a pair of heavy felt slippers, Charles Cameron tiptoed from his room and went down the hall to the library. It took only a moment to ascertain that his spirited ward had defied his interdiction referring to the forbidden books: true, the case was still locked and the key remained on its hook as before, but there was a noticeable gap on the first shelf, and two books had been tilted rather naively to hide the loss of one which obviously the charming Maude had taken off to bed with her. Another glance told him that the book was none other than “ Life at Miss Belissa’ s Boarding School,” an extremely spicy volume which told of the experiences of two attractive teenaged sisters who discovered that at the private school to which their aunt had sent them, they would be introduced to not only corporal punishment when merited, but also scandalous clandestine nocturnal encounters with their female classmates, who would seek to initiate them into the tender rituals of Lesbos.
Charles Cameron smiled with zestful anticipation upon discovering the title of the volume which his ward had seen fit to pilfer. Of course, there was no clue to let him know whether she had simply made a random choice or had simply had spent time enough perusing the various tomes on the shelf and thereby acquainted herself with the extremely candid and lasciviously outspoken volumes of his erotic collection. In either instance, she deserved chastisement for having first defied him and secondly taken reading matter which he had forbidden her on the grounds of her tender years. There remained only to catch the culprit in flagrante delicto and then apply the requisite penalty.