A Different Way Ch. 06: Waifs

To talk of "turning points" in the context of myself and the Club makes sense only as a narrative device. There are moments of caesura in life, watersheds from which all the rivers flow in a different direction; but this was not that. It did, however, give me food for thought.

Back home in London, Kasia and I fitted into our routine. I was looking forward to lunch with Lady M and Mags later in the week, but the earlier part turned out to be more interesting than I had imagined.

Our vicar at St Mary's, Gabriel Tufnell, had been there for as long as any of us could recall, and finally, at the age of sixty, he had decided to retire. He was one of those vicars who keep things running along smoothly, and when asked by one of Mr Wesley's followers whether he was 'saved' had amused me with his answer. Looking over his half-moon spectacles, he had said, when pressed:

"Yes, yes I suppose I am."

The young Methodist had pressed him further:

"Well, why are you not a-singing and a-dancing and proclaiming your praise to God for it?"

He looked very thoughtfully at the young enthusiast before responding sadly:

"It was such a close-run thing, one doesn't feel one has much to boast about!"

That had seemed a very clever and civilised answer. All of which made his successor, the Reverend Joel, a bit of a surprise. Unlike his predecessor, Joel was an enthusiast. He rather divided the parish, but the facts that he was rather handsome bachelor and the youngest son of the earl Sidney, rather made him something of a favourite with some of the Mamas and their daughters. As the granddaughter of an earl myself, and not being in the market for young men, I preferred to suspend judgement. That was the mot juste, as the good Reverend talked much about the matter. But it transpired that he was not just a preacher, he was a practitioner.

After Morning Service the week before I went to Justice Hall, he had announced that we should have a surprise visitor to our Tuesday luncheon group. It was indeed a surprise. Mr Tufnell had tended to invite local worthies to talk about whatever it was they were interested in, but Joel's first speaker was a great surprise.

We sat, feigning interest as usual, and he bounced into the room (he was a very bouncy fellow).

"Now ladies, I think we have not before had a woman speak to us. Today that changes. Some of you may have heard of Mrs Elizabeth Fry, well, I am delighted to welcome her. Mrs Fry!"

To say we were surprised would be to understate things somewhat. Not only was she a woman, she was not even an Anglican. She was one of those Quakers whose enthusiasm made them a subject of some distrust. But I have to say I found her convincing.

She talked, with feeling and knowledge about our prisons and the lot of women in our society. Afterwards there was a chance to talk with her about the work she was doing in Newgate. I asked her about the "fallen women" she had mentioned.

"Well, my dear, the poor unfortunate wretches are forced into prostituting themselves in order to keep body and soul together. We try to help them find more decent employment as maids, or shop assistants or working in the new factories which are springing up. And eventually, some of them can leave their unfortunate pasts behind and even get married."

"I see. I wonder, is it possible to talk to some of the women you are rescuing, I should like to get a better idea of what they face and how one might help."

Mrs Fry assented, and invited me to tea with her on the morrow.

When I told Kasia where I was going she raised a quizzical eyebrow. I simply smiled and told her that I thought she might be interested in what I was planning; but I did not reveal what that was.

Tea with Mrs Fry was quite the experience. There was no doubting the goodness of her heart and intentions, but it was clear to me that she regarded the women as "cases;" they were her "good cause." Knowing I had wanted to talk with some of them, she had arranged for some of them to see me afterwards, and promised she'd arrange a meeting with the woman who dealt with the influx of refugees caused by the awful events unfolding in Paris.

"Would it be possible for me to see them individually?"

"If you want, but the story is all the same. Still, you have a kind heart, Lady Emily, so do not let harden it."

Mrs Fry was right at one level. The stories did have a great similarity. The older women had usually been used and abandoned by some man, and the younger ones had suffered at the hands of their father. Fortunately I knew some really nice men, but after a few hours of their conversation, I could easily have decided that all men were scoundrels.

The other feature which cut through to me was their helplessness. Economically destitute, they had few skills by which, once they had been abandoned, they could earn their living, and so theft and or whoring were the obvious choices. It was the younger ones who harrowed my heart. The very last girl I saw, Jenn, touched me deeply.

Jenn was a few years younger than me, and like me, skinny and rather flat-chested, although she was a couple of inches taller. Pale, almost emaciated, she seemed shy and deeply unhappy.

"It is okay to tell me about it, whatever it is Jennifer!"

"Thank you, Miss, I mean, your ladyship. I'm not sure how to begin. Mrs Fry's ladies found me on the street a couple of days ago and brought me here."

"What had happened, Jennifer?"

"I ran away from home. I could not bear to see Dad hitting Mum every time her came home pissed, and he was usually pissed."

She blushed:

"Oh, sorry, Miss, I mean your Ladyship. I shouldn't say such things in front of a Lady."

"What were you intending to do?"

"I wasn't sure, your Ladyship. Some men offered me money if I would go with them, but I wasn't that desperate."

"Many girls would have Jennifer."

She blushed again.

"I, I am a virgin, Miss, and, well, I don't like men."

From the tone in her voice, and the way she was looking at me, I had something of an epiphany, and reached out to see if I was along the right lines.

"I'll let you into a secret, can I call you Jenn?" She nodded; her eyes fixed on me. "I'm a virgin too, and I don't like men!"

That seemed to soften her.

"Thank you Miss. I thought it was just me and that I was a pervert Miss. My dad called me one."

"Why did her do that, Jenn?"

At that she went beetroot red.

"It's okay, Jenn, you don't have to tell me."

I reached out and held her hand.

"He, he saw me kissing my friend Betty."

"There's nothing wrong with that, we all peck our friends on the cheek!"

"No, Miss, this was a real kiss!"

I smiled at her. Bless, she was both embarrassed but also, I sensed, proud that she had admitted it; but I sensed something more.

"I see, well, some of us think there is nothing wrong with that."

"Really, Miss!"

"Yes, really! What does Mrs Fry have in mind for you, Jenn?"

"I think she wants to find a place where I can train to be a maid Miss."

"How would you like to come and work for me?"

Her eyes lit up! I was sure I was reading her correctly.

"Let me ask Mrs Fry! You wait here."

"Yes, Miss, thank you Miss."

I thanked Mrs Fry and said I would be happy to help, indeed, I added, I wondered if I could take young Jennifer off her hands?

"Oh you do have a kind heart, Lady Emily. That would be a good deed. I fear that she might pick up bad habits if she consorts too much with the older women. She is, I fear, the sort of girl who ends up as a whore."

"Well, let us see if we can help?"

And that was that.

Jennifer looked at me, hopefully. I nodded.

"Oh Miss! Thank you, Miss!"

And of a sudden, she dived into my arms.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I hugged her.

I had acted on impulse, something I rarely did. Financially, with the money already coming in from the Club, I could easily afford Jenn, and an under-maid would certainly ease Kasia's job; but I was well aware that was simply to rationalise my instinct.

All the way home, Jenn was like an excited child who has just received the best Christmas present ever.

Kasia's eyes looked at me curiously when she saw I was accompanied.

"Jennifer, this is Kasia who is the head maid, Kasia, Jennifer will be joining us to help."

"Too kind, Mistress," she smiled, "and I shall be glad to help train you, Jennifer."

"Th, thank you Miss Kasia, you are so kind, like Lady Emily. I really appreciate the chance."

Kasia smiled sweetly.

"You are most welcome."

"Kasia, could you see if we have any clothing suitable for Jennifer? I think there may be some things of mine which could be used until we have had a chance to buy her something."

Jenn clapped her hands.

"Oh Lady Emily, that's soooo sweet of you. I never had nice clothes before."

"Well, Kasia, will you draw Jennifer a bath, she ought to clean up first."

From the smile Kasia shot me, I knew she was looking forward to what was to come.

While Kasia drew the bath, I sat Jennifer down.

"I don't want to make you do anything you don't want, Jenn. This is the start of a new life for you, and what I want is to help you make it the best one you can live."

Jenn looked at me shyly.

"You, you don't want anything in return?" She asked, slightly breathlessly, emphasising the word "anything."

"No, I want you to be the best Jennifer you can be."

"What if I don't want to be a maid, Miss?"

"Well, we can find other things for you to do."

"Miss, can I speak freely?"

"You can, Jenn," I said, infusing as much tenderness with the words as a warm smile would allow.

"It's hard Miss. You are a great lady and I am just a girl from the streets. I don't ever want to offend you."

"If I promise you won't, will you tell me?"

"You promise, Miss?"

"I promise I shan't be offended Jennifer."

"I like, erm, I like it when you call me Jenn."

I smiled:

"Was that it?" I joked. Then I realised she was not secure enough to joke with.

"Oh no! No, Miss! Sorry!"

I smiled in what I hoped was an encouraging fashion.

"Do tell."

"It, it's just, well..."

She stammered to a halt, her face a bright red colour.

"What? Say it!"

"I want to be with you!"

The look on her face had told me that a split second before she blurted the words out. I think I had intuited that she might be going there, and it left me seconds to decide my response.

"To be with me has many possible meanings."

As I looked at her, I could see tears well up. It was too much. I held out my arms and she threw herself into them, her lips on mine as though she wanted to devour me. Naturally, that was the point at which Kasia came back to say that the bath was ready.

"Oh ho! I see, is that the new girl, Lady Em?"

Poor Jenn was suddenly mortified.

"I, I, I'm sorry, I better go."

I held on to her.

"You are going nowhere save that bath."

"You, you mean...?"

"I mean that I want you to be here, and yes, you can kiss me again!"

The darling girl nearly bowled me over with the intensity of her dive at me. I could feel her shaking with emotion. My gaze caught Kasia, who was looking back and mouthing the words:

"Aww, sweet!"

"May I suggest, Mistress, that we bathe the little darling?"

"W, we?"

Jenn sounded a rather erotic mixture of hesitant and eager, as though this was something she had wanted, but could not quite believe she was going to get.

"Yes, darling, Kasia and I are more than Mistress and Maid. But, and this goes for everything, if there is anything you do not want to do, you must say."

"I, I will," and for the first time there was a rather naughty giggle.

Kasia led Jenn to the bath.

"Shall I help her undress, Mistress?"

"If you like," I smiled.

I was smiling because Jenn already had her hands up to ease Kasia's task.

"Oh ho!" Kasia grinned as she stripped Jenn to her drawers, "this is another one with tits like yours Mistress. I think those clothes of yours would fit her well."

Jenn was already breathing hard, and as Kasia ran her hands across her naked breasts, there was a loud, throaty gasp. Her nipples were standing to attention, which they promptly received from Kasia's fingers and thumbs.

"Do you want to do the honours, Mistress?"

"Of course," I said, as I knelt and pulled her drawers down, revealing her pale, thin legs and the sparse hair covering her mound. Automatically, Jenn parted her legs, allowing me access to her pussy. I touched her. Her lips were swollen and she was wet.

I looked up at Kasia, who looked down to me. She smiled and nodded.

She went behind Jenn and put her hands over her small breasts, massaging them, and pulling Jenn back into her own cleavage.

"Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh, oh, oh!"

As Kasia played with her nipple, pulling and tweaking them, Jenn began to shake. I knelt, opening her legs a little to allow better access. The moment my fingers touched her lips, she shook and moaned loudly.

"Fuck, fuck, oh, oh, oh!"

The last exclamation was lost in the cry as my tongue touched her clit. To my amazement, my face was suddenly coated in her essence. She had orgasmed.

Fortunately, Kasia had her held tight, or she would have fallen. I kept my hands on her thighs and lapped her juices and she moaned repeatedly.

"It is a good job our neighbours are away, Mistress, they would have wondered what on earth was going on!"

Well, I thought, they wouldn't if they had seen Jenn, who was lost in the aftermath of the ecstasy. She must, I reflected, have been on the edge for some time; I had never met a woman who could orgasm that quickly. Kasia was clearly having the same thought.

"She is a horny little thing, Miss. Are you okay Jenn?"

Roused by the words, Jenn opened her eyes and looked at me, still shaking.

"That, oh, that was sooooooo, oh just...."

And her words tailed off and she shivered again.

I kissed her.

"I think we can say you enjoyed that darling. Now then, let's get you in that bath!"

Kasia decided that it would be easier to bathe her if she stripped to her underwear. I could see Jenn's eyes fix on Kasia's big breasts. Laughing, Kasia stripped her bustier off, letting her breasts bounce free. Jenn simply could not help herself and kissed them, before, realising what she had done, she went all shy on us again.

"Sorry Miss Kasia, I. I couldn't...."

"Oh don't worry little one, Lady Emily can't either. I think you girls with no tits want a taste of the real thing. Here, suck on that."

So saying, she put her nipple to Jenn's lips, which caused her to shiver again. Her hand had gone to her pussy again, and from the violent motion of the water, it was plain what she was doing. Kasia was too lost in in the effects of Jenn's sucking to notice. But I noticed. Jenn, it seemed, was very easily triggered, and highly sexed, without having any idea of what to do with it. She would be a pleasure to teach.

Kasia looked at me, passion in her eyes. I nodded, and, going to her, pulled her drawers down so she could climb into the bath too. She knelt so that Jenn could access both breasts. Taking her hand away from herself for a moment, she cupped Kasia's tits and sucked and kissed the nipples like a starving woman finding the perfect meal. Then, and I noted it with interest, she slipped one hand down into the water and between Kasia's thighs. Jenn smiled at me. I nodded.

Jenn must have pushed a finger or two into Kasia, as my maid gasped and pushed herself down, causing the water to splash out of the tub.

"Oh yes, oh yes, you little slut, yes, yes, do me, fuck me, finger me deeper."

From the look on Kasia's face, Jenn must have done just that. Lost in the lust of the moment, Kasia drive herself up and down on Jenn's fingers, her own rubbing her clit as Jenn bit on her breasts. She came hard, grinding down and sending more water over the side. Jenn, having transferred her hand to herself, was only moments behind.

Watching the two of them climax made me squirm, but I was determined to stick to the lessons I had learned. Did I want to get involved? Yes. Would I be able to steer whatever happened next? Uncertain. With Kasia that hardly mattered, we were so aligned in imagination, and the dynamic shifted effortlessly. But Jenn was another matter. She was vulnerable. It was not simply that he inexperience laid her open to things that she could neither know nor expect, it was also that her intensity of feeling could push her too far and too fast. Still, as I watched them both return from the land of ecstasy, there were many compensations.

Kasia then actually washed herself and Jenn with what was left of the water, and then, when they were both clean, I helped dry Jenn, who clearly wanted more. Again, I took the decision to control the pace; if that meant controlling myself, so be it.

During the night, I heard noises from Jenn's room. It was not hard to discern their significance.

At breakfast she looked at me as though wondering "what next?" I discussed my plans with her.

"Jenn, there are other girls like you who face a future not of their own creation. I can do nothing about many of them, but there are some for whom, with your help, something might be done."

I outlined to her the plan I put later that day to Mags. The lease of the house next door to the Club was coming vacant as the tenant, a French aristocrat, had been executed by the revolutionaries in Paris. There were five years left on it. What I proposed, as I told Jenn, and subsequently Mags, was that we should buy the lease and use the house as a base to help waifs like Jennifer.

"You mean a whore house, Em?" Mags said, when I told her.

"No, not at all. Look, we need more help with the Club, in all sorts of ways. We can offer these girls a home and some practical education. There is no reason they cannot learn skills that will make them a living - baking, brewing, millinery work - don't you see? We could create an enclave of businesses owned by us but run by our former pupils? We keep a hold of the property so that if they marry, they don't lose their livelihood."

Mags looked impressed.

"You know, Em, that's a brilliant idea. Those who want to work in the Club can do so, we could convert the first floor into an extension of the Club with a walk-through door."

"More than that," I smiled, "we could also create there what I would call a 'Molly house', that is a place where women and men who wish to be with our Molly Boys can come and do that."

"By God Em! You've a head on your shoulders. And oddly, it will help me in another way."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Ah, here she comes."

I looked to the window, but whoever it was already knocking on the door.

"I have been talking to an Italian woman, Michele, another refugee from the revolution, about how to make best use of her considerable talents as a Madame. You may have provided the answer. Ah, Michele!"

I turned and saw what I can only describe as a pocket-Venus. Slightly taller than myself, Michele was stunning. Was it her long, dark wavy hair? Her high cheekbones, so pronounced that one might cut paper on them? That smile, which was like a thousand candles? Or was it just the raw energy she gave off?

"Lady Mags, I came as I said."

"Michele, meet Lady Emily Hervey."

"Delighted to meet you Lady Emily."

Eventually I stopped staring and said:

"The pleasure is all mine." That was said in hope as well as out of politeness.