Astoria Park Resumes

As was usual in such situations the lads were elevated to the status of heroes among the other students, and they took advantage of their newfound fame to increase their access to alcohol. Their drinking club gained new members and the amount of alcohol available, and consumed, increased to the point that something had to go wrong. That something turned out to be a mole in the ranks.

Simpkin's father was a publican. He had begun to notice that an increasing amount of spirits was disappearing from his pub. "Which one of you has been helping hisself to the gin?" He asked Smythe, one of the cellar hands.

"Wot you mean, Sir?"

"Wot I mean is that there is gin missing from the shelves, and I ain't seen any drunk rats a' lying around the cellar, so I puts two and two together and I think that someone is thieving it, and you lot are the likeliest culprits. Wot say ye?"

"Wot we say, Sir, is that none of us is thieving from you. But Fred here saw young Thomas down here the other day. We can't say for sure as he took nought, but it did seem odd like that 'e be 'ere."

Simpkin's Senior kept a close watch on his son and his worst fears were soon realised. "Wot you got in yon bag?"

"Nothing."

"Give over, and let me see." Reluctantly the bag was handed over. A cursory glance revealed not one, but two bottles of gin inside. "Wot are you doing stealing my best gin?" This question was closely followed by a heavy smack to the ear.

"I took it for some lads at school. They told me that if I could get some for them that they'd let me in their gang."

"I think that it's time I took a visit to that school of your'n. It's costing me a pretty penny to have you taught right, and now I find that you're being taught to thieve, and from your own father."

-o-0-o-

The summons to appear before the Headmaster was both an inconvenience and a blessing for Sir William Astor. It was an inconvenience to have to go into Sydney, a journey of several days, during the harvest season, but then he could kill three birds with one stone. He could combine this un-expected and inconvenient appearance before the Headmaster, with a visit to his agent to discuss the sale of his wheat, and, while he was in town he could call on a certain lady friend, who was always willing to accommodate his sexual desires, in return for his contributions towards the rent on her house.

As he left the property and his wife behind him, his thoughts drifted to the accommodating Juliana Langtry and her beautiful body. Priscilla, he thought, was a more beautiful looking woman, but it was a cold beauty. Their lovemaking, on the few occasions that she allowed access, had taken on a sameness that came from familiarity, while Juliana was ever ready to do whatever he proposed, no matter how bizarre that might be. As his mind wandered into the near future there was a stirring of anticipation in his loins.

-o-0-o-

His journey took him by horseback to Goulburn, where his horse was stabled to await his return. From there he caught the newly introduced train to Sydney Town, where he took a carriage to a small discreet terrace house in a small discreet street in Paddington. He had sent word ahead so that, when he knocked on her door, his knock was answered by a darkly beautiful young woman who threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately on the lips. "William, as always it is a pleasure to see you. How long will you be in town?"

"Three days only. I have an interview tomorrow with the Headmaster at Wills' school, and then I have to meet with my agent for a few hours, the rest of the time is yours."

"What is your pleasure?"

"To get out of these dirty clothes and have a bath, then we'll see what happens."

She pulled a tassel and in a back room, a bell rang. A woman emerged from the rear of the house. "Lily, would you please draw a bath for this gentleman, and lay out his clothes on my bed." Lily picked William's valise from the floor and carried it into the main bedroom. Juliana went to a cabinet and poured William a whisky, and invited him to sit beside her on the chaise longe. "What has young Wills been doing that has brought you into town to meet with the Headmaster?"

"It appears that he has been a part of a group of lads that have been caught drinking."

"You know what they say, boys will be boys. I suppose that you would have done the same thing when you were in school."

"Yes, but we didn't get caught at it."

"I hope for your sake that the school isn't too hard on the boys."

"We'll see I suppose."

As they chatted and drank, Juliana's fingers brushed lightly up and down the inside of his thigh, the more she stroked him, the longer and harder his penis became.

"The bath is ready Ma'am."

William and Juliana entered the steaming hot bathroom and Juliana closed and latched the door behind them. She reached for his coat and hung it on a peg on the wall before un-buttoning his shirt and placing it on a bench along with his trousers and undergarments. Before he stepped into the bath she knelt at his feet and, taking his now hard penis in hand, began to stroke and suck on it in the manner that she knew gave him great pleasure.

He stood looking down at her head bobbing back and forth, her long curls forming a black wave until with a moan he emptied himself into her mouth. When he had finished she withdrew his penis from her mouth and looked up at him with a smile, a semen drooling smile, which told him that she had taken great pleasure in pleasuring him.

She stood up and kissed him before leading him to the bathtub. He tasted himself in her kiss.

Juliana washed him thoroughly, taking care to remove from him the dirt of the trail, as well as the traces of their sex. When she had finished, she dried him thoroughly and led him to her bedroom, where the covers had been drawn back in readiness for them.

She did things to him that Priscilla would not. She allowed him to do things to her that Priscilla would not.

-o-0-o-

Priscilla was seated at the dining room table as the kitchen staff cleared up from her solitary meal. She wondered if William had arrived in Sydney safely, whether he was staying at his club or a hotel, or whether he was staying with his whore. She knew of the existence of Juliana and was glad of it because she no longer felt guilt at denying him his obscenities, she would no longer have to tell him that she was never going to take his penis in her mouth, or allow him to put it in her anus. If he wanted that, he had his whore who was willing to oblige.

She heard someone walking down the hallway from the back door. It could only be Ben Robinson, the overseer, the man who looked after the day to day running of the property. He was everything that Willy was not. He was tall, and his body was tanned and toned, from spending every day in all weathers, from the searing heat of the summer to the cold, frosty and wet days of winter. It was he who supervised the lambing during which he often spent all night helping the hands tend the ewes and their newborn lambs. He thought nothing of this because that was his job.

"Missus Astor, there will be a crew arriving next week to begin the winter sowing. We will need to get in extra supplies and let the cook know so that she can arrange for extra help in the kitchen."

"Ben, we've known each other for how many years now? Is it ten? I think that it is about time that you began to call me 'Priss' in private, after all, we are friends, aren't we?"

"If you say so, Ma'am."

"Well, we are. Now come here and sit down, I want to talk to you." Ben sat across the large table from her. "You work too hard, do you know that? What I would like you to do is to take the likeliest looking of the hands and teach him some of the things that you do yourself, so that you can take some free time to do what you want to do. What do you do in your spare time? Do you have a lady friend that you call on?" She already knew, from the chat among the household staff, that Ben did not have a lady friend, although many had tried over the years, and it was unlikely that he would ever have one.

"I have none of that Missus, I mean Priss. I haven't had the time to take up with anyone."

"What about when you go into town with the other hands to the pub, is there anyone there that you are friends with?"

"No-one, no-one at all." He said quietly.

"I tell you what, tonight, you will come and dine with me. It is ridiculous that I have to sit at this huge table on my own, with no-one to talk with. I want you to be my guest this evening, will you come?"

"I would be honoured."

"I'll see you then, there's no need to dress up for the occasion, just wear whatever's comfortable." Ben rose, bobbed his head to her and left.

-o-0-o-

Priscilla had just walked into the dining room when there was a tap at the door leading from the rear of the house. It was from Ben. He stood self-consciously in the doorway waiting for permission to enter. "Come in Ben, don't stand on ceremony. Would you like something to drink while we wait for dinner, a whisky, or would you prefer beer?"

"Whisky would be fine thank you."

Priscilla went to the sideboard and selected one of the crystal decanters and poured both of them a liberal amount of whisky. Passing his to him she raised it in a toast. "Here's to a pleasant evening. Sit down why don't you." She indicated a chair opposite where she was now seated, halfway down the long table. She picked up a small bell and rang it. A minute later a serving girl walked into the room carrying a platter on which was a roast leg of lamb, and a gravy boat. She was followed by another with a dish of steaming roasted vegetables. "Would you carve?"

Ben picked up the carving knife and touched it lightly with his thumb to test its sharpness, not satisfied he picked up the steel and expertly honed the edge to razor sharpness. He then carved several slices and placed some on her plate and some on his. Priscilla lifted the bowl of vegetables to beside her plate and took all that she wanted before passing it over to him. She picked up the gravy boat and poured some of the rich brown gravy over her meat before passing it too, over the table to him.

"I think that we can dispense with 'Grace', don't you?"

"Never held any store in that, we know what's in the food and who produced it, so why should we pray to God for providing something that we worked hard to produce." He cut a piece of lamb and placed it in his mouth. "I'll say this for Cook, she really does know how to cook lamb."

They ate in silence for a while before Priscilla broke that silence. "Don't you miss not having a woman in your life Ben?"

"Don't say that I miss something that I never had."

"You've never had a woman?"

"I had a girlfriend back in England before I came out, we was young and her parents didn't take kindly to her taking up with a farm boy such as me, so they shipped her off to an Aunt somewhere and I never saw her again. I was so hurt by this that I signed up as an immigrant under the Bounty Immigration Scheme."

"What is that?"

"Because of the high rate of rural unemployment, what with soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars, and the changes to farming methods, work was hard to find. Farmers here were paid a bounty to bring labourers over to New South Wales to fill the needs of the colony. They were supposed to repay the government after a year, but few did, so the scheme doesn't exist now. I worked for the farmer that received the bounty for me for a couple of years, but he knew little of farming so I looked around for a better position. I found myself here.

"Have you ever made love to a woman?"

"Yes. A lady on the ship coming over invited me to her cabin one night, I met her as I strolled the deck getting some fresh air, it gets kinda stuffy in those cabins, so I went with her. She got off the ship at Cape Town."

"You haven't had a lot of luck have you?"

The maids came in and cleared up the plates from the main course. "Would Madam like us to serve dessert now?"

"Yes please." Presently a steaming treacle pudding and a jug of pouring custard were placed on the table and Priscilla and Ben helped themselves. This was followed by a good brandy and she offered Ben one of William's best cigars. He politely refused it.

After the table was cleared Priscilla stood up and extended her hand to Ben. He took it in a handshake grip, but she withdrew her hand before he could shake it. "Come with me, I have something to show you." She held out her hand again, this time he took it in the correct manner, and followed her down the hallway to the main bedroom. "This is where William sleeps." She then led him to the adjoining bedroom. "This is where I sleep. You will notice that there is no connecting door. What you don't know is that it has been an awfully long time since my husband and I have slept in the same bed. Oh, he does come into mine occasionally to have sex with me, but there is no love involved. He is now probably thinking of what he will be doing when he is in bed with his whore in Sydney."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because my dear Ben, tonight I aim to rectify this deplorable situation. Tonight I want you to spend the night with me. Tonight I want to feel the arms of a man, a real man, around my body. Tonight I want to feel the penis of a real man inside me. Be that man for me, Ben, please."

She turned to him and placed her arms around his neck and kissed him, passionately. He did not resist. He did not resist when she placed her hand over the bulge in his trousers. He did not resist when she placed his hand between her legs, she wore no undergarments. Neither of them resisted the needs of the other, Priss did to Ben the same things that she refused to do to William and she allowed, encouraged, Ben to do those things to her that she refused William. She was once more a complete woman.

-o-0-o-

Isobel poured over her books. In the background, she could hear the other girls giggling with each other. That she didn't join them caused them to make fun at her expense, but she cared little for their amusement, nor did the reputation that she had amongst her peers, that of being aloof and distant. Her interests were wholly centred on either gaining the best formal education that she could with the hope of becoming one of the few females who gained a position at University or assisting with the running of the property.

Chapter 2

Elizabeth's thoughts were a long way from a life as the wife of a gentleman farmer. Elizabeth and Bella had taken the day off from the Constance Armitage Academy to attend a horse race meeting at Moore Park with Roderick Hamilton and Simon Coulthard. They were dressed in their best 'walking out' frocks with large hats and parasols. The men were dressed in the height of male fashion and they promenaded around the course with the other young society couples. They had brought with them a large rug which they would place on the lawns in front of the enclosure and a picnic hamper from which would emerge cucumber sandwiches, a cold collation, and bottles of champagne. It was not yet time for luncheon so they would continue to promenade and nod acquaintance to other couples. It was all terribly polite, the couples seldom spoke to other couples even though they were friends. The purpose of the exercise was to be seen and Elizabeth and Bella had most definitely been seen.

In the roped-off enclosure, Juliana, without William, for he was busy for the day, and her gentleman friend for the day were looking in different directions. While the gentleman was intent on the performance of his horse in the race being run, Juliana was more interested in the people disporting themselves along the concourse in front of her. Her eyes were attracted to Elizabeth and Bella, and to a lesser extent, their young escorts. The young ladies carried themselves with a grace that came from a finishing school and they both possessed a natural beauty that no amount of grooming and deportment could improve. She was taken with the ease with which they chatted with the young gentlemen, who were obviously from among the better families. They would be prime candidates for the scheme that she was putting together.

She was forced to redirect her attention back to her escort, who, having seen his horse past the winning post ahead of the field was intent on dragging her down to the winner's circle to collect his trophy and the winning wagers from the bookmakers and his friends who, not convinced his horse would win, had offered him private wagers.

As they walked by Elizabeth and her friends, she exchanged smiles with the young gentlemen. "Who was that?"

"I don't know." Roderick replied, "But she is a damned fine looking woman."

"I would remind you that we are your companions for the day, not her."

"Of course, but you can't deny that she is a fine looking woman."

"She does have a certain common beauty about her, but she is definitely not a woman of class." Bella was not happy at the attention that Juliana was drawing as she strolled, her nose in the air as if she ruled the world, besides her escort.

As she walked by Elizabeth and her friends once more Juliana paused momentarily by Roderick and, looking directly into his eyes, smiled. "Good day to you Sir." She bobbed a small curtsy before moving on. This time it was Elizabeth's turn to react.

"Now you can't tell me that you've never met that woman before."

"I swear, this is the first time that I have ever seen her. Come, my dear, it is time that we dined and the champagne must surely be chilled enough to enjoy." He spread the rug on the grass and began to unpack the hamper.

One bottle of champagne was quickly followed by a second, and by this time the girls had almost forgotten the woman who had smiled at their lovers. Having finished eating, the hamper was repacked and the rug folded. "Come, girls, there is little of interest here for us now." Roderick led the way to their waiting carriage and they were driven to Simon's house. His parents were away on the family property, and would not be returning for a week or more, so he had the freedom to do as he pleased.

Another bottle of champagne was opened soon after they arrived, and the four of them were feeling a little light-headed, particularly the girls who knew what was soon to follow.

"Come, my dear." Simon held out his hand to Bella who took it and followed him into his bedroom.

Roderick stood and extended his hand to Elizabeth. She followed him into another bedroom. He took her into his arms and kissed her passionately on the lips. She melted into his arms as she returned his passion. Roderick slowly stripped her clothing from her and when she was completely naked he pulled back the bed covers and she climbed into the bed. He quickly undressed and joined her.

As soon as he was in the bed they were kissing and his hands were caressing her body in the most intimate places. She allowed him to explore her body completely and as his fingers entered her vagina she whimpered and drew him to her. His penis was soon within her and he moved it in and out in such a way as to give her great pleasure. As he moved into her she grasped his buttocks and pulled him deep inside her. This time he did not withdraw from her and she felt the warmth of his discharge inside her. She gave no thought to the consequences, for she knew that it was her 'safe' time of the month.

As she and Roderick lay in each other's arms they heard a tap on the door and Bella came into the room. She took Elizabeth's hand and urged her to follow.

In Simon's room, Simon was laying in bed smoking a small cigar. Bella got back into bed and indicated that Elizabeth should do so too. Simon leant over and kissed her as Roderick climbed into the bed and kissed Bella. This shocked Elizabeth. What followed would have shocked her even more if she hadn't fallen under the spell of the occasion. Bella and Roderick were kissing with a passion that told of experience, there was nothing self-conscious about their passion. Soon he had entered her and they were making love.