Miss Martin

"Would that be quite proper?" He gasped at last.

Miss Martin allowed a slight frown to pass across her brow, "Surely this painting is by Sir Frederick Leighton Bart.," she expostulated, "Are you suggesting that a baronet, one who has been honoured by the queen herself, would produce a painting that is not 'quite proper'?"

Oswald could think of no response to that.

"No..." He stammered eventually.

"Then it is settled," said Miss Martin, and Oswald returned to Barchester in the fly, with a bemused expression on his face, and an appointment in his diary for ten o'clock Monday morning when he was start a new career as a photographer of nude ladies.

That evening, though it was but Friday, such was the excitement engendered by the prospect of her portraiture that Miss Martin was unable to resist another evening of indulgence and poor Mary had to endure a whole weekend of attending functions while unable to sit down.

Come Monday Miss Martin had ordered the fly and was about to embark upon her journey into Barset when she was approached by her niece.

"Surely Aunt, you do not intend to embark upon this venture on your own," enquired the young lady.

"And pray, what business is it of yours?" replied Miss Martin.

"Dear Aunt, be it known that I am fully privy as to your intentions with regard to your appointment this morning, for I could not but overhear the conversation between yourself and Mr Pointdexter."

"You mean dear niece that you had your ear affixed to the door," replied her aunt.

"Be that as it may, surely you cannot proceed with this enterprise without a chaperone."

Miss Martin was somewhat taken aback by the astuteness of this observation in one so young, for she had indeed not considered the impropriety of having her portrait taken without another female being present. She therefore decided to postpone the chastisement of her niece, necessary on account of her eavesdropping, until that evening and bade her accompany her in the fly for the visit to Barchester.

Oswald meanwhile was in that state of nervous trepidation which is often the lot of the young man thought to be experienced in the ways of the world, but who knows himself to be no such thing.

He had, it is true, enjoyed certain evenings in the company of comely young ladies, but the morals of the age insisting that on such occasions all intercourse should take place in the presence of an elderly duenna he cannot be said to have known much of the ways of womankind either in mind or in body.

He determined therefore that the best course of action would be to treat the whole affair as a matter of professional business and to make no comment upon the unusual state of dress of the lady concerned.

It must be owned that Miss Martin was, despite her former determination, upon the point of abandoning the whole project such was the extent of the apprehension that she felt at the prospect of suddenly appearing unclothed in front of a man who was almost a perfect stranger.

"I fear," she said addressing Mary who sat beside her in the fly, "that we must return to Denbury for I fear a return of the megrims."

"Nonsense Aunt," replied the astute young lady, who had recognised that the so called 'megrims' were no more than an affliction of the spirits brought about by a state of excessive nervousness, "tis but a photographic portrait after all, and Mr Pointdexter is a man of much renown in regard to his professional accomplishments. To be sure if you lose heart now it will be a matter of much regret to you in the future."

Miss Martin felt herself embolded by these reflections and purposed that she should indeed fulfil the promise that she had made to herself.

Oswald Pointdexter meanwhile had decided in his own mind that this must be some cruel trick played by a mischievous woman upon his innocent sensibilities. The suggestion that she would actually proceed with such an adventure appeared increasingly ridiculous as the weekend progressed. By Monday morning he had therefore absolutely convinced himself that he would hear no more of this ludicrous escapade. Imagine his surprise then, when a carriage containing not only Miss Martin, complete with chiffon scarf, but a comely young (and pleasingly plump) wench who could not have surpassed more than sixteen years.

"May I introduce to you my niece Mary," announced Miss Martin, "who has an important part to play in the proceedings of this morning."

"Miss Mary," said Oswald, bowing slightly from the waist.

"Mr Pointdexter," said Mary, holding out her gloved hand to be kissed. Oswald Pointdexter obliged.

"Perhaps there is somewhere where I could change into my costume," Miss Martin, still afflicted with an unaccustomed apprehension, wished now for nothing more than to proceed with the session.

"Certainly," gabbled Oswald, somewhat uncertainly in fact, as he had indeed not thought to make any such provision, "you may use this room.". On the spur of the moment he had thought of using his dark room for the purpose.

"Come Mary," Miss Martin grabbed her niece by the hand and pulled her into the dark room, her former courage at the audacity of her proposal evaporating even as the morning mist upon a hot summers day.

She looked at Mary.

"I believe dear," she said, "that my courage deserts me."

"Pshaw!" Said Mary, utilizing the expression of disdain only ever used by young ladies in the poorer quality of Victorian novel, "tis but a photograph Aunt Amelia. I would have little hesitation in posing thus myself."

A look of intense relief passed over Miss Martin's face, here was the ideal solution, the pose could be captured for immortality, but with Mary as the model and not herself. The innocent girl would make an ideal, if slightly plump, model for Psyche.

"You would not mind your portrait being thus taken?"

"Certainly Aunt. I would like it above all else," it seemed the best way to allay the fears of the relative to whom she owed so much.

"Then it shall be done."

"Do you really mean that Aunt?"

"Of course dear. I should treasure such a picture above all else. It would be the greatest favour a penniless orphan could bestow upon a munificent distant relative to show her appreciation of all that had been done for her!"

"Then I am ready Aunt!"

"Excellent. Then you may change into your costume my dear."

"And where is this costume to be found Aunt."

"Why here my dear," and Miss Martin indicated the flimsy chiffon scarf.

"It is indeed a beautiful piece of material Aunt, but where may I discover the rest of my costume."

"Why this is the entirety of your costume my dear, you are to be otherwise quite in a state of nature."

At this point, and only at this point, did the scales fall from the eyes of poor Mary; for when she had avowed to her Aunt that she was cognisant of her intentions she had not indeed been entirely accurate, for it had appeared to her that her aunt was to have been photographed in the guise of of shepherdess or milkmaid. She had indeed wondered why such an appearance had induced such a state of nervous tension in her Aunt, but had ascribed this merely to the fear that elderly persons of thirty years of age have for the newly fangled.

She was now however in a quandary, for she had positively affirmed that she had no objection to such a photographic study; she was indeed beholden to her aunt and to disappoint her in this would have displayed an unwonted lack of regard for her charity. She realised she had no option but to proceed, and that with a willing disposition.

A just punishment you may feel dear reader, for one who listens to private conversations through closed doors, to be forced to pose in order to have your portrait taken in a state of nature, and so poor Mary felt it, for though she had dutifully presented her bare posterior for the just chastisement of her aunt, this was altogether a fish kettle of a different type entirely.

With a flush on her cheek and a quickening of her pulse she dutifully removed her muslin dress and stood in her corset in the dark room, for in the common custom of the time she eschewed other undergarments. With deft fingers Miss Martin loosened the corset and allowed it to fall to the floor so that Mary stood completely unclothed before her.

"Your costume dear," pronounced Miss Martin and handed her the chiffon veil. With a nervousness approaching that experienced by the condemned Mary stepped through the door, for some strange reason a peculiar sensation had passed through her body, it had started as a warm flush in the face, passed as a feeling of heat through her bosoms and ended as a species of tingle in that part of her anatomy the purpose of which was entirely unknown to her, and as it passed it left an series of effects which came to the innocent girl as a surprise of a totally unexpected sort; for she noted that her two nipples stood out upon her bosoms as hard and as firm as the walnuts which she had often cracked at Christmastide, so firm indeed that she felt an intense desire to rub them; and even more surprising she noted a strange dampness accompanying the tingle between her legs and gasped with a concerned apprehension that she may have inadvertantly gone (as Miss Marryat would have delicately put it) while not seated upon the appropriate receptacle.

Her appearance in the studio caused a gasp of surprise to emanate from the lips of Oswald, for he had not expected that it would be the young lady who appeared so scantily attired; this gasp was rapidly succeeded by a second gasp for as he had only previously seen ladies tightly corseted, he had not expected that their bosoms be of such a prodigious size - it must be owned here that Mary was endowed as regard her bosoms to a degree rarely seen in ladies of quality; but this second gasp, great though it was, was followed by a third which it outdid to a degree which was almost unmeasurable. For, dear reader, you will recollect that the sole experience of the naked female form hitherto vouchsafed to Oswald was that of the classical statues in the British Museum; such statues not depicting the hirsute nature of the female pudendum he had no idea that ladies were so endowed; and Mary, it must be admitted was particularly well blessed in this respect, her lower thatch, even if not curled a l'anglaise, matched in density and lustre, if not in abundance, those flowing down to her shoulders.

Oswald attempted to regain his composure by the paying of one of those little compliments by which men of society essay to endear themselves to the weaker sex.

"How lovely you are looking," he pronounced to the startled Mary, "I fear I had not seen enough of you until today.". At which point he pulled up sharply having determined that such a remark my possibly have been misinterpreted. The remark was indeed misinterpreted, and Mary who had heretofore attempted to make little of her unclothed state gave a slight shriek and immediately tried to cover those parts of her anatomy which she considered the most embarrassing to display; which, as this consisted of virtually everything below her neck and above her ankles, was a task which proved excessively difficult to accomplish.

It was left to Miss Martin to attempt to rescue the situation and her niece by providing her with the wherewithal to effect such a coverage, that is to say the three yards of chiffon which she wrapped once around Mary's bosoms and then passed between her lower appendages. Mary thanked her profusely and thereafter was able to continue the session in blissful ignorance of the fact that both her walnuts and her curls were clearly visible through the transparent material.

Miss Martin looked upon the apparition before her with some satisfaction; it must be said that she had not hitherto believed herself to be an acolyte of the delights of Sappho, but the appearance before her of her young charge as she was posed on a sort of plinth or podium in the centre of the studio, hip in contrapposto to accentuate the curve of her lower cheeks, arm above her head in a pose which thrust forwards her ample bosoms, her luscious curls falling like a shower over her bare shoulders, she felt a sudden desire to... To what? To tip the velvet perhaps? She suddenly realised that those so temptingly displayed lower cheeks were going to be a lot pinker before the last rays of the setting sun dropped into the west.

After the initial confusion engendered by the surprisingly hirsute nature of the naked female form Oswald had succeeded in regaining some of his natural composure.

'This,' he said firmly to himself in the tone of one admonishing a recalcitrant schoolchild, is a professional engagement sanctioned, if in spirit only, by the august personage of no less than a baronet. He therefore determined to behave in a manner that behoves a gentleman of Eton, Oxford and not quite the guards. He strode forth therefore to adjust the single raiment protecting, somewhat less than efficiently, the maidenly modesty of the young lady, in such a manner that she was displayed in tantalising, but in no ways vulgar, allure in the fashion depicted by Sir Frederick.

If Miss Martin was affected by the delights of Sappho and Oswald was discombobulated by his new discovery the emotions engendered in the young lady was of a double nature being at one and the same time both pleasurable and alarming. For she found the display of her near naked body both a source of extreme embarrassment and a source of extreme what...? She searched her memory of the great authors of classical times, for a study of such trivia as the modern novel had not been permitted at her school, for a name to put to this emotion and came up only with a notion which she termed 'the delights of Eros'. A delight which intensified to such an extent when Oswald pointed the lens at her, operated the lever which opened the lens shutter and exploded his flash light, that she suddenly realised that she would not be able restrain herself from 'going' much longer.

Her naked form had been captured and Oswald's eyes would gaze upon it as the picture slowly developed under the action of his mysterious chemicals; not only his eyes but the eyes of all those to whom the image was shown. The strange sensation passed over her once more and she felt her face burning red hot in the way that the sun beating down upon a hot summer's day reddens the face of the maiden unwise enough to venture out without a parasol. The sensation passed down once more, flushing her bosoms, travelling across her nether regions and ending...

'Oh dear,' thought Mary, she found herself in a position where she would not be able to control the urge to 'go' for much longer. It was of course a subject far too indelicate to mention in public, for the conventions of the time held that although men could with impunity, and indeed regularly did, relieve themselves against the rear wheel of any passing omnibus, ladies were required to hold themselves in patience as if indeed such a bodily function did not exist.

However such an option no longer existed for the poor child; she would perforce have to broach the taboo and indicate her necessity. She opened her mouth to speak, but her aunt had already seen that she was standing in an unusually strained cross-legged condition with a look of desperation on her face.

Oswald meanwhile was oblivious of the evident distress of his model as he refilled his flash pan with the magnesium powder, which when ignited produced the brilliant white light that exposed the image.

Miss Martin determined that it was indeed her responsibility to rescue her niece from the indelicacy of the situation.

"Mr Pointdexter," Oswald looked around at her, it being necessary for his composure that he avoid looking at the lubriciousness of his young model, "I wonder if you have upon your premises a water closet, for I fear that I am in much need of relief."

Oswald blinked. The fact that a lady might be in need of such a thing, never mind mention the fact, had never indeed occurred to him throughout his, admittedly secluded, life.

He opened his mouth, but try as he may, how could he talk of such matters in front of ladies.

"I... No.." He finally managed to produce the words in a type of mangled explosion of consonants.

"You have perhaps then a 'pot de chambre'?" Miss Martin had indeed exceeded the bounds of delicacy in even mentioning the existence of such an object, but at times the exigencies of delicacy must be cast aside in the face of the exigencies of nature.

"I... Yes," it was as much as he could manage.

"Well, please to fetch it then good Sir."

Oswald dashed off while Mary, legs still crossed upon the podium let the chiffon scarf fall and stood quite in a state of nature awaiting the return of Oswald. That worthy returned in but a few minutes and the necessary receptacle was placed upon the podium.

"Perhaps, Mr Pointdexter," Miss Martin felt now in total control of the situation, "it would be as well if you were to avert your gaze. Oswald required no second bidding. He busied himself once with the preparation of the magnesium flash.

Mary, much in gratitude to her aunt, for her selfless rescue of the situation seated herself upon the receptacle, mouthing the obligatory prayer to Our Lord of 'For this relief much thanks' as she did so.

Oswald, with shaking hands finished applying the powder to the flash pan when suddenly his hand jerked, the magnesium ignited and the whole room was filled with a blinding white light.

"Apologies ladies," he gasped, "I had a premature miscalculation, and he exited the room, somewhat flustered by the nature of the events, which had been far removed from the professional encounter expected.

He returned after an interval to find the ladies, with Mary now returned to her normal attire, ready to leave; Miss Martin noted with some surprise that the professional gentleman had found it necessary to don a different pair of trowsers, but understanding this to be a habit with some of the more fashion conscious among them, she abjured from passing comment upon this matter.

"Thank you so much for your most professional assistance in this matter," she remarked, please be so kind as to dispatch the portrait of my niece to my residence forthwith, it has been most gracious to do buusiness with you."

Oswald realising that matters should now be regarded as being back upon a formal footing did not hesitate to assure the ladies of his most earnest obligations in the matter.

"Would you care for an enlargement of the portrait?" he enquired, "for I have the necessary apparatus to produce the portrait in sizes up to two foot by one foot for the cost of an extra five guineas."

Miss Martin was much taken with this notion, for what was a mere five guineas to a lady with such a fortune as hers.

"Why certainly," she exclaimed, "that would be a capital notion, but Mr Pointdexter," she added pointedl.

"Yes ma'am?"

"As a professional man I am sure that you will not take the opportunity to cast your eyes upon the portrait during your developmental activities, for it is meant for a most particular purpose and I am sure my niece would not appreciate the notion of a gentleman gazing upon it in any unwarranted fashion."

"I fear that such would render the development a most difficult task," replied Oswald.

"Nevertheless I am sure that a man of your accomplishments can cope with such obstacles."

And Oswald gave his word of honour as a gentleman and the parted on the most amicable of terms.

Mary meanwhile had been struck totally dumb by the experience of the morning; it had been at one and the same time both thrilling and acutely embarrassing and she had for the first time in her life realised that there lay between her legs something which could be to her in the future a source of extreme pleasure, if only she could discover the way by which this pleasure could be released.