The Petworthy Finishing School

Chapter One

Where Mitten is interviewed and examined by the Headmistress.

It was a very long trip so Mitten had a long time to think about it. Her Daddy told her that the school she was going to was far away and very strict compared to the little school house in Lincoln. For people in Nebraska, they were very well off. It was the only way that she would be even considered for so expensive a school as the Petworthy Finishing School for Girls and Academy of Submissive Studies. There were only whispered stories about the school rumors so surreal that they were growing into urban legend. They were stories that had filtered all the way west to Lincoln. Because Daddy was huge ranch owner and had tens of thousands head of cattle for beef they were doing so well compared to many others. While the Great War waged in Europe, Daddy's ranch benefited by sending ground meat overseas for the war effort.

Since Momma had died, Daddy had been growing with trepidation about how to raise an 18 year-old daughter. The world was becoming so modern. In the east, there was a suffrage movement for women. Mitten didn't know how she felt about that...about women being able to vote and asking for so many roles that men traditionally had. Daddy was sure that it wasn't a good thing. Daddy was so traditional. So when Mitten got her first period, Daddy had to call Mrs. Pettigrew, the school mistress in town to come and attend her. She taught her about how to take care of her bleeding and it soon became clear that Daddy wasn't prepared to raise her.

It was subtle at first that Daddy began to pine aloud at how nice it would be for Mitten to be able to go to a good boarding school like the ones that they had in the east. Frequently, Mitten saw him having conversations with some of the other affluent people that he associated. She would eavesdrop and catch little phrases...like "Petworthy" and "best thing for her". It became very clear that it was more than a passing interest. Mitten made some small protestations when Daddy began to sincerely plan her schooling, but when Daddy announced that an official from the school would be visiting to interview her, she relented in her complaints. Her love for Daddy far outweighed her desire to displease him. She knew that life was so much harder without Momma around to help him. She would do anything to make his life easier.

Her father was a man among men but at the same time not rugged in the traditional sense. While he was a cattle rancher, he was more of a company CEO than the actual person herding the cattle. He wasn't a big man, being of average height and build. However he was recognized in the local community as an important person and Mitten could feel their unspoken respect in their demeanor. Mitten respected him. He was a relatively strict parent but his form of parenting was more conceptual. When Momma was alive, it was she that tended to Mitten's day to day care, raising and training. While they were strict parents, Mitten seldom tested that. She was always a good, compliant daughter. The reward of their loving affection to her was her joyful desire to please them, especially Daddy. While they were affectionate, they didn't fail to discipline her when necessary. But even those dread moments over Momma or Daddy's lap, her breeches around her knees, her skirt thrown over her back, she never felt like she was unloved and knew that when she was being disciplined there was a greater purpose to it.

It was these things that the woman who came to interview Mitten continued to discuss with Daddy before turning her attention to her.

Mrs. Shyrene Cashmere was the Headmistress of the Petworthy school and it was obvious that, while she paid the proper respect to Daddy as she should to a person of his station, she, herself, was also a formidable woman of power and means. Daddy spoke with her as Mitten had seen him talk with other business associates when he was haggling a deal.

"Let's speak plainly, shall we Mrs. Cashmere?"

"Of course," she answered flatly, postured stiffly in Daddy's sitting room, her legs crossed. She was wearing a shearer dress than was traditional in the west. It was dark and still modest, but went just past her knees, unlike the full length dresses that Mitten usually wore. Her hair was long but pulled up and restrained though, again, not in the most conservative manner. She had a white blouse under her dark jacket but a low collar instead of one that covered her neck.

"I want my daughter to be able to go to Petworthy. Make no mistakes about it. I have no desire to have her go to be a Cornhusker here in Lincoln. But I am confused. My understanding is that it was more exclusive to the power brokers and politicians from the East. Why are you condescending to consider a Nebraska rancher's daughter? Is there a catch?"

"Well Mr. Wordsmith, I would be disingenuous if I said that your daughter and your business meet the typical profile of candidates we consider at Petworthy. However, we have always tried to stay on the front edge of society and how it changes. It is you who are possibly underestimating your business and level of notoriety. Your cattle and stockyards are some of the most valuable commodities now. When the war ends eventually, your stocks will only rise. While you have limited ability to know it way out here on the frontier, back home we have made note of your futures. It would do well for us to bring your daughter into the fold and put her into the wife pool for future husbandry."

Mrs. Cashmere was talking about Mitten like one of Daddy's cattle. Yes she wanted to be married but she was hoping she would have more input about who she was going to be matched with.

"While there is the matter that the family background is still more humble than we are likely to appreciate...no disrespect, sir..."

"None taken, Mrs. Cashmere." There probably was but Daddy was making a deal and it was more important to fording social graces.

"Yes, well, we believe that we can enhance that with our training and conditioning and then helping her to find the right husband when the time comes. She will have to do some remedial classes to get caught up. However, we have reviewed her transcripts and they are very promising. Your background and your well-known opposition to the suffrage movement also weighed heavily in our considerations."

"I take that to mean that my continued opposition would be considered a mandatory part of Lavinia's scholarship?"

Mrs. Cashmere regarded Daddy cautiously but still wasn't intimidated by his status.

"I would think that such a consistency of character would reflect positively on your daughter's educational opportunities." Daddy's wry smile was similar to one's when he knew he had struck a deal for some cattle. Still, Mrs. Cashmere raised a cautionary hand.

"This is pending a favorable report of my interview with Lavinia, of course."

For the first time, Mrs. Cashmere turned her gaze at Mitten who was standing with her hands folded in front of her. Though she was properly dressed in one of her finest, full-length frocks; green with white lace, she felt enormously insufficient in the presence of the daunting Headmistress.

"Mr. Wordsmith, this part of the interview is probably best served without a man in the room. We will be discussing matters of an intimate nature that I would be uncomfortable with in mixed intercourse."

"Of course," Daddy said with a minor bit of fluster before he turned to Mitten. "I want you to answer the Headmistress truthfully and obey any of her instructions."

"Yes, Daddy." Her response to him was as automatic as it was mechanical. Her father left the sitting room, pulling the double doors closed behind her.

As soon as the doors were closed, Mrs. Cashmere rose to her feet and strode confidently in front of Mitten. Instinctively, she felt her own countenance morph in the woman's proximity. She was a full six inches taller than her 5'3". She didn't know why but she lowered her eyes as she came close and became aware of her own breathing. There was something so innately powerful about Mrs. Cashmere and as she strolled around obviously inspecting the perspective student.

"Well you are a plain one aren't you?" There was no animus in her tone; just observation.

"Yes, ma'am."

"My title is 'Headmistress' and it is proper for you to address me that way." Again, she said it without a sense of anger just curtness.

"Yes, Headmistress."

Mitten felt the Mrs. Cashmere's hand flat in the swale between her shoulder blades, where she pushed firmly but not roughly. It caused Mitten to jerk up stiffly.

"Posture is a crucial part of being a woman of status."

"Yes Headmistress."

"You don't like me, do you dear?" For the first time, Mitten's eyes rose to meet the Headmistress' which were cool and green almonds of intensity.

"Not at all, Headmistress,..." she stammered and then realized how that sounded. "I mean,...I don't really know you, do I?" Mrs. Cashmere chuckled and gently cuffed Mitten's cheek.

"Just trying to trip you up, young lady," she said smoothly. "As a sought out woman of society, you must be prepared for answering both in the affirmative and the negative." She walked back to her chair and carefully took her seat again looking up at Mitten.

"What do you know about Petworthy, Miss Wordsmith?" Mitten shuffled uncomfortably beneath her skirts.

"Only what I have heard...stories, really."

"Stories about what?"

Mitten's expression grew grave and for a moment she felt most adult.

"Stories that Petworthy is a school of secrets."

"Have you heard speculation as to the nature of those secrets?" Mitten took a hesitant deep breath.

"Yes, Headmistress."

It was conversational sword fighting. The stories weren't the kind of things you talked about in public. Mrs. Cashmere looked sternly at Mitten for the first time.

"Please don't be coy with me, Miss Wordsmith."

"I have heard that it is the strictest school anywhere." Mrs. Cashmere just waited. "I have heard that no one knows where the school is. I have heard that they teach about...." Mitten felt the heat fill her cheeks as she blushed. "...that they teach about...um...private things." Her head had fallen so that her furious blushing might possibly go unnoticed by the Headmistress. Mrs. Cashmere face lightened slightly.

"Those things are all true," she responded calmly. Surprised by the Headmistress' candor, Mitten lifted her gaze slightly, but not completely.

"Would you like to ask questions about anything?" Mitten didn't realize that she was now fully looking at Mrs. Cashmere and her eyes were querying.

"Please," Mrs. Cashmere insisted. Mitten looked down swallowing before looking back up to speak.

"Could you please elaborate on the strictness of the school?" The Head mistress answered with a question.

"Have you not been spanked by your parents or a teacher before?"

"Yes, of course, Headmistress."

"Well, it is no misnomer that Petworthy makes exponentially more use of corporal discipline than any institution in the country...with parental understanding. I would say the best behaved students would find they receive more discipline than they ever had." Mitten felt a chill go through her.

"What else have you heard?" For the second time, she felt like she was speaking woman to woman.

"Sex?"

Mrs. Cashmere was unflinching. She set back casually in her seat, measuring everything about Mitten. Suddenly, she felt like she had spoken impertinently to the Headmistress.

"It is important that a woman of means learn more than just opening her legs as a sexual education. If your mother was still alive, she would be the person to do that for you. You certainly don't want your father to try to take on that task. As a woman trying to marry a man of substance and means you will be competing against other young ladies of means. We will give you the skills of seduction and pleasuring that woo such a husband and keep him."

For the first time, Mitten felt uncomfortable with the conversation. She felt the strange mix of ambivalence and a vaguely familiar feeling of warmth in her nether regions at the thought of sex with a man. These were the thoughts and considerations of her night time waking dreams and her roaming fingers. This wasn't what you talked about with a woman you had never met with before.

"This is why it is important to know if you will learn to be a submissive girl."

"I like to think that I am obedient girl, Headmistress."

"Really? An untrained waif like you?"

"Yes, Headmistress."

"Are you going to feel that way when you are asked to take a cane, even though you have done nothing wrong?" Mitten seemed to freeze in her thoughts but recovered. Certainly, mistakes could be made and she might inadvertently get punished.

"Yes, Headmistress." Mrs. Cashmere had a cool, confident expression, sitting up more at attention now. She gestured with her long, manicured finger.

"Come here, then, Miss Wordsmith."

Mitten felt the blood run out of her face. Daddy had been explicit that she was to obey Mrs. Cashmere but now that felt almost like a license for her to do whatever she pleased. She stepped closer and stood in front of the elegant school administrator, looking down into her face with apprehension.

"Remove your dress." Mitten felt her heart skip a beat and she measured the seriousness of the instruction from Mrs. Cashmere, discovering from her unflappable gaze that it was more a command than an instruction. Mitten drew her breath deeply.

"Yes, Headmistress."

Carefully, she began unbuttoning the flower buttons of her emerald fine linen dress. When she had it unbuttoned to the waist, she pulled her arms out of the sleeves and then tugged down past her womanly hips to where it was heap around her, bunched below the knees. Mitten was wearing cotton breeches and a flimsy cotton slip. Since she wasn't large chested, there was no need for a brassiere. However, this oversight now allowed her suddenly aroused nipples to crinkle and press out demonstratively against the flimsy cotton slip. As soon as she realized her condition, she felt her face flush again.

"Step out."

Again, she was curt and direct. Mitten was aware that she didn't wear her best shoes because she hadn't expected that they would be seen in the interview process. She did as instructed, deliberately stepping to the side to put some distance between herself and the Headmistress. However, that seemed to please Mrs. Cashmere because it left Mitten at a forty degree angle to the woman's right. The tall woman extended her supple hand which was meticulously manicured with red polish on the nails. Mitten felt enthralled though she knew that the only power this woman had over her was Daddy's command to obey her. Still, Mitten could tell that the Headmistress was a shrewd judge of character: of her father's desire for her to attend Petworthy and of Mitten's desire to obey and please her father.

Hesitantly, she reached out and placed her hand in the woman's grip, which was firm by still luxuriously soft. Electricity went through as they touched causing to Mitten to resist a spontaneous shudder. Mrs. Cashmere pulled Mitten close so that she was touching the woman's knee with her thigh.

"At Petworthy, modern young ladies don't wear breeches. Take those off."

Mitten froze. She didn't wear any undergarments other than breeches. She would be virtually naked in front of Mrs. Cashmere. It took only a moment to gauge that the Headmistress wasn't to be trifled with. She sighed with reservation and releasing Mrs. Cashmere's hand, reached under her slip and tugged her breeches down and then stepped out of them, tossing them carefully on top of the green heap that was her dress.

Now Mitten shivered for the first time as the cool air in the room wafted up her slip onto her now bare nethers. Mrs. Cashmere didn't give her time to consider her dilemma as she caught the hem of her cotton slip.

"This too." Mitten opened her mouth to protest but the Headmistress' eyes flashed with determination. This act of obedience was still part of her agenda to determine whether she would be allowed the privilege of attending Petworthy. Again a sigh of reluctance issued from her as she pulled the flimsy fabric over her head. Now she was naked save her common shoes and socks, which were the next thing to fall under the scrutiny of the Headmistress' gaze. Without being bade to do so, Mitten bent down and quickly unlaced the unlovely shoes removing them and the ankle length white stockings. All of the removed items were in the pile of discarded garments. Unconsciously, Mitten crossed her arms over her naked chest, and clenched her legs close together as if to protect her treasure between her legs. At that moment, as she stood naked before the woman, there was a gentle knock on the sitting room doors.

Instinctively, Mitten fell to her knees and curled herself up as small as she could. Mrs. Cashmere snapped her fingers harshly and flashed pure authority in her eyes. Pensively, Mitten rose up again.

"Are you ladies okay in there?" came Daddy's voice from the other side. It was uncertain with a hint of worry in his tone. "May I come in now?"

"Mr. Wordsmith, I believe I was empirically clear about this part of the process. Lavinia is fine. Please go and entertain yourself." Mrs. Cashmere's words were strong and, for the first time in her life, Mitten realized that Daddy was shrinking from the woman's authority.

"My apologies, Mrs. Cashmere," he managed weakly from behind the door. She heard his steps move away, the old house's wood floors announcing it with its familiar creaking. When she heard him exit out the front door, Mrs. Cashmere sighed with impatience, turning back to Mitten, who was still clutching her arms to herself like they were a sheet to cover her.

"Stand straight and put your hands to your side." Mitten wasn't aware of it, but her eyes were starting to fill with tears though she felt no strong urge to cry. She blinked hard to quell the tears from falling down her cheeks.

"Yes Headmistress."

Her arms reluctantly slid to her sides and she stood now naked. She watched Mrs. Cashmere's eyes move up and down the vista of nudity before her. Her face's hard expression softened as she did and while there was no way it could be interpreted as appreciation, somehow, it eased Mitten's spirit as much as possible in so awkward a situation. She watched the woman survey her with her eyes.

"Hmmm...." she mused. "You have an attractive quality about you despite the homely way that you carry yourself. Walk across the room with your eyes looking forward."

"Yes Headmistress." Mitten turned and walked across the room. She heard the woman sigh with disgust even before she turned back to face her.

"I see that you walk like a lumberjack. There will be much to work on if you come to Petworthy," she said as Mitten came to stand in front of her again. This time however she rose to stand over her which caused a new wave of consternation.

"Don't be alarmed and don't resist," Mrs. Cashmere spoke calmly as she walked behind Mitten. Suddenly she felt the Headmistress' bare hands on her back, running up the sides. Mitten drew her breath in suddenly and a little too loudly.

"Be still."

"Yes, Headmistress," Mitten's answer came out barely audible.

She felt the woman's hands move back down and then slide over her bottom. Soundlessly, her mouth opened and she was afraid that the Headmistress might have noticed, so she shut it quickly. Mrs. Cashmere's touch became softer and more sensual as it ran over the smooth landscape of her creamy white buttocks. Mitten started shaking. The woman's touch felt good in an arcane way that she knew was wrong for her to feel. Then the touching stopped and Mitten felt an unexpected disappointment as she was absorbing every sensation of her the woman's fingers on her. Mrs. Cashmere walked back around in front of her. Now she was standing close as she looked over her.