The House at Vauxhall

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© Guyspencer 2016

The House at Vauxhall

Up in the sleeping loft of her mother's tiny London cottage, the teen girl lay listening to faint night sounds. Tonight, July 14, 1790, was the night! Her sharp ears detected her mother's measured breathing downstairs, so it was as safe as it ever could be. Catherine had stashed her best clothes outside, next to the privy. Her plan was simple, she would dress outside and then escape.

Careful to not wake her younger brother and sister, she crept down the ladder, wincing as it creaked under her weight. Downstairs, just enough moonlight filtered in to show the sleeping outline of her mother. If caught now, Catherine would simply claim to need the privy.

She anxiously watched her mother as the back door squeaked. Blessedly there was no response. The girl stepped out into the London night, and found herself herself so nervous that she really did need the privy. That done, she ditched her nightgown in favor of the bundle of clothes she had stashed behind a bush. It felt strange to dress outside, but it was dark and she was in heavy shadow.

Once dressed, she had another attack of nerves. This was it! She had heard of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens her entire life. Today she would finally explore there, or at least try!

Catherine's family was poor, so she had no money to pay for admission nor to buy the food, drinks and other pleasures inside. But she had heard that sometimes unaccompanied maidens were particularly welcome. Her developing body had been whispering to her lately, claiming that there was more to life than what her little family offered. She was restless, ready for new experiences and ready to meet new people. An overly-optimistic voice inside her even raised the possibility of a rich lover!

Besides adventure and love, Catherine had a more down-to-earth hope for her trip to the Pleasure Gardens, the possibility of employment. The girl wasn't totally ignorant about sex. So yes, she knew one sure-fire way for a young maiden to earn money in the Pleasure Gardens! However, Catherine also knew of the stigma and pregnancy danger involved and wasn't yet prepared to surrender her virginity. (Although a certain stable boy had tried hard.) So prostitution wasn't her aim. A job serving in one of the many food booths was a better idea.

Catherine lived with her mother and two younger siblings. Shortly before the birth of the youngest, a press gang had forced her father aboard a King's ship. Her mother had cried, but had also anticipated the day that his ship would bring back her husband along with his pay. Alas, Catherine's father never returned. The poor man hadn't survived the brutal transformation from landsman to sailor. His death happened quickly, a fall from aloft to the hard deck.

A junior officer had arrived with the news of her father's death. He left a pittance from the King, which did nothing to replace the wages her father would have earned had he not been grabbed by that press gang. After that, Catherine's mother worked long hours as a seamstress to feed her family. Fortunately their humble cottage was inherited, otherwise the family would be threatened with homelessness.

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After walking through dark streets, Catherine arrived at the wherry docks on the Thames river. Across the water, the gay lights of the Pleasure Gardens beaconed, and wisps of music floated across the water. She stood with dozens of well-dressed folks vying for passage across the river. She watched one boat fill up. When every seat seemed filled, the wherryman noticed the slim girl and motioned for her to squeeze aboard.

“I...I have no fare” she admitted.

He looked at her closely, “I don't know you. Are you new?”

“I'm hoping to find work there”

He spoke gruffly, but not unkindly, “Come along then,”

She squeezed between two large men. Her eyes widened and she stiffened as somebody's hand frankly explored the curves of her ripening body.

Working hard yet skillfully, the Wherryman rowed across the polluted river. On the other side, the passengers exited, walking towards the brightly lit entrance gate for the Pleasure Gardens. Firmly, the wherryman took Catherine’s arm and walked her to a back gate. There he introduced her as a “prospect”. Catherine didn't notice, but the man collected a small bounty. To continue to attract clients, the Pleasure Gardens required a constant supply of fresh maidens, (plus a not-insignificant supply of tender boys). All wherrymen constantly watched for new prospects.

As he left her, he whispered in her ear, “Seek work at a food booth, but at all costs avoid the Dark Walk. Only one thing happens there, and soon your sweet body would be large with child! Do you understand lass?”

Catherine had no idea what the “Dark Walk” was, but she understood pregnancy, and so comprehended the warning. Eyes wide, she nodded.

“Go then little maiden,” he said, “Find kitchen or server work and ye will be fine.”

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Entrance through the front gate costs a half-shilling, which Catherine had never had in her life. But a Pleasure Garden needs a steady supply of servers, musicians, magicians, and (yes) prostitutes. So a new prospect like Catherine was welcome. They simply waved her through the gate and then (behind her back) paid off the wherryman.

Open-mouthed, and feeling like a country bumpkin, Catherine wandered around, amazed at the sights, sounds and smells.

The place was crowded with mostly upper class revelers. Among the gaily dressed ladies and the well-dressed man were many military, some navy, some from regiments. The military were mostly in all-male groups. After some called to her, Catherine learned to either give them a wide berth, or to pretend not to hear.

Pretending not to hear was actually easy, because of the din caused by so many people and so many performers. Sometimes she could stand in one place and hear wildly differing music from multiple places. One band might be playing what we now call “classical” music, whilst another played a lively jig, while a third group lead revelers in a bawdy song!

And the lights! Hundreds of lamps hung from trees and nooks. Scattered seemingly at random were dining booths, grottoes, and booths that sold drinks and all other manner of things, including illicit pleasures.

People didn't bath regularly in these days, so many people reeked of strong perfume. Also her nostrils were assaulted by cooking smoke and lamp smoke. Strong as these odors were, they couldn't overpower normal London funk, which the walls of the Pleasure Garden couldn't exclude.

Wandering around, the sharp young girl quickly learned the layout of the place. The Grand Walk cut through the very center, a wide promenade lined with matching elms. Along the Grand Walk was a huge rococo Turkish tent which housed an orchestra. The center of the gardens featured the Rotunda. Catherine wandered inside and was shocked at the beauty of its brightly lit interior.

Occupying one corner of the Gardens was the “Dark Walk”, a place for romantic assignations, and the workplace of male and female prostitutes.

When she accidentally wandered close to the entrance of the “Dark Walk,” things became scary for the girl. Several men prowled the entrance. The presence of this comely but lower class maiden instilled instant excitement. Men started literally bidding for her, as if at auction. Fearfully, Catherine backed away, when she literally backed into the arms of a man!

He spoke soothingly with a cultured voice, “This is no place for a fresh maiden like you.”

Those men had become dangerously insistent, but on seeing that new man they sullenly backed off. Her protector escorted her to a tea booth and bid her to sit.

“I have no money for tea,” Catherine protested.

“When you are with me,” he explained, “you need no money.”

Over their drinks, he introduced himself as “Albert”, and then skillfully urged her to talk about herself. He soon discovered that, as he had guessed, this was the maiden's first foray into the Pleasure Gardens. Also, although she was plainly dressed, Albert noticed that this girl was a rare beauty.

Over those cups of tea, Albert learned all that he needed to know. Catherine was a “find” who would immensely please his boss!

First he explained to her the dangers of prostitution in general, and the Dark Walk in particular. “You would earn good money for a time. After the first few trysts it would seem easy, even exciting. But soon you would find yourself with child. Shortly after that, you will be “used up”. With no father to support your child, you would face a terrible life. You are a beautiful young woman. There is a better future for you.”

He went on to explain: “There are many jobs in the food booths for maidens like you. The hours are long, the pay is poor, and men will constantly try to lure you into the Dark Walk. Still that's better than simply wandering in there to sell yourself. Or worse yet, having some man take you for free!”

Catherine listened, warily understanding that Albert had some proposition for her.

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Finally Albert came out with it: “Catherine I am a servant to a good man who has certain strong appetites. I believe that you would please him like nobody else I have found before. What I'm about to suggest may seem embarrassing for you and yes, even a bit painful. But it would be no worse than you have already experienced in life, and infinitely more lucrative. My master, Sir Fredrick, will pay you well and will protect you from harm. Better, my master will never take your virginity, nor will he allow anyone else to do so until you choose to marry.”

“Does that sound interesting to you Catherine”?

Yes, that all sounded good to Catherine except for the “embarrassing” and “painful” part. Properly, that term “strong appetites” also put her on guard.

“Tell me exactly what this man would want from me.”

“All he will want is to act as your temporary father. When he is acting this role, he will do only what a real father would do. Your real father sometimes saw you unclothed, Sir Fredrick will also. Your real father sometimes punished you on your bottom, Sir Fredrick will also, but never overly harshly. You can trust that, because he will want you willing to return to him again and again! And like your father, Sir Fredrick will save your virginity for your future husband.”

And then he played his best hand: “Unlike your father, Sir Fredrick will pay you in gold for the pleasure of serving as your temporary father! He will send you home with gold tonight and give you more each time you return!”

Unconvinced but tempted, Catherine begged, “Tell me more about Sir Fredrick.”

“He is a man of mystery and a particular friend of His Majesty King George III,” explained Albert, “Some say he is a diplomat, but others insist he is a spy.” Albert delivered the punchline with a conspiratorial whisper, “Truthfully, there's no difference between the two.”

“I have served him for ten years now, and he is a man of character. As you will privately discover, he has his particular appetites, but they are harmless appetites. Make him a friend, and you will have a friend for life.”

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Intrigued and properly nervous, Catherine agreed to meet Albert's master. As they left the tea booth, Catherine expected to be taken back across the Thames to the city. Instead, Albert led her to a quiet corner of the Pleasure Garden behind a tall hedge. To her surprise, there sat a house! It wasn't a huge house, but she learned that it was the residence of this strange man, and also a popular party place for the rich and famous. But tonight, only a few lamps burned in the house.

“I didn't know that there were houses in the Pleasure Gardens,” Catherine exclaimed.

“There's only one,” Albert explained, “and nobody knows how Sir Fredrick came to own it, but he has many important connections.”

Rather than enter the front, they walked around to the rear, where there was a detached kitchen and other tiny outbuildings. There Albert introduced her to Margaret, the housekeeper. He soon left them alone.

Margaret seemed pleased with Catherine, “So you are here to meet Sir Frederick?”

“Yes Miss,” replied Catherine.

Margaret held her at arms length, “Yes, I think he will like you. Can you be a good daughter to him?”

“Albert explained that to me Miss, I will certainly try to please him.”

“Good,” Margaret exclaimed, “Our master has his strange ways, but he is a good man. Just be obedient and do as he bids. You will soon come to like him. I know that I do!”

Seeing that the man's servants loved him gave Catherine great encouragement.

“Well,” Margaret said in a businesslike tone, “we have work to do.” She handed Catherine a bucket and pointed towards a well. Draw water whilst I throw wood on the fire.”

They spent the next half hour hauling water, and pouring it into a copper tub in one of the small outbuildings. It was the first such bathtub that Catherine had ever seen. While they worked, a large pot of water heated on the kitchen stove. Finally the water boiled. Margaret carefully carried the pot to the bath house, and poured it into the tub, warming the water somewhat.

“Okay”, Margaret commanded, “Off with your clothes.”

Catherine looked at Margaret aghast, “W...why?”

“You don't want to get your clothes all wet do you? Normally a lady undresses before bathing.”

“I'm taking a bath?”

“Yes you are Missy. Sir Fredrick likes his maidens clean.”

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The bathtub was a new experience for Catherine. Her family home had neither tub nor sufficient water to fill one. Water was either carried from a far-away public well, or purchased from a water cart. In this era, public baths weren’t common in London.

There were rivers and creeks in London, but they were too polluted for bathing. So she normally bathed with sponge and basin.

Naturally it felt odd at first, but she warmed to the experience as she soaked in the tepid water and scrubbed her young skin with rough soap.

When she finally emerged from the tub, her clothes were gone, replaced by a towel and a simple white gown.

Margaret helped her dry and then don the robe, and then she brushed the maiden's dark hair until it shined.

Margaret stood back to admire her work, “Oh he will like you!”

And then she offered final advice, “Remember that you are playing the part of Sir Fredrick’s daughter, as he is playing the part of your father. But don't put on airs! Be yourself. He will want to know about you. Tell him the truth. Fully and honestly answer his questions, even if they are embarrassing. At some point he will accuse you of some misbehavior. Don't take it wrongly! It's only a game, so he will know that you are truly innocent. Finally, there will be a spanking. It will be a real spanking, and you will likely cry. However, it won't be severe. Tomorrow there will be no redness to be found.”

“Understand?”

That was much for Catherine to absorb at once, so she started to shake from nerves.

Margaret hugged her, reassured her, and then led her into the house.

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It is said that the famous house in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens had all of it's walls covered with looking glass, but that was untrue. Margaret led the white-gowned Catherine through a large parlor. Catherine would later learn that this is the room where Sir Fredrick hosted his famous parties. The decor of the parlor featured several large mirrors, which had the effect of making the room seem larger and amplifying the lamp light.

In a short hallway, Margaret knocked at a certain door. A deep male voice answered, bidding her to enter. Margaret opened the door with a flourish and then stepped aside for Catherine to enter. Her heart thumping, Catherine shyly entered the man's private lair, to be greeted by mirrors on all four walls and even on the ceiling! The effect was dizzying!

Three large lamps burned in the room. With the reflection of all those mirrors, the brightness was almost painful to the maiden's sharp eyes.

Sir Fredrick was a pleasant looking man, in an oldish avuncular sort of way. He was slightly plump, balding, and had a round face with a disarming smile. He reached out to take Catherine's hand as Margaret formally introduced them. After promising to “bring tea”, Margaret left, leaving Catherine alone with this strange man.

The room, which Catherine soon learned he called his “den,” was sparsely furnished. It had a couch, a small desk and a few wooden chairs. More furniture would have ruined the effect of the mirrors, which the girl found dizzying and disorienting.

After the introduction, he sat her down and quizzed her about herself. Of course, that was the one subject where she felt fairly safe, so she answered freely. She concentrated on his face in an attempt to forget the mirrors, because everywhere else she looked, she saw a white-gowned reflection of herself.

Soon Margaret brought tea and biscuits, but then again disappeared, even though Catherine looked at the lady beseechingly, praying not to be left alone!

But had Catherine known the full portent of Sir Fredrick's strange breath, she would have known that her virginity was safe. Although it didn't yet show, the man had the “sweet disease” (diabetes). It would be several years before the disease truly ravished him, but it was already sufficiently advanced to steal his sexual potency. He compensated by indulging his passion for spanking young maidens. However, he wasn't a brutal man. He spanked his hired maidens without guilt, but those spankings were never truly severe. More importantly, he always left his beloved “spanking maidens” better off than he had found them. Thanks to Sir Fredrick's kindness and attention, several of his past “spanking maidens” had ended up happily married to men who who offered lives well above the maiden's original station in life.

Over tea and biscuits, he diligently probed Catherine's family life. He asked about her parents, especially her mother. He wasn't surprised that the maiden had sneaked out of her house to try her luck in the Pleasure Gardens. He breathed a sigh of relief that Albert had found her before it was too late for her. Later, he would send Albert to smooth things over with Catherine's mother.

Then, to Catherine's embarrassment, the man's questions focused on punishments. How was she punished? How about her younger brother and sister? Was it on the bare? What implements did her mother use?

She blushed and cringed, but answered honestly. At his gentle insistence, she now called him “father” or “sir”.

Then the man left to visit the privy. (She would learn that he needed the privy a lot.) When he returned he pointedly asked her if she needed the privy.

She didn't.

That's when the atmosphere of the encounter changed. At first his voice was quite gentle and fatherly in expressing his disappointment for her “untruthfulness”. He became increasingly insistent, his voice increasingly firm.

Having been warned, the maiden denied nothing. Instead, her heart pounding madly in nervous fear, she groveled, apologized and promised eternal future truthfulness.

The man was so good at playing the part of a stern but disappointed father, that Catherine lost herself in the moment. Her eyes filled with tears. They weren't tears of frustration from being upbraided for something she was innocent of, but real tears of contrition. They were the tears of a daughter waiting to be justifiably punished by a parental figure!

Finally he announced her punishment, she must be spanked!

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Brusquely, Sir Fredrick pulled a wooden chair to the room's center, sat, and beaconed to the slim, comely, but saddened white-robed maiden. Eyes downcast, she stood before him. After a few sorrowful-sounding words, he reached for the hem of her gown.

“Raise your arms dear,” he ordered.

Without considering what was about to happen, she obeyed. Expertly, he whipped the gown over her head. In a trice, she went from being modestly covered to totally naked. Shocked, she stammered and looked about like a trapped animal. Now the mirrors mocked her. Everywhere she looked she saw a slightly different nude portrait of herself, and from all angles! Some showed her from the front, her new curls barely hiding her sex. Others showed her from the rear, her bottom mounds (temporarily) white and untouched, yet firm and inviting.

Looking down only gave her a direct view of her nakedness, so in desperation she looked up. Staring down from the ceiling, was a view that showed her young face and dark hair, but accentuated the size of her breasts.

Naturally, Sir Frederick was looking too! In fact, his eyes watered at the sight. His eyesight was dim and misty from the ravages of diabetes. But this brightly lighted room helped him appreciate the flawless perfection of her slim and flowering body.

He caught his breath and murmured, “This time Albert has truly outdone himself.”

Most would assume that the mirrors in the man's lair had pornographic purposes, but actually they amplified the lamplight to assist his dimming vision. Except when the sun shined brightly thru a window, this was the only room where he could read and work productively.

He spoke gently, yet in a voice that invited no resistance, “Come dear. Over you go.”

Gently yet firmly, he guided her naked body across his lap. Soon she was staring at the ornate carpet. At her other end, her toes hovered in mid air. He gloried in the sight as his eyes caressed her flawless nether regions. He cupped a buttock, felt its youthful firmness, and sighed with contentment. He meant to bring her along carefully, he wanted much more of Catherine!

He scolded as he spanked, but neither the scolding nor the spanking were severe. The maiden was rigid at first, but then he felt her relax as she realized that this spanking had only a mild sting. He spanked on, enjoying the feel of her buttocks, and loving the kinetic way that her buttocks flattened with each spank, rippled briefly, and then snapped back into shape as if begging for the next spank.

Scolding occasionally, he spanked on,

Somehow, the interplay of the mild spanking and the man's words had a strange effect on Catherine. Always before, spankings had hurt her and been an unpleasant experience, something to be avoided at all costs. But this was different, very different! Deep in her groin she became aware of a strange feeling, a pressure combined with sort of tickle and a damp feeling. It felt good! She discovered that if she rubbed her hips against Sir Fredrick's thigh, it felt even better!

Sir Fredrick quickly detected Catherine's arousal, and couldn't believe his luck! Some maidens needed several spankings before reaching that point. In fact, some never did at all. Naturally he was tempted to caress between her thighs, but that would be out of character for a father. Sir Fredrick lived by a strange self-imposed ethical framework. His “spanking maidens” were just that, they were for spanking, but they weren't his lovers. For that, he had a good woman to warm his bed and to share whatever intimacies he was still capable of.

Confident that this beauty would soon grow to crave his corporal attentions, he felt safe in taking her spanking to the next level. He stopped for a moment to give fair warning, “Now it gets serious, but then it will be over.”

The maiden actually agreed! “Yes father.”

He almost always spanked with his hand. He craved the intimate feeling of his cupped palm against firm young buttock, so why use anything else? Oh yes! There was a cane in a cupboard, but that was only for those occasions when a spanking maiden or a servant truly disappointed him and therefore required true punishment. Using it gave him little pleasure.

He paused, paused to allow her to relax, but also to prolong this precious moment. Finally he raised his hand high and brought it down hard.

Out in the hallway, Margaret noted the pause, and then heard that first serious spank. She nodded knowingly. Now the spanking would get loud. But in the same way that those last frantic coital thrusts before an orgasm signal the end of a coupling, Catherine's spanking was nearly over.

Sir Fredrick rained hard spanks down on Catherine's bottom. Purposely he hadn't restrained her legs. He loved to watch the show as a maiden's legs pumped and kicked and her thighs shamelessly flew open. She didn't disappoint! The maiden gasped and then attempted to twist her bottom out of range, but he expertly held her in place. First she grunted, and then squealed with increasingly shrill notes, and then finally burst into tears.

Instantly he stopped spanking, but held her in position. As she cried, he watched the shivering of her buttocks, enjoying their motion and the color his efforts had painted there. From his corporal efforts and from his excitement, he was breathing hard. So he held her there, allowing them both to calm.

Finally he helped her to her feet, but then held his arms out to her. Still blubbering, still naked, she crawled into his lap. He rocked and cooed as she cried. He actually encouraged her to cry, to cry out her pain, cry out her fears, cry about her dead father, and even to cry about her impoverished upbringing.

As they shared that intimate moment, Margaret crept into the room to swap Catherine's clothing for the white gown.

He knew the moment that she regained her senses, because she suddenly seemed to remember her nakedness. The spanked maiden turned her head and blushed prettily.

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He left the room briefly to allow her privacy to dress. Margaret and Albert were with him when he re-entered. By now Catherine was composed. She had dressed and had wiped her face with a towel that Margaret had thoughtfully provided.

Sir Fredrick gave the maiden a handful of coins. There were some assorted coppers, and a golden half guinea. It was more money than her mother made in a fortnight!

“The golden one is for your mother” he explained, “the others are for you”.

“But...but what will I tell her?” Catherine asked plaintively?

Sir Fredrick's heart pounded, because that raised the biggest question of all!

“Before I answer, I must put a question to you. The three of us wish to hear your answer.”

She looked him in the eyes, “Yes sir?”

“Catherine,” he asked, “Will you come again? Come regularly to be my daughter for a day? Will you come even though you will be spanked every time?”

She blushed, “You really want me sir?”

“Yes, I would! And remember that nothing will happen to you here that a good father wouldn't do to you, so your virginity will be safe.”

“Then the answer is 'yes' sir,”

Sir Fredrick's heart soared, “That is excellent daughter. I promise you will never be sorry!”

“About your mother,” he continued, “Tonight Albert will see you safely home. Hopefully you can sneak back to bed without being missed. Tomorrow, Albert will return to inform your mother that you have been hired by me as a special servant. Four days each week you will attend Miss Angela’s School for Maidens. There you will learn your social graces.

“School?” said Catherine wonderingly, “You would send me to school?”

“Yes school,” the man replied firmly, “Any daughter of mine should have her social graces.”

“But what of the other days?” she asked.

“Saturday is for your mother, Sunday is for church and rest. Wednesdays are mine. You will spend mornings helping Margaret, and afternoons being my daughter. Your weekly spankings will be no burden. In due time, you will come to crave them.”

The sudden color in the girl's cheeks gave witness that the “craving” had already began.

Do you agree?”

She moved to hug him, but then remembered herself and curtsied prettily. When she stood, he favored her with a fatherly embrace.

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Sir Fredrick was a man who kept his promises. From that day, Catherine's family was no longer poor. Every Wednesday, Catherine willingly arrived at that strange house in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, where she helped Margaret all morning, took a luxurious bath, and then indulged Sir Fredrick for the afternoon, always receiving a firm spanking in the bargain.

For nearly two years Sir Fredrick enjoyed this remarkable spanking maiden. Meanwhile she learned her social graces, sometimes feeling Miss Angela's painful rod in the process. When Miss Angela finally declared her ready, Sir Fredrick did what any high quality father would do: Lovingly but regretfully, he introduced his “daughter” to society. As he had always planned, Catherine was soon happily married to a rich young gentleman. Therefore, Sir Fredrick lost his favorite spanking maiden forever. Catherine's new husband couldn't believe his luck in finding a beautiful woman who insisted on being regularly spanked. For her part, Catherine delighted in this new combination of sex and spanking. Each complimented the other!

Soon after Catherine's wedding, Albert found his master a fresh spanking maiden. But in Sir Fredrick’s mind, none could ever match Catherine!

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