Free Back in Service by Rosanna Challis

privileges, either.’
    ‘Really? What do you mean then, Leo?’
    ‘She was an expert in the art and craft of physical torment, Hetty, corporal punishment with refinements. Her methods were quite ingenious, so I am sure she could invent ways to make life a misery for that old lecher, my father.’
    Hetty grinned. ‘Then let us make her acquaintance straight away. I will grovel and flatter, if necessary, to get in her good books.’

Chapter 5
    Hetty was missing Paris. After all the colour and vivacity of French city life, Longton Hall seemed intolerably dull. Although Sir Victor once deemed his son unfit to manage his land, the training Leo had received was now bearing fruit. With his father incapacitated, he rose to the challenge and spent long hours out of doors seeing to the drainage of the land, the repairing of fences and the felling of trees. However, being unused to outdoor life, he was exhausted by the end of the day and usually retired early. So the days and evenings stretched long and empty before Hetty despite her efforts to keep busy. She had a daily interview with the cook to discuss the menu, and there were occasional afternoon visitors to entertain, such as Lady Cosham and her spinster daughter. She also had recourse to the library, but there were few novels and rather too many scientific tomes for her taste.
    Once a month she wrote to her family in her round, childish script knowing her brother would be able to decipher her words and read them aloud, but there was little news to report. By now she should have started a family, but she had not yet conceived, and with Leo too fatigued to perform his conjugal duties at night, there was little hope of such a happy event in the near future.
    She missed the sensual side of married life greatly, but she was unwilling to put further pressure on her already harassed husband. Instead, she dreamed of Paris and how happy they were in the first flush of their wedded bliss. To please him, she had often dressed as George, and for some reason he seemed to find it easier to confide in her when she wore men’s clothing. He also liked her to chastise him, pretending to be a schoolboy with George posing as his sixth form idol. She would put all her strength into beating his bare arse, but he only urged her on with ‘Harder! Harder!’ After these little scenes, their lovemaking had always been more passionate than ever.
    To relieve her boredom, and because she genuinely liked her, Hetty spent as much time as she could with Jane. The girl was pleasant and chatty. They came from similar backgrounds, although rural life in the north sounded harder than down south, where Hetty was born and where the weather was more clement.
    Lady Alice apparently noticed the budding friendship between them, for she summoned Hetty to speak with her in private. ‘Jane is a good girl,’ she began, ‘but she lacks some of the finer points. I wonder if you would do me the great favour of training her a little. She does not dress my hair as well as you used to, and my wardrobe is not as well kept, either. Sometimes she fails to get a stain out or she irons my lace and ruffles carelessly. She is neglectful of my footwear and the toilet water she makes is not so strongly and sweetly scented as yours. You know how I love a good strong toilet water of lavender or rosemary, but hers are weak and fade quickly. I think she is not following the recipe faithfully.’
    ‘I will do my best, Alice.’ Hetty was glad of the opportunity to spend more time with Jane. As well as enjoying her company, she also wanted to protect the girl from further indignities at the hands of Sir Victor.
    It was in the capacity of Jane’s advisor and protector that she had her first real encounter with Nanny Baines. The nurse kept mainly to Sir Victor’s quarters, away from the family and the other servants; Hetty only caught occasional glimpses of her as she wheeled her charge around. But early one morning, when she and Jane