Free Ruled by the Rod by Sara Rawlings Page A

tongue, and the doctor's
undertaking to secure a branks, or scold's bridle, which he now
produced for the approval of the company. That is, the males
present, the females naturally having no say in the matter.
    I looked on,
appalled, as he set it on the desk. The branks consisted of a cage
of flat strips of iron, formed into an approximation of a woman's
head, though somewhat larger, since it was designed to contain an
actual female head within itself. The cage, for that is what it
was, was split vertically at about the ears, and hinged, so that it
could be put over the wearer's face and the rear swung closed and
locked, to trap her within, with no possibility of removing it
without the key.
    A chain by
which she could be led about depended from a ring over the
nosepiece. Such a harsh and unyielding incarceration of the head
would be punishment enough, discouraging idle chatter, but what
made me catch my breath and my belly sink, was the cruel tab
affixed to the inside of the cage where a tongue might be, but a
tongue pointing inwards, not out. It was a flat piece of steel,
fixed with thumbscrews on the outside, so that its exact position
and angle could be adjusted to match the culprit locked within and,
worse still, the underside of this iron tongue carried rows of
short blunt spikes. Clearly it was intended to press down on the
wearer's tongue and, not only enforce her silence, but rip her
tongue should she nevertheless essay speech, merely gall her should
she not attempt it.
    I shuddered
for my poor misguided sister, with her unruly tongue, but also for
myself, for try as we might, papa still found reason to reprimand
us for our remarks from time to time, and I doubted not that each
of us would taste that hideous tongue before long.
    For now,
though, it was Charlotte who would have to wear that bitter bonnet,
and the doctor came round the desk to fit his fearsome millinery
over her delicate features. He ordered her to open her mouth,
reinforcing his instruction with a prod of his finger, and lifted
the front part of the open cage into place, the plate, with its
horrible spikes, penetrating her soft mouth and bearing down on her
small pink tongue. She kept her hands resolutely behind her back,
as was the requirement, but her eyes bulged at the horror of what
was happening to her, and she made nasal whines of protest as the
rear of the cage was swung shut, forcing the iron tongue, and that
of female flesh, into firm and painful contact.
    The judge
addressed Charlotte again.
    'In order to assist you learn to curb your tongue, you will
wear that bridle for the rest of the evening. One of you will come
for the key when you are ready to retire. Meanwhile,' he went on,
'there is the matter of the solitary vice to which you are all
prone...' It came to me that in confessing our usage, we had
omitted to tell them that it was by no means always solitary. On
the contrary, we more usually expressed our sisterly love for one
another by bringing about those soothing and relaxing spasms one
for the other. 'Such practices are not to be encouraged, and
stripes will be added to your tally each time it is indulged. Three
if confessed at once, four if it is only volunteered under
questioning, and six full cuts if caught in flagrante delicta .'
    More stripes!
I cringed at the thought, and wondered if, in the comfort of my
room and with my buttocks racked with pain from a whipping, my anus
aching from rough distension, I might be tempted to take the relief
there and then, and pay later with my hinds. But the judge was not
yet finished.
    'Moreover,' he
said, 'we deem it so necessary that you enjoy the full benefit of
the lessons imprinted in your buttocks by the rod, that you must be
denied the chance to exercise that soothing manualisation, and on
such evenings you will keep your beds with your hands secured
behind your backs, where they will be unable to reach those seats
of Satan between your thighs.'
    Oh! What
doleful news. It needed no