“Sit down,” commanded Mrs. Trustworthy. “I shall now explain your duties.”
“You will rise each morning at 5am and bathe. You will be sharing a room with another member of staff. You will each be responsible for ensuring that the other is ready on time to start work at 5.30.
“Your duties will mostly involve cleaning and polishing. Can you sew?”
Victoria nodded.
“Stand up girl.” She rose from her chair as Mrs. Trustworthy walked round the desk with a thin walking stick in her hand. Without warning, she lashed out and brought it smartly across Victoria’s rump. Even with the thick clothing she felt the sting. She wanted so much to rub the pain away but felt that this would probably be a bad idea. The housekeeper left her standing but returned to her own chair. “In future you will answer correctly. That does not include a nod of your head. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Mrs. Trustworthy.”
“Good.” She continued, “You will also be expected to make and repair clothes. Five days in each month you will work below stairs in the scullery. On these occasions you will be involved with laundry duties. Your meals will be eaten with the other staff members below stairs.
“You are expected to keep your shared room in an immaculate condition. You will not enter the room of any other member of staff unless you are specifically instructed to do so by either Sir Robert or me.
“You will attend church every Sunday morning and on special occasions. You will wear the household uniform only. I will explain this in detail in due course.”
Mrs. Trustworthy stood up and walked to the door. She turned the key in the lock and then walked through into her own bedroom. When she returned, she was carrying a plain brown box, which she laid on the end of the desk and opened. Victoria could see what she assumed were clothes — possibly the uniform that had been mentioned.
“Sir Robert is very keen on the physical fitness and health of all staff members. Before I can accept you into this household I must examine you fully. Do you understand?”
Victoria wanted to say, ‘But you’re not a Doctor!’, instead she recalled the cane and said, “Yes, Mrs. Trustworthy.”
“Very well. Stand up and undress. You can lay your clothes on the chair.”
Victoria blushed and wondered if this was some kind of test. From the look on the housekeeper’s face it clearly was not. She pulled the pins from her hat and removed it, hooking the hat onto the upright of the chair. Then she unbuttoned her coat and took it off. She laid it across the seat and then started to unfasten the sleeves of her blouse.
The garment was added to the neat pile. She then removed her skirt, aware that she had only ever done this in front of her mother. It was at this point that she realised that to go any further would incur the loss of what little modesty she had left. Victoria could feel her face flush an even deeper crimson as she began to unbutton her over-corset. It slipped from her shoulders, revealing the tops of her breasts pushed up by the corset itself. If she removed this, her breasts would be fully exposed. She hoped that Mrs. Trustworthy would stop her at this point, but she was disappointed.
Victoria decided to remove her petticoat next and pulled the end of the bow undone. She lowered the white cotton material to the ground and stepped out of it. She could feel the cold air of the room on her partially exposed bottom cheeks. She tried to keep her legs together to prevent the split at the front from opening and revealing her most private place. This was – of course — impossible, as she had to remove her boots and stockings next. She couldn’t look the housekeeper in the face.
She was fighting back the tears as she unhooked her corset and removed it, revealing her young, firm breasts. When she finally lowered her drawers to the floor, she achieved something that she had not done since reaching womanhood; she was standing naked. Even when she washed, she normally kept some clothes on, using a flannel underneath her nightgown. She hadn’t ever looked at the dark mass of hair between her legs. She raised her head and stood with her eyes closed.
“Hold your arms out straight from your sides.” She did as she was ordered.
Mrs. Trustworthy then walked behind Victoria and began to check her arms and back for anything unusual. She was a trained nurse and, as such, was well capable of carrying out a medical examination. She moved closer to Victoria’s back and slipped her hands round to her breasts. First, she weighed them and then she squeezed and gently probed with her fingers. She brushed her fingertips across the nipples until they began to respond, at which point she began to pull on them gently using her index fingers and thumbs. Victoria’s eyes jerked open at this and she looked down. Victoria couldn’t understand why, but she wanted her to continue. But she didn’t.
“Bend over,” she was instructed.
Mrs. Trustworthy then continued her intimate examination by pulling Victoria’s cheeks apart and looking at her anus.
“Stand up.” Victoria felt immense relief as she did what she was told, but then felt like bursting into tears as the woman continued, “Now sit on the desk and lay back.”
Victoria lay on the desk and when she was told to bring her legs up and place her heels on it with her legs apart; she felt the tears beginning to prickle her eyes. Mrs. Trustworthy knelt down and Victoria could feel her breath on her pussy.
As if she hadn’t embarrassed her enough, Mrs. Trustworthy said, “My, you are a hairy young lady, aren’t you? We’ll have to see about that.”
She pulled Victoria’s labia apart and said, “So, you’ve been a good girl eh?”
She didn’t understand but replied “Yes.”
Mrs. Trustworthy deliberately stroked Victoria’s clitoris as she rose to her feet. The girl gasped at the sudden spark that this caused within her body.
“Your uniform is in this box. We do not wear corsets, nor do we wear drawers. You will wear two petticoats, black silk stockings and skirt, a chemise and a white blouse. Your hair will be worn up at all times. Your black shoes will suffice.”
Victoria, now beyond the horrors of embarrassment and shame, sat down to pull the stockings on. She tied the first petticoat around her waist and then slipped the chemise onto her arms. Once buttoned, she then pulled on her second petticoat. The blouse was followed by the skirt and the finally the boots. Being fully clothed did not wipe from her mind the memory that someone had seen her naked. Into that mind came, unbidden, the curiosity of what it would be like to see a man naked. She shook her head violently to rid herself of the thought.
Mrs. Trustworthy walked to the wall and pulled a cord. In less than a minute there was a knock on the door. “Come,” she said.
Another young woman, dressed in the household uniform, walked into the room.
“Jenny, this is Victoria. She will be sharing your room with you. Kindly take her upstairs and look after her. I will not expect her to start work until tomorrow, but it will be your responsibility to show her the ropes.”
“Yes, Mrs. Trustworthy.”
Jenny led Victoria some distance before she spoke, “Don’t worry about Mrs. Trustworthy. She’s all right as long as you follow the rules and don’t upset her. Where were you working before?”
“I wasn’t.” Jenny stopped and looked back at her. Victoria explained her circumstances.
“Oh that’s awful! You poor thing,” she said. “Well at least you’ve found yourself in employment. There are a lot of people who wouldn’t have.”
Jenny opened a door and led the way into a small attic room. There were two beds, one on each side and two corresponding chests of drawers. The single window was small and gave only a small amount of light, but the room had a single light bulb operated by a switch next to the door.
“Home sweet home,” said Jenny. “That’s your bed there. There’s another uniform in the drawer. We wash each of them once a week. We get up at 5am and go down the back stairs to the shower room. By 5.30 we have to be in the kitchens to eat breakfast. By 6am we start work.”
It took a while for Victoria to consider the unfamiliar phrase she had heard. “Shower room?”
“Mm. Sir Robert had showers fitted at the same time as having the electric lights installed. There are separate ones for men and women. They aren’t heated — except on Sundays before we go to church.”
The rest of the day was spent being shown round the house (via the back stairs). Before it was too dark, Jenny showed Victoria around the gardens, but had to make a quick detour when she saw some of Sir Robert’s guests coming. She was introduced to some of the gardeners and the stable boy en route and then when they got back to the kitchens she met the rest of the household staff. Cook was very busy preparing the evening meal, but took just enough time to give Victoria a friendly welcome.
Eventually, bedtime came around. The early risers went at 9pm, whilst those who waited on Sir Robert and his guests late into the night lay in bed longer in the morning.
Victoria found a nightgown in one of her drawers and faced away from Jenny in order to undress. She finished as quickly as possible and hopped into her bed. Jenny was already in hers and said, “Light?” She quickly moved across the floor to flick the switch and felt her way back to bed.
*****
Chapter 2
Victoria felt that she had hardly closed her eyes when Jenny shook her awake. She led the way downstairs and into the shower room. To Victoria’s horror, the showers (six of them) were completely open. Big shower-heads hung from pipes extending out from the wall. A large lever controlled the flow of each unit.
Jenny lifted her nightgown straight over her head and unselfconsciously walked under one of the showers. She pulled the lever open and jumped up and down as the cold water hit her. She grabbed hold of the soap and washed herself rapidly. Victoria noticed immediately that Jenny was hairless, both under her arms and between her legs.
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