Part 1
It was early afternoon on the second Sunday of November, 1931. His Lordship, Henry, the 5th Earl of Harrisford, heard footsteps on the polished floor of the hallway outside the library of his London townhouse. His wife, Elizabeth, the Countess Harrisford, had left the room about 30 minutes earlier and he thought that it must be she, returning. But something didn’t seem quite right. The sound of the high-heeled boots which his wife had been wearing made a sharper click; these footsteps were softer.
He heard the large library door open and close, and then only silence for a few seconds.
Then there was the familiar sound of their maid, Isabell, clearing her throat, as servants did to get the attention of their employers. “Excuse me, your Lordship.” Isabell was his wife’s lady’s maid, a petite slip of a girl, the Earl would have guessed that she was barely 18 years old.
A simple word like “surprise” could hardly do true justice to the Earl’s reaction. Because, at that moment, he was in a singularly undignified position. Not only was he naked, but he was tightly bound and gagged and securely strapped down over what he and his wife had come to call their Whipping Bench. He had been silently and motionlessly awaiting the return of his wife, Lady Harrisford, who he was expecting to give him his fortnightly caning.
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Twenty-one years earlier, in 1910, the Earl had been one of London’s most eligible bachelors. He had met his future wife at one of the many balls and cotillions which served the matchmaking function for the British nobility. They were married less than a year later, when he was 22, and had been blissfully happy for the last 20 years.
Contrary to the reputation of the traditional Victorian and Edwardian noblewoman, the Earl had been delighted to learn that his new 20-year-old wife was a highly sexual creature. And, in the safety of marriage, all of her bottled up sensuality had been allowed to explode. Not only was she not coy about traditional sex, but their relationship shortly adopted elements of dominance and submission. This began only one month into the marriage when, while cuddling naked in bed, Lady Harrisford had playfully slapped her husband’s bottom. Unlike many married couples of that era, they actually talked to each other. And listened. Henry overcame his inhibitions and confessed his secret feelings, which included fantasies of bondage and submission to the authority of a woman. Elizabeth was not as shocked as he had feared, and she soon began to regularly indulge her husband’s preferences. He soon realized that there was more than mere acceptance and compliance in his wife’s acquiescence, and that she sincerely enjoyed their games.
To the outside world, including their household servants, they remained the staid and proper couple. Only in the privacy of their bedroom did the domination progress. And within a year of their marriage the Earl spent many evenings tightly spread-eagled and naked on their large bed, while his wife mounted him and took her time bringing them both to explosive orgasms.
As a curious adolescent, Lady Elizabeth and her girlfriends had heard and gossiped about something known as “oral sex”. And, once she had a curious and willing husband, she wasted no time in experimenting with this, both in giving and receiving. It wasn’t long before she found herself enjoying many happy hours, reclining on the edge of their large bed, propped up on a pile of comfortable pillows, with her husband bound and kneeling between her legs. And she was not unwilling to reciprocate, of course, and pleasure her husband with her mouth, almost always while he was tightly bound and gagged.
Lady Elizabeth greatly enjoyed dressing up in her leather corsets and knee-high lace-up boots, with heels far higher than those normally available in English lady’s shops. Sometimes, to secure articles either for herself or her husband, she had to rely on a specialty leather-maker in Switzerland. One such item was a 3” high collar of the stiffest reinforced leather which, when buckled around her husband’s neck, prevented him from moving his head in any direction. And then there was the gag and the blindfold. The Earl had contributed to the acquisition of equipment by placing an order, at a London foundry which fabricated shackles for the police and military, for handcuffs and leg irons.
Her Ladyship gradually and methodically increased both the duration of her husband’s bondage, the intensity of the bondage, and the intensity of his punishment scenarios. What began with a few playful hand spanks evolved into spanking with the back of a hairbrush, and then a doubled-over belt, then a riding crop, then a riding whip, and ultimately a light wispy cane and finally a stiffer and heavier cane. As her Ladyship kept increasing the degree of the punishment, the Earl’s appetite for pain had increased accordingly. A mutually satisfying arrangement.
“My dear, do you think that I am an oddity, or is it possible that most wives harbor the secret desire to be able to punish their husbands, on a regular basis, for real or imagined causes?”, asked her Ladyship one day, as she was about to begin her husband’s caning. As he had already been gagged, the Earl made no response, so she answered her own question. “I think all wives do; I’m just one of the more fortunate.”
At first they set aside the second Sunday of every month as his official punishment day, but it wasn’t long before, at the Earl’s request, this ritual was expanded to twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Sundays.
As part of this official and regular occurrence, the couple designed an appropriate piece of furniture and the Earl himself sketched the general design, with measurements. This Whipping Bench had then been fabricated of heavy oak by a master carpenter, who was told it was meant as a special work table. It was mounted on castors, for easy movement, but the castors could be locked into position so that the bench was thereafter immoveable.
The bench was about 36” high and had what appeared to be a step on one end, about 18” above the floor, on which the Earl knelt. At the level of his Lordship’s waist was the tabletop, on which he then lay. It was not perfectly horizontal, but tilted slightly down from his waist, so that his buttocks were nicely elevated and stretched and held in a prominent position ideally suited to receive the cane. His legs, just above his bent knees, were strapped out to the edges of the bench and held about 18” apart. The Whipping Bench was heavily padded and upholstered in black leather and, all in all, was a very comfortable piece of furniture.
The table portion of the bench was not a perfect rectangle; it was 18” at the back, where it supported the Earl’s hips, but tapered down to only 6” where it supported his upper chest and lower neck. This shape was contrived so as to provide comfortable support and yet allow access to his Lordship’s nipples. He had very sensitive nipples, and her Ladyship enjoyed teasing them before and during the punishment session. His legs were held apart to facilitate her doing the same to his cock. She always made a point of providing her husband with a very satisfying orgasm, after his punishment, while he was still strapped down and gagged. She could reach underneath his pinioned body if she wanted to use her hand, or there was room for her to sit or kneel under the bench, if she chose to use her mouth.
Slots had been cut into the heavy wooden superstructure of the Whipping Bench, to accommodate heavy leather straps, which served to firmly pinion the occupant’s body. When each of these straps was cinched tightly, it made all but the tiniest movement impossible. To add to the restrictiveness, when the Earl was thus secured, his wife also buckled the stiff leather collar around his neck, which kept his gaze focused straight ahead. Additionally, there were metal staples on either side of the narrow end of the bench, to which this heavy collar could be fastened, with short chains, in order to hold his head absolutely immoveable.
So, this being the second Sunday of November, here was where the Earl found himself. He had been expecting the same ritual in which he had participated for many years. Less than an hour before he had removed the coverlet from the Whipping Bench and rolled it to the preferred position, which had the front end facing into a corner of the room. His wife preferred this positioning, so that he could not see her, unless she chose to walk around to the front of the bench. She felt that restricting his gaze thusly, to keep him from viewing the rest of the room, added to the suspense. She especially enjoyed the fact that he could not see her when she entered the room.
The Earl locked the castors in place, preventing any further movement of the bench. Lady Harrisford arrived a few minutes later and he noticed that she was dressed quite formally. There was never any telling how she would be dressed; it was purely her whim. It was not at all uncommon for the Countess to completely disrobe during the punishment session and to administer the caning naked.
Today her Ladyship was in a simple grey ankle-length skirt, with a matching jacket above a white ruffled blouse. Just barely visible below her skirt, the Earl recognized the toes of her especially provocative knee-length lace-up high-heel boots. She carried a sack from which emerged the crooks of several canes. She laid this sack on the Earl’s desk and said, “Shall we begin your preparation, my dear?”.
The Earl smiled and removed his dressing gown and slippers, leaving him standing naked before his wife. He turned his back and waited for her to apply his restraints. She began with another creation of the Swiss craftsman, made especially to keep his hands well away from the target area of his bottom. It resembled a satchel of heavy leather, with two long straps. The Earl put his arms behind his back and bent them at the elbows, so one wrist was next to the other elbow. The Countess brought up the satchel part of the restraint to envelope his arms. Holding it in this position she tossed each of the straps over one of her husband shoulders. The strap over his right shoulder she drew across his chest and pulled it under his left armpit and buckled it to the side of the satchel part. The strap on his left side was similarly pulled across the man’s chest and buckled on the right side of the satchel. With his arms thusly pinioned, the Countess buckled on her husband’s stiff leather collar.
“Just take your place, darling”, Lady Harrisford cooed and, with her hand steadying him, the Earl knelt on the step portion of the bench and spread his knees to either side. After the straps had been fastened which held his legs apart, he leaned forward and laid his body on the slightly tilted tabletop of the Whipping Bench.
Her Ladyship fastened the heavy leather belt just above his buttocks, at the base of his spine, and then another belt at his mid-back, over the leather sack which restrained his arms, and then a third belt just below the level of his shoulders. She made sure that each of these belts was buckled very snugly. Lastly, she fastened the short chains which connected his collar to the front of the bench. The Earl was effectively immobilized.
The Countess walked over to her husband’s desk, to retrieve two more items, and took the opportunity to look back at the restrained man. As always, she noted that she found it very gratifying and stimulating to watch her husband when he was tightly bound.
Shortly after they began engaging in punishment sessions in earnest, Lady Harrisford realized that she did not enjoy hearing her husband cry out in pain. She enjoyed inflicting the pain, she enjoyed seeing him flinch, but she didn’t like him making noise. She considered it an interruption to her power, her show. Plus, she was vaguely afraid that someday he would beg her to stop a punishment session before she wanted to do so. She wondered what she would do if that ever happened.
So, a secure gag had always been part of the Earl’s bondage. It was also prudent for another reason. On Sundays most of the servants had their day off, all except Isabell whose day off was Monday. And it was possible that Isabell might hear the Earl’s involuntary cries of pain as her Ladyship administered the cane.
But there was another reason why Lady Harrisford never failed to affix the gag, even when she knew that Isabell was out of the house. She had a sudden realization one day, as she was fastening the gag strap, and confided to the Earl, “It must be every wife’s dream, dearest, to now and again be able to silence her husband.”
She returned to the Whipping Bench and walked around to the front, where her helplessly bound husband had no choice but to stare into the corner of the room. She bent down to her husband’s face and kissed him on the cheek. “Open wide, darling”, she said. When he promptly complied, she inserted the sponge-filled leather bulb of his gag into his mouth and tightly buckled the retaining strap behind his neck.
It was only after the gag was firmly affixed that her Ladyship began to excite her husband. She reached underneath his chest and ran her fingernails across his nipples. She could just barely hear his low moan of pleasure through the gag. She continued to flick his hard nipples for a few moments, and then took them between fingers and thumbs and gently pinched and twisted, eliciting more moaning sounds. The gag was very effective, but her Ladyship was attuned to these little sounds from her husband. She peeked under the bench and saw, as expected, that her husband’s cock was fully erect. She reached underneath and began to stroke it softly. She let go and peeked again, and saw that it was even harder.
This was how she usually left him, to await his caning. But today there was to be one extra addition, an accessory which they had not used in many years, a blindfold. This consisted merely of two wide leather disks, with sheepskin on the inner surfaces, which were held against his eyes by a leather strap. Lady Harrisford had realized, after using it only a few times, that she really preferred being able to look into her husband’s eyes from time to time, during these sessions. She enjoyed seeing the emotions which they conveyed; his excitement and apprehension. And sometimes, after an especially hard stroke of the cane, if she walked around in front of him and stroked his hair, she could detect a plea in his eyes. But today the blindfold would be needed, for a special reason.
As the Countess positioned the leather disks over her husband’s eyes, the Earl made another small noise, barely audible, which his wife recognized as an expression of surprise and curiosity. His wife merely ignored this and finished fastening the strap of the blindfold.
Lady Elizabeth again took the time to walk around the Whipping Bench and enjoy the view of her husband confined in this position. How delightfully vulnerable, she thought. After she had walked around the bench a few times, testing the tension on the straps, she let her fingers wander underneath the Earl’s tightly pinioned body and tease his nipples again. He certainly did enjoy his bondage, she thought, and she was quite happy about that. She reached under the bench and again lightly stroked his hard cock for a few moments. Again she heard a dull murmur of pleasure from her husband’s gagged mouth.
Finally, satisfied with her husband’s position and degree of excitement, she stood next to him and said, “There we are! Bye, bye, for now sweetheart. You are going to have to wait a little while before your caning begins.”
The Earl heard the click of her heels move across the room and heard the large library door open and close. This was also part of their ritual. He was always forced to endure a waiting period in bondage before his punishment, for at least a few minutes and sometimes for as long as half an hour. It was his wife’s thought that this enhanced the thrill of his situation, his bondage, and she was certainly right. He could struggle, in complete futility, and appreciate the full degree of his helplessness and vulnerability, which he so craved. He could appreciate his complete dependence upon the whims of his lovely wife.
The Earl savored this period; the dread of waiting for the painful thrashing which was inevitable. The dread was part of the thrill; and his absolute helplessness to prevent the thrashing and to avoid the pain. He fully appreciated that very soon he would struggle in earnest to escape his bondage, and that he would wish that the gag was not so secure in his mouth, so that he could beg his wife to release him, or at least go easier with the strokes. He loved it before the punishment session began. And after he loved it, especially as his wife stroked his cock to an astonishingly satisfying orgasm. But there was no doubt about it – the thrashing itself was very unpleasant. A price which had to be paid, and well worth it.
Just to reassure himself, the Earl struggled against his bondage, and the straps which held him so immobile. In the privacy of his own library he screamed into his gag, to test its effectiveness. He soon reaffirmed that he was totally helpless, unable to even make more than the dimmest sound. He could do only one thing, and that was to patiently await his wife’s return.
And now, suddenly, hearing Isabell’s voice, his predicament had taken on a decidedly different nature.
Part 2
Isabell cleared her throat again, before speaking. Although the Earl could not have seen it, Isabell had curtsied when she first entered the room and was then nervously adjusting the apron of her maid’s uniform and her little white cap to make sure that they were properly arranged. This was purely out of habit and, had Isabell fully considering the peculiar circumstances, was completely unnecessary.
“Your Lordship, I have a message from her Ladyship. In fact, I have a letter which I was told to read to you.”
Lord Harrisford heard the footsteps of Isabell approaching across the large room, to within only a few feet of his tightly secured body. He heard the unfolding of paper and Isabell began.
“Here is what she has to say, your Lordship.”
Dearest Henry,
I’m taking a break from our usual routine and Isabell will be administering your caning today.
Isabell thought she heard a muffled sound coming from the Earl and, glancing up from the papers she held, she thought she noticed the tiniest movement as his body strained, as if to struggle against all the straps. Just the slightest of smiles involuntarily appeared on Isabell’s face as she resumed. Isabell continued reading;
There! I’ve said it! I can well understand how you might be quite surprised. I gave great thought about just how I should inform you of this change in plans. I decided to wait until the last minute, so to speak, as I did not wish to engage in any arguments about it. So please resign yourself, dearest, as there is nothing that you can do about it now.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy caning you, darling. I thoroughly love it, as I do all of our little games. I just thought that we were getting into something of a rut, and thought that a change of pace might be interesting. And this will add an extra element of excitement and mystery and apprehension in our little games since, after today, you will never know in advance whether it will be myself or Isabell who will be wielding the cane.
So, what prompted me to change our little routine? I think I had been thinking about it for some time, worrying that we were becoming stultified. But then it all took form in my mind several weeks ago at the dinner given by Lady Brandley. My goodness, Henry, you can sometimes be so pompous; holding forth about this bill or that bill in your House of Lords. It occurred to me that you desperately needed a taste of humility. I’ve been thinking about what to do for several weeks, my dear, and making preparations. And so here we are. Your need for humility will be satisfied through a painful caning delivered by your wife’s maid.
In the three years that she has been with us, my dear, I have observed that Isabell is a very bright girl. When I approached her about this little interlude I found that she was well aware that all was not perfectly traditional in our household. It is so hard, darling, to hide things from one’s maid! She could not help but come across certain unusual items. She did, however, have the good taste and sensibility to keep these discoveries to herself, as I am sure she will continue to do so in the future.
And, dearest, I am happy to say that when I revealed to Isabell some of the details of our singular domestic arrangement, she seemed very, very interested and sympathetic to the idea of a woman having such unusual power within her household. And she had the greatest admiration for a husband, such as yourself, who had the foresight and good sense to give over power to his wife and periodically submit himself to some well-deserved domestic discipline. As we have discussed, my dear, it is the coming thing!
I have spoken with Isabell at length about how women are sometimes called upon to service their husbands in different ways, some quite unorthodox. She greatly respects you for appreciating that husbands might require punishment from time to time, and is thrilled that our household is so progressive. And I have no doubt that Isabell will approach her duties with diligence today, in my absence, and at other times in the future.
Just as an aside, dearest Henry, there is an extra, added benefit to this new arrangement. With Isabell as our sympathetic confederate we can perhaps expand our adventures, especially on Sundays when she is the only servant in the house. Perhaps she can be of service in other ways. Who knows, darling, on those days when I have you securely bound and fastened on your knees, naked, and am prompting you with my dog whip to lick my boots, I might ring for Isabell to bring me a glass of wine.
The Earl, hearing this last passage, knew that his creative wife had added it just to add to his embarrassment and consternation. His present situation was bad enough, he thought. Now he had to wonder whether Isabell was privy to all their domestic secrets and to wonder what he might have to look forward to in the future. For her part, Isabell noticed that a quiver had entered her voice and hoped that his Lordship had not noticed. She cleared her throat before continuing to read, thinking how she would love watching a bound and naked man, especially his Lordship, chained on his knees and forced to lick a woman’s boots.
But all that is a fantasy at the moment, dearest. Right now you have something more tangible to endure.
You are probably wondering why I decided to use a blindfold today. I felt that this was called for during this very unusual situation, this introduction, both for the comfort of yourself and that of Isabell. It saves each of you from making eye contact with the other. Such contact might embarrass you, were you capable of more embarrassment than that which you are suffering at the moment. And it might impede Isabell’s ability to properly carry out of her duties, on this first occasion.Additionally, of course, it gives Isabell a certain necessary freedom, without any embarrassment to herself. It enables her to examine you, and your situation, in close detail, without feeling self-conscious about it. In the future, as Isabell acclimates herself to her new duties, and as you both become more comfortable with this new arrangement, the blindfold should not be necessary. After all, it may come to pass that it will be Isabell who fastens you in preparation for your punishment.
While you are receiving your punishment, I shall be having tea with my sister Jane. I hope to be home in time to see the finale of your punishment, but I might possibly be delayed. You know how chatty Jane can be. If Isabell should finish before my return, I have instructed her to leave you in position, so that I might examine her work.
I must admit, dearest, that I am chuckling about your present situation as I write this, as I shall, no doubt, be chuckling about it at the moment that this letter is being read to you. Jane will certainly notice my giggles and inquire as to why I am in such a cheerful and frivolous mood. It will be all I can do to keep our little secret. When Jane asks after your health I shall do my very best not to say, “Well, his bottom is going to be quite sore before the afternoon is over. Because right now he is in the care of a servant girl. He is tightly and helplessly bound and gagged and naked and strapped down over a whipping bench and my maid Isabell is about to administer a lengthy and severe caning to his backside.”
Have no fear, darling. I have given Isabell very detailed instructions about her duties today. We even practiced caning a pillow, and I feel that she is well prepared. And, for this first try, I have left out for her only the light, wispy canes. Nothing heavy enough to do much damage. But those wispy canes do sting like the Devil, don’t they sweetheart? I have told Isabell to administer each stroke as hard as she can. Although she is quite a strong girl, and even though she is quite capable of wielding the cane as hard as I might, especially on this first occasion it occurred to me that she might be inclined to reticence and might, intentionally or otherwise, moderate her strokes. It is for this reason that I have increased your punishment today by an extra 20 strokes.
Isabell had moved close to the Earl’s face and, as she read this last line, she was sure that she detected a faint moan coming from the vicinity of his tightly gagged mouth and a slight quiver as the Earl again strained against his bonds. She realized that she was feeling warm, and that her face was flushed. She took a deep breath before she continued reading.
So there we have it, dearest. Your thrashing will begin shortly, by a slip of a girl less than half your age, and there is nothing that you can do to prevent it.
I look forward to seeing you sometime later in the day and learning how this new adventure has played out.
All my love,
Elizabeth
After she finished reading, Lord Harrisford could hear Isabell moving around him, taking in all the details of the strange picture before her; his nakedness, his bondage, his still-hard cock. For, in spite of his surprise, he had never lost his erection. His cock had been hard ever since his wife had first begun putting him in bondage. He found the situation strangely stimulating. He thought he could even hear Isabell’s breathing -- deep breaths, and surmised that she might be leaning closer, examining everything in detail.
The Earl detected that Isabell walked around him several times, taking in the view from all angles, and then he heard her return to her original position.
“That’s all the letter, your Lordship. Shall I read the instructions which her Ladyship gave me?” The question was asked automatically by the nervous maid, and only after she had spoken did she realize that her employer had no way to answer. After a slight pause she continued, “Yes, of course. Here is what she wrote.”
Isabell, here are some precise instructions about your special duties on Sunday;
Do not touch his Lordship with anything but the cane and administer the cane only on his buttocks and the backs of his upper thighs; do not touch him anyplace with your hands.
Be particularly careful not to let the cane hit his cock or his balls.
Feel free to change sides, and change hands, as you choose, to see which approach suits you best. Although we have practiced, you must develop your own technique. You may well be called upon to render this service again in the future.
Spread out the cane strokes across the complete areas specified. Do your best to avoid hitting him in the same place more than once but, as the caning progresses, I appreciate that this might be unavoidable.
Strike as hard as you can. Since your caning skills are not yet perfected, and your arm muscles not developed for this purpose, I have increased the number of strokes from the usual. The usual punishment is 30 strokes. Today the number will be 50.
The strokes of the cane are to be administered in sets of 10, with strokes given one minute apart. This is so that the pain of each individual stroke might be fully absorbed and appreciated by his Lordship. After the first 10, give his Lordship a 5-minute rest period.
After the rest period, administer the second set of 10, followed by another 5-minute rest period. Then the third set of 10. After the third set of 10, give his Lordship approximately a half hour rest. During this time you are free to go downstairs, if you wish, and get yourself a cup of tea.
After the half hour intermission, administer the 4th and 5th sets of 10, with a 5-minute rest period in between.
In the unlikely event that the cane should break, I have left two spares. Just continue with those.
If I am not back before the punishment is completed, simply leave his Lordship in his position and go about your other household duties. I shall want to inspect the marks before his Lordship is released.
Isabell stopped reading and said, “And then, your Lordship, it is signed ‘Lady Elizabeth’”
For almost a minute there was almost total silence in the room. But through some light footsteps the Earl could detect that Isabell was walking over toward the area of his desk. He remembered that was where his wife had left the canes. He heard Isabell returning to his pinioned form and again there was silence. Then, suddenly, there was the sound of the swish of the cane. The Earl’s automatic reflex was to flinch, but it had only been a practice stroke. Isabell had been watching him closely as she swung the wispy cane through the air, and had seen his muscles tense, and observed that the tight bondage had prevented any other movement whatsoever. The Earl could not have seen, of course, the satisfied and slightly sly smile of delight which crossed her face as she noticed his reaction to the practice stroke.
It was no more than a few seconds later that the Earl heard Isabell say, in a voice which seemed to him more confident than usual, and possibly a little too enthusiastic and cheery, “So, your Lordship, I believe it’s time to begin.”
The End