Only too anxious to hide my naked body, I quickly put on my clothes. While I was doing this, he took out his checkbook and began to fill in a voucher. I couldn't help but feel that he was making out the purchase price for me.

“Shall we say a thousand dollars now, with the understanding that when more is needed you may borrow another thousand and continue in that manner till the amount reaches five thousand?” he said to Father, who nodded an eager agreement. And in that manner my sale to Mr. Raleigh was consummated.

While they were finishing this affair, Mother took me upstairs and helped me pack my clothes.

“You want to be a good girl and mind everything Mr. Raleigh tells you, Lucille,” she said to me. “He is being very good to us, and you must show your gratitude by being always obedient to him. Remember, he has your father's permission and mine too, to whip you, and if you are so ungrateful for what he has done for us as to disobey him, I hope he whips the behind off you.” With that sympathetic parting, I was turned unconditionally over to Mr. Raleigh as his “ward.”

He took me to his home that very night. It was eleven o'clock, which is quite late in the rural district, and all the servants at his home had retired. He showed me to a bedroom that had a door communicating into his. It was nicely furnished, but I hardly noticed that. I was frightened. Mr. Raleigh spoke very pleasantly to me, even using terms of endearment, yet still I was frightened.

And I had reasons to be, because after he had carried my luggage into the room, he went into his own bedroom and came back with a strap. “Lucille,” he said, seating himself on a chair, “you have a peculiar appeal to me. Ever since I first learned that your parents whipped you, I have experienced a desire to give you one myself. And tonight, after seeing you naked, I am more anxious than ever to do it.