'I shall attend upon you again tomorrow, my dear, and at this time', she heard distantly and then felt something thrown upon the bed, though could not bring herself to turn her head and reveal even part of her buried face to him.-'You will place it beneath your pillow and there let it stay until I return, Miss Markham', were his departing words.

Scarcely even conscious of where she was at that moment and feeling all the delightful creamy wetness under her, Vanessa lay utterly still as the door closed. Indeed, upon its doing so she did not then immediately rise but remained in a daze of wonderment exactly as Percival intended her to.

Descending the stairs slowly and magisterially, he found Mary hastening into the hall.

'Oh, sir, are you leaving?'

'I am indeed, my girl, and your Mistress desires not to be disturbed. She is in a state of rest, a state of grace indeed', the Vicar announced to the open-mouthed young maid who from his words somehow envisaged Miss Markham as being dressed in angel's attire and floating about her bedroom.

As the door closed upon their visitor, Mary crept to the foot of the stairs and listened, but she could hear not a sound from above and, after a moment's curiosity, returned to her domestic chores.

As for Vanessa, she curled herself up slowly, drawing her legs on to the bed and biting the corner of one of her pillows. Her bottom burned and her cunny tingled still. There was a lump behind her at her hip and she felt blindly with one hand, finding therewith the curled tawse that he had dropped beside her.

Chapter Two