And as a result a principal was consulted.
"Yes," said the haughty and stately personage, "a young lady of abnormal development and construction, in fact a hermaphrodite. I quite understand. We have met with several cases of it. The abnormal organ had better be turned under the belt, Miss-"
This was ruthlessly done.
I recollected Lord Alfred Ridlington's observation in the conservatory, that he had met several young ladies with that thing in front. Oh! Would they-would they after all believe me to be really a girl? Walking was now more troublesome but Mademoiselle insisted on it and we went down Regent Street, along Conduit Street and Bond Street, and so back to the hotel.
Luncheon, alas! I could scarcely eat, so tightly cased up was I.
Gertrude had to leave that afternoon. I bade her adieu with tears. And then I was suddenly revived, for Mademoiselle reminded her of the theatre and induced her to stay until the next day, when Mademoiselle purposed returning to Suffolk.
CHAPTER 17
After luncheon Mademoiselle and I drove to a lady-doctor's.
Horror! I cannot dwell upon it.
First my ears were pierced, and I was forced to wear gold earrings. The doctor and her assistant held me during the operation-a painful one!
Then I was placed on a table, on which were several cushions, and fastened down on my back.
My petticoats were turned over my head, my legs well separated and fixed to the corners of the table. Some chloroform was given me to smell which threw me into a dreamy, relaxed condition.
My corset was unfastened, and Dr. Mrs.-stood at my side, an arm over me.
"What a fine one!" I heard her exclaim, in a far-off way, her hand aggressively upon my generative organs. "Now, young gentleman, you will be punished for seducing your cousin, punished by your governess' order, this lady here." And she caught my testicles and slipped her fingers on to the penis, which she, with firm pressure, pushed under the skin, then gathered the prepuce well forward, and pinched it between her finger and thumb.
I could have offered no resistance even if I had not been too drowsy. The lady-doctor held me very rigidly with her left hand, and with a sharp instrument in her right, snipped off the proper portion of the prepuce.
A styptic soon stopped the bleeding. The wound was bandaged scientifically. I was unfastened, told to rest on the sofa, and presently given a small glass of dry sherry.
"I have had occasion," I heard the doctor say to Mademoiselle, as she slipped the fee into her hand preparatory to departure, "lately to punish a surprising number of young gentlemen in this way. You will find it of great service, especially as you tell me he is being educated as a young lady with others; besides it will be of great benefit to him hereafter and improve the character of his offspring. He will be all right in a week and not so prone by a long way to transgress in the mode of which I hear he has been guilty."
I felt very sore, in some pain, and so queer from the chloroform, that I could not walk.
"Take him home in a cab, put him to bed for a few hours in a well-ventilated and airy room; let the window be open; it is a warm afternoon. Oh, yes! I should think he would be well able to go out with you tonight, but do not let him have any stimulants stronger than claret and not much of that; not eating, if you please. Thank you. Good afternoon."
And so we were bowed out and we drove home.
Mademoiselle was extremely kind, really tender to me.
"Now, Julia," she said, tucking me in her own bed, "I trust in future you will be a very good girl," and she gave me a delicious kiss and bade me sleep.
Gertrude was out when we got back.
I awoke very much refreshed about seven o'clock.
Gertrude came in to see me and she and Mademoiselle helped to dress me.
My wardrobe had come from the shop and it included a low dress. I was dressed in all respects like a girl, with opera-cloak, flowers, and ornaments in my hair. My ears were too sore to be touched; the plain gold earrings, Mademoiselle declared, were the only false note about my otherwise chic and smart toilette. Both Mademoiselle and Gertrude with the kindest thoughtfulness and consideration avoided exciting the slightest sexual emotion in me.
A chicken was roasted especially for me and I was permitted a half bottle of claret.
After dinner, Mademoiselle in her lovely diaphanous robes, and Gertrude who looked radiant in a severer costume more suitable to her more Circe-like features, entered the Brougham, and we drove to the Gaiety.
How I enjoyed the performance! How happy I felt.
We returned and had a delicious little supper. I drank soda-water and milk.
Mademoiselle claimed me that night, and, to my intense joy, I spent it in her bed; but, alas, was obliged to do so, as if in very truth I had been a girl.
The principal incident of the next morning was the sale of all my masculine garments to someone who had been directed to call for them. When they were carried away I felt irrevocably a girl.
Then Gertrude bade us, "good-bye," promising to come to see us in a few months at Downlands.
And finally Mademoiselle, myself, and Elise, with augmented impedimenta, drove off to Liverpool Street.
My travelling costume was a very fashionable and becoming one.
"Good-bye, Julia, you dear, dear girl! Don't forget your mamma," said Gertrude. "Be a good boy-girl I mean. Never attempt rebellion. Resign yourself to the petticoat and you will find it sweet."
As we started I felt that I had bidden adieu also to Julian Robinson; as though I could never remember having been a boy any more than last night's dream.
CHAPTER 18
We arrived. Beatrice and Agnes rushed into the hall, and Mary descended the steps to the carriage door. Maud, still unforgiven, did not yet appear.
We went into the drawing room; Elise helped Mademoiselle off with her travelling cloak and hat and gloves, and did the same kind office for me with less ceremony and more promptitude, and then Maud entered in her short frock with the tea-tray and cast a reproachful look at me. The proud beauty evidently felt very keenly the position to which she had been degraded, as, under Mary's superintendence and orders, she set out the tea things. Mademoiselle noticed both the look and Maud's manner and glanced at Mary who seemed to have been waiting for it.
"Yes, indeed, Miss," she instantly said, "we have had great trouble with her; she would not wash the vegetables or peel the potatoes and has been trying to get at her own dresses. She locked herself up in her own room yesterday afternoon and set me at defiance."
"It is a shame, a disgrace," burst out Maud, looking beautiful and flushing with rage, "to dress me like this, to treat me like a servant; I wonder what my uncle-"
Mademoiselle, seated in her chair quite at her ease, looked at her with that dangerous smile I had long ago learnt to dread.
"Take off your drawers," she ordered.
"No, I won't," said Maud, with a stamp, "here in the drawing room before him; or"-with hesitation, "anywhere else either."
"Him!" retorted Mademoiselle. "This is Julia, your cousin, a girl like yourself," and she got up there and then and gave Maud a ringing slap on each cheek.
"Take them off," Mademoiselle repeated.
Maud burst into tears and sobs.
The trimmed ends of her drawers were visible below her frock. At Mademoiselle's reiterated command she gathered it up about her waist, the sting of the slaps proving sufficient motive, and took off the clothing.
Maud was put across an ottoman, weeping. Her pretty bottom was exposed, her skirts turned over her head.
Mademoiselle then gave her two dozen lashes. The lovely pink and white skin quickly became scarlet, and in some places there were blue marks. She rolled and wriggled, displaying herself under the influence of the smart with absolute recklessness. Mademoiselle then gave her with deliberate severity which took my breath away, a third dozen. At its close Maud appeared to faint in an ecstasy of delight. Beatrice and Agnes could not sit still. Mademoiselle's eyes sparkled with a strange light.