"I am very sorry for being late," Violet faltered breathlessly, with a frightened appeal to Helen. She looked perfectly charming in a blue chiffon gown, which set off her porcelain skin and her fair hair to perfection. Helen looked sternly at her, and made no answer.
Dinner was announced.
"Mr. Repton, will you take in Denise," said Helen. "I do apologize to have to give you so silent a companion, but you did seem so charmed by her!"
I sat gagged at the dinner table bright with flowers, among those smartly dressed people, unable to eat and unable to talk. I felt terribly humiliated. It was cruel to make me come down to dinner at all. I found it difficult to breathe and it was all I could do not to burst into tears. To make things worse the company began to talk about the "other" me, Dennis Beryl. "It is such a pity that he is coming home tomorrow," said Mrs. Dawson. "It has been so pleasant and peaceful here while he has been at his girls' school." Everyone agreed. It was a revelation to me how thoroughly unpopular I was. I felt completely ashamed of my past behaviour.
"I think you will all find him greatly changed for the better," said Helen with a smile. "His headmistress's report speaks most highly of his docility and his ladylike ways." How I blushed. Luckily no one knew that I was present except Helen.
"I can quite believe it," said Guy Repton with a hateful snicker. "I think that you are all a little unjust to poor Dennis. I don't think that his nature is really bad, but as a boy he was not in his proper position. He must have known that dressed in male clothes he looked silly and ridiculous, and no doubt he felt uncomfortable. It was this discomfort that made him arrogant and intolerable. But dressed and treated as a girl he would no longer have that feeling of discomfort. He would probably be quite charming." I could have boxed Guy Repton's ears for his impertinence. "Very likely you are right," said Lady Hartley, "but then he ought to be kept a girl all his life."
"Oh yes," cried Mrs. Rivers turning enthusiastically to Helen. I had thrown a stone through the drawing room window of Mrs. Rivers' house, just after she and Charles Rivers had gotten married. She had never forgiven me. Helen shook her head sadly.
"I promised him that he should not have to wear girls' clothes after the two years if he behaved himself." She made a sign to Netta, one of the parlour maids, and Netta took the handkerchief from my mouth and the second one from between my lips. My face was revealed, and Mrs. Rivers cried out enthusiastically, "Oh what a pretty girl!"
I blushed with pleasure, and then the most unfortunate event occurred. I had been sitting with my napkin on my lap, although I had no dinner. I had been consumed with curiosity to know what strange punishment Helen had written down on the sole of my foot. So, while the rest were talking I had slipped off my left shoe. Then dropping my napkin, I had stooped to pick it up and, at the same time, I picked up in it the dainty high-heeled slipper. I held it carefully in my lap and read on the new white sole the words "The glass boxes."
I was wondering what strange punishment "The glass boxes" could be with a thrill of awe. I was under the impression that no one had seen my manoeuvre when Mrs. Rivers uttered her admiring cry; but Lady Hartley had been watching me and she said at once severely, "Yes, a very pretty girl who has kicked off one of her dainty slippers."
I hung my head in shame.
"Is that true, Denise? Let me see!" said Helen sharply.
"Yes, Helen," I said humbly and lifted up the slipper. Helen called to Netta.
"Take a shoehorn, and put on Miss. Denise's shoe at once."
Netta turned my chair around, drew the slipper on my foot, and put my back to the table. Then she took the bracelets from my wrists, unbuttoned my gloves there. She slipped my hands out and turned the gloves back.
"Yes, a very pretty girl," said Lady Hartley severely, "but if she were my pretty girl, I should tie her gloved hands behind her back, and stand her in the corner with her face to the wall with her dainty heels together."
My cheeks grew red with shame. But underneath the shame, I was suddenly conscious of a passionate longing to be punished in a childish and humiliating way in front of these gaily dressed people. I tried to shake the obsession off. It felt dangerous and exciting. The venom was in my veins. I tried to think of my ambitions, my career, but I could only think of the little, new, shining satin slippers that so daintily imprisoned my feet under the table, the fairylike bows, the big blazing buckles, the pointed pearl-embroidered toes. I felt the high Louis Quinze heels sinking deliciously into the thick carpet. Oh, to be made to stand upon them publicly in a corner with my face to the wall with my gloved hands tied behind my back like a naughty child. I rubbed my legs together in a spasm of desire. And then as Netta placed my dinner before me and filled my glass with champagne, Helen cried out with a laugh.
"But, dear Lady Hartley, that is exactly what I shall do with Denise."
The men looked sympathetically toward me, but all the ladies were clearly delighted. As for myself, I had to bend my head over my plate to hide a smile of sheer delight. Mr. Rivers actually pleaded on my behalf. Of course Helen would not hear of it.
"And I think Helen is so right," said Lady Hartley. "I support the punishment of young ladies. People allow them such a ridiculous amount of liberty nowadays. It is quite refreshing to find someone like Helen. It is wise to dress them beautifully and treat them like dainty convicts. That is the only way to keep the silly creatures in good order," she said sternly.
I ate my dinner quickly, while the longing to be punished tingled through my veins. Already I imagined that I could feel Helen's quick little daintily gloved fingers binding my wrists behind me with satin ribbons and adjusting my feet in exquisite finery. As soon as dinner was over, cigarettes and coffee were handed round. I lit a cigarette. It was two years since I had smoked one, and oh how I enjoyed it now! I leaned back in my chair, a smile of delight upon my face, as I relished the rich tobacco.
There was to be a dance for the people of the village after dinner in the village hall, and we were all to go in to it. Helen rose.
"Mr. Repton," she said, "will you kindly take the gentlemen down to the village hall when they are ready. There are two motorcars. They can come back for us. We ladies will come in for the fun a little while later. After that you are all welcome to come back here; we will have our own little dance and some supper."
"Certainly, Miss. Deverel," said Guy Repton. He cast a fiendishly lascivious glance in my direction.
The other two ladies rose and Helen said to them, "Bring your cigarettes, all of you except Denise. I can't have you standing in the corner, Denise, with a cigarette between your lips."
Blushing, I laid my cigarette in the ashtray and followed the ladies from the room.
As they crossed the hall, I heard Lady Hartley say to Helen, "I thought that I read on the sole of Denise's slipper that you were thinking of a quite different punishment for her."
"Yes," replied Helen, "standing in the corner I look upon as a preliminary. The real punishment will be inflicted later on after supper."
"It sounds like a curious one-'the glass boxes.'"
"I think it is interesting and ingenious. You shall see it. I am quite sure you will approve."
I was curious myself as to what the punishment was going to be- curious and frightened.
We all went into a small parlour. It was a lovely little room decorated in white and gold with a polished parquet floor scattered with thick white rugs of Persian silk. It was brightly illuminated with shaded electric lamps, and a cheerful fire burned upon the hearth. The ladies took their seats in comfortable chairs about the fire with an air of eager expectation. They continued to smoke their cigarettes as Helen placed me in the middle and handed a little silver buttonhook to her young cousin Doris.