The following morning Harriet kissed her pupil affectionately as she wakened him. “Today we are going into Christchurch to do some shopping,” she said.
They set out after breakfast. “Give me your hand, Richard,” she said when they were in the street. “You are still only a child, and one takes children by the hand. Sometimes,” she added with a note of banter, “when you exasperate me too much I tell myself I should put you on a leash, a leather leash, as if you were a little dog.”
The passers–by and the gossips standing on corners and in doorways turned a curious gaze on the handsome young woman with the free and imperious bearing, who was leading by the hand the slender timid youth who might have been taken for a girl dressed in boy’s clothes.
“Ah, here we are,” said Harriet, stopping abruptly at a ropemaker’s shop. Telling Richard to wait, she entered; when she emerged again she was carrying a small whip of cords at which he cast a look of trepidation. It was in fact an English martinet made after the approved model: the handle, made of six strands of whipcord stiffly braided, was short and afforded an excellent grip; the thongs, each tapering to a well-waxed lash whipped with silk, were no more than a foot in length.
Harriet, smiling, made it hiss before the troubled gaze of her pupil, but she said nothing. A few minutes later she drew him into a saddler’s shop in the next street, where a dark smiling man came forward, bowing and rubbing his hands ingratiatingly.
“I wish you to make me a leather martinet, of the same size and style as this,” said Harriet, laying the whip of cords on the counter.
“Certainly, madam,” said the shopman, picking up the instrument of correction with an air of profound respect. “I can have the article made up for you at once, if you wish.” He cast a rapid glance at Richard. “You would like it at once?”
“There is no immediate haste. The end of this week will do very well. You will make it of the finest cowhide, of course, –and I shall leave this as a model for your workman. I should also like to order a simple harness ...”
“Certainly, madam,” said the shopman, bowing and rubbing his hands with even greater satisfaction. “We make harness of all kinds to order, for horses, ponies, dogs: single, double, tandem or unicorn hitch, –everything, in short. We have the honour of supplying my Lord A–, Sir John B–, Mr. C–, the Member of Parliament, and indeed I may say the entire aristocracy of the county. If you will be so kind as to give me your specifications, madam ...”
Harriet cut him short. “I will give them to you now,” she said. “For the measurements, you will take them on this young gentleman here.”
The shopman, taken aback for an instant, glanced from governess to pupil, and back: then his face broke into a smile of understanding and appreciation. “A whipping–harness! But of course. I did not understand at first. Quite so, my dear madam. Nothing is simpler, I can have one made up within the week. First, what kind of leather do you wish? We have all kinds, although none but the best. Ah, but let me show you a side of fine pigskin I have just received! A beautiful leather, madam–and strong, strong as steel: I should say, the very thing for your purpose.”
He brought out the side of russet leather and smoothed it down on the counter.
“That will do very well,” said Harriet, estimating its thickness with her finger.
Under her instructions, the man then took Richard’s measurements for a wide folded belt and a pair of sleeves to strap over his forearms, the latter with spring-catches and rings at the wrist and elbow so they could be fastened together behind his back and then attached to other rings sewn into either side of the belt, thus rendering him quite helpless.
“There is one thing more,” said Harriet, “but it is very important. Let me see a strip of your softest kidskin in a matching shade. It must be about two feet long.”
The man unrolled another piece of supple russet leather, and Harriet explained the purpose it was to serve. Richard, now blushing to the eyes, let the man take the measurement between his legs from the back of his waist to the front, and then note the precise situation of the pouch which was to confine and protect his genitals.
“An excellent thought, madam,” the shopman murmured as he straightened up. “One sees the young gentleman is well looked after...”
Harriet smiled. “You will spare no expense for materials or finishing, of course. And be sure,” she added, “to give the straps some extra length, so the harness cannot be outgrown. It must last for many years.”
“Of course, madam, of course.”
“Very well, I shall return for it at the end of the week. Come, Richard.”
The man sprang to the door of the shop and bowed the customers out. As Richard passed, he winked at him with such a hideously sly satisfaction that the youth, already humiliated almost beyond bearing, was ready to sink through the floor.