Page 11 of Lady Mariel’s Scandalous Love

Chapter Five

Mariel had made her way through much of the Fortescue Grange library now – all but a number of the very top shelves, for which the ladder was barely tall enough, and one dark corner, where two huge banks of shelves met the wall, with barely a person’s width between them. The shelves in that narrow space were dusty, and there were no windows at the end – no windows on that wall, for most of its length. She supposed that it abutted another part of the building, but she had no clear map of the place in her head, beyond the main corridors and the rooms she had been into.

This morning, she had debated whether inelegant balancing on the ladder, whilst reaching blindly into shelves at the extent of her arms reach, or getting covered in dust, while attempting to hold up a lamp so that she could read titles in a claustrophobic space, was more appealing. In the end, the narrow space won, simply because there was less awkward stretching involved.

Now, right down at the end of that space, her arm aching from holding up the lantern, she was wondering if she had made the right choice. She looked up, and the height of the shelves above her made the space seem even narrower – how was she ever to get to those high shelves, in here? Looking up, she discovered, was dizzying, when one had been bending down for some time.

Her head spun, and she staggered a little, trying not to drop the lantern. Her other hand reached out, instinctively attempting to grasp something for stability, and slammed into the wall, right where it met the edge of the shelving. There was a lump of carving there, or something similar, and her fingers curled around it reflexively. An odd sound filled the space, then, just as she had almost regained her balance, the wall moved, and she fell against it, barely saving the lantern from crashing to the floor.

She slid down that moving piece of wall until she landed in an ungainly heap at its base. Before her, barely illuminated by the lantern, was a room, not very wide across, but long – extending to both sides from where she sat. A room which appeared to be contained, entirely, within the supposedly solid wall of the library. A room with shelves, and small display cases, and drawers – all of which were coated in a significant layer of dust – so much so that she could not see through the glass which fronted some of the cabinets.

Excitement rushed through her. She had found a secret door, and a secret room, which appeared to have been untouched for a long time! What treasures might there be, which had required them to be hidden away like this? Especially given what treasures she had already found, out in the main part of the library.

She placed the lantern carefully on the floor, and climbed to her feet, before lifting it again. The first thing that she looked at was the ‘door’ – for she did not relish the idea of getting trapped in a secret room. When she could not immediately see how it might be opened from the inside, she selected four very large heavy books, and stacked them where, should it try to close on her, the books would jam it open.

Only then did she step further in, and look around her. She brushed a hand across the spines of the books on one shelf, dislodging a cloud of dust, then leant forward to read the titles. Her heart raced – this was treasure indeed! Every one of them was a book which was scandalous in the extreme – some she knew of, some she did not, yet their titles made their likely content clear. Just that one shelf might keep her reading for days, or weeks.

Slowly, she moved around the room, brushing dust from glass surfaces and books, opening drawers and cabinets – and in every one, what she found was erotic in the extreme. The entire room was devoted to the human obsession with sexuality. The items in the drawers were especially interesting, although the sight of them made her feel heated and a little flustered. They were reproductions of the male member, made in many different materials, from ivory to leather, each minutely detailed, and polished.

She could not resist touching them, imagining as she did, that she touched the warm member of a living man. Were men so varied in size as these? She did not know – it was a question that she had never confronted before. And why had these been made? What were they for? Would a woman… use such a thing, to… pleasure herself?

She felt heat pool at the juncture of her thighs at the thought. She had read, in that explicit book which she had kept her secret for years, a few passages which seemed to imply such a thing. Now, she perceived the touchable evidence of its truth, before her. Her mind, inevitably, went to the important question – what would it feel like, to have one of these pushed into her, as a man would push his member, during fornication?

She sat down rather abruptly on the one spindly chair that the room contained.

Arrayed on the walls, there was also a collection of items which looked oddly similar, in some ways, to the harness one might use on a horse – but of most strange shapes and sizes. As she stared at those, she could only conclude, given the rest of the contents of the room, that they were designed to be used on people. Her imagination ran utterly wild at that point.

Suddenly feeling rather overwhelmed, she rose, lifted the lantern, and went to study the mechanism with which she had accidentally opened the door to the room. Once she was sure that she would be able to open it again, she moved the stack of books from the doorway, and gently pulled the door closed. It shut with a click, and she waited a moment before opening it again, just to be certain that she had it right.

It opened, silently this time. She pulled it closed again, and turned, moving down the narrow space between the shelves. Once she had returned to her rooms, and called for a bath, she stripped off the woefully dirtied gown, and sank into the heated water with a sigh. But when she closed her eyes, the objects in that room displayed themselves to her mind, and her breath caught at the thoughts, and desires, that raised in her. Through it all, one question rose to prominence.

Did Alex and Selina know of it? If they did, why had they not told her, as they knew full well her interest in books of that nature. Had they kept it a secret for a reason? For that matter, did Alex know of it, but not Selina? Alternatively, if they did not know of it… and perhaps they didn’t, for there was so much dust… then she had found something remarkable, something that Alex should know about.

She could not decide whether to tell him or ask him about it or not, and resolved to leave that decision for another day – after she had explored it a little more.

~~~~~

Dash walked up the front steps at Fortescue Grange feeling more nervous than he had in years. He still wasn’t at all sure that he was doing the right thing – in fact, he suspected that what he was about to do was completely mad. But the possibility of getting that book translated was just too tempting.

Somehow, he had to manage a polite and careful conversation with an unmarried young woman about the translation of an erotic text.

Hallam opened the door, and bowed him in, just as Alex came down the stairs.

“Good afternoon, Dash – so, you’ve decided to have that conversation we discussed, have you?”

“Yes. If it’s a suitable time?”

“It is. Come through to the parlour – Selina and Lady Mariel are there, and I have just sent for tea.”

Dash followed Alex, finding that the nervous churning in his stomach increased with every step. Normally, he had no difficulty discussing his collection… with the right people, people who were unlikely to be shocked or horrified. But nothing in his experience had prepared him for the idea of discussing it with an innocent young woman.

The parlour was warm, and the two women presented a picture of domesticity, sitting there with books in hand, and a cat curled on the hearth by the fire. It was a peaceful scene that he was certain to disrupt, utterly. They rose as he entered, and he went forward to bow to them.

“Good afternoon, Your Grace, Lady Mariel. I trust that you are well today?”

God, he sounded inane, even to himself! Alex shook his head, a little amused. Selina spoke first, after her eyes flicked to her husband.

“Very well, thank you Lord Longwood. But please, call me Selina – let us dispense with formality – we are friends, are we not, and there is no one else here to be offended by our informality.”