The Sins of the Fathers

Chapter Twenty Two

The New Cathedral

Meadvale

Surrey

"She is letting us talk in private at least...I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies my dear...the extendable leash is such a boon for those who wish to be really conspicuously pious...we are truly blessed, Caroline?" Brogan Osborne muttered as they strolled graciously through the Trevor Memorial Gardens, in the shadow of the New Cathedral, ten metres or so in front of Miss Bryant.

"Miss Bryant is probably doing it for my benefit, Ma'am?" Caroline suggested, doing her best to control her heavy cloak in the breeze. "She doesn't trust me...she says I walk like an elephant?"

"She doesn't trust either of us...but this is just an affectation...first adopted by dear Lady Winstanley...if I remember it all correctly...at the behest of her husband...the very man my own husband has just destroyed...I can't believe he is allowing this?" Brogan hissed, careful not to attract Miss Bryant's attention, despite her anger. Both women were wearing collars to which the leashes were attached, so that their keeper could set their pace and keep them constantly under discipline whilst touring the village. Hidden behind a thick mantle and with dense lace veils covering her eyes, plus a long-winged poke bonnet, Caroline could not see much of the sights, but that did not seem to matter to anyone else. "But...ours is not to reason why...try not to stumble, dear...she will punish you for clumsiness?"

"Sorry, Ma'am...but my corset is so tight...and this gown is so wide...on top of the cloak which weighs a ton?" Caroline moaned, desperate not to displease Miss Bryant, immediately terrified at the thought of being punished again. "I have not been trained for this?"

"Yes...this is all a little unfair on you...have you talked to your husband about it?"

"I have not seen him since dinner last night, Ma'am...he will have been with his patients as always?"

"Oh, I see...did Miss Bryant..."

"Yes, Ma'am...in my sleeping gown...and then she smacked me...on the cleaning frame this morning...because she said I whimpered when I was being auto-laced?"

"I shall talk to Sebastian...just do your best, Caroline?" Brogan urged, just as they both felt a sharp tug on their collars, the signal to stop. Both women did so, clasping their mittened hands together in front of their bodies and bowing their heads, showing due deference to the young keeper.

"You are forgetting yourself, Caroline...your conversation should not be so animated and you must try to walk gracefully?" Miss Bryant chided, treating her like a child, but there was nothing that she could do about it, of course. She was mittened, sight-restricted and haplessly enveloped in heavy, cumbersome garments, which made it impossible to seem elegant and poised, as the keeper expected. "What sort of example do you think you are setting for all the tourists?"

"I am trying, Miss Bryant...I beg your forgiveness?"

"I shall walk you both to heel for a little while, and we can work on your carriage as we go along...it is busier near the monument...but you may still converse," Miss Bryant said as she shortened the leashes and moved between them. "I am sure Lady Osborne will want to show you the memorial to her first husband?"

"Of course, Miss Bryant." Brogan replied politely, instantly back under control as a dutiful Daughter of Eve should be. Caroline Blackstone had never met anyone like her before and found her ability to switch from her own personality to blind obedience in an instant quite incredible. In private, safe from the keepers, Brogan was sharp, witty and almost rebellious with her observations about people and her routine. But as soon as her keepers returned, she was transformed into a submissive paragon of virtue. It suggested that she knew her place to Caroline, or at least that was what Diane Walker would have said, because a lot of her training had involved learning how to put her charges in their place. Diane had tried to explain what that meant, but it was hard without practical demonstrations and that was the last thing Diane wanted to do to her friend. But Brogan was putting on a display for her, and Caroline was just starting to get the idea. Miss Bryant could teach them both to walk as she wanted, and punish them for not doing so as much as she liked, but that was not about their place. Brogan had been under instruction since she was eighteen, but learning her place was not about her lessons. Her place was really her life, and realising that she could not alter or control it was the most important lesson of all. In Miss Bryant's presence, Brogan was helpless, dependent and docile. Her spirit, which Caroline already knew that she possessed in abundance, seeped out of her as she submitted herself anew to her keeper, subservient and clearly eager to please as any Daughter of Eve should be.