London Mistress Sapphire – Governess Story 2 – written by Mistress Sapphire
All the servants had been assembled on the front steps in order of seniority, ready for the arrival of your new governess. Her appointment had been arranged by your parents from Italy, where they had been for the last four months doing the grand tour.
Your last governess had left suddenly. She was only a little slip of a thing, you could wind her round your little finger. She had fled the house in tears two weeks ago, saying that you were more than she could cope with. How were you supposed to know that she had a strange phobia about frogs? You had only put two in her desk, ready for when she lifted the lid.
You had overheard the cook and housekeeper speaking in hushed tones that morning. Although it was hard to make out every word, you had caught a couple of phrases such as: “The young master will be in for a shock the next time he misbehaves,” and “She will soon mend his ways……” You weren’t worried. You would soon get rid of this new girl, just like you had the last one. Just because your father had had a governess you did not see why you had to have one. Some of the stories that he told you about Governess Sapphire, when he was reminiscing about the old days, made your heart beat a little faster. Apparently she had been a strict disciplinarian, ordering him to the gun room where all the whips and crops were kept when he had been naughty, keeping him waiting naked and bent over the old sawhorse, regularly using a cane or tawse or well-soaked birch on his bare bottom to make him see the error of his ways…….Surely the old man was exaggerating?
There was no way you would put up with that sort of treatment….. From your vantage point at the top of the grand staircase, you saw the carriage crunch up the sweeping drive and pull up at the bottom of the steps. You saw one of the footmen run to open the carriage door, and an imposing, black-clad figure descend. Forbes, the old butler was waiting to welcome her at the top of the steps. You hear him say: “Welcome back, Governess Sapphire. It is good to see you here again
