relatively small château, and its twenty rooms were planned and decorated in a manner that verified its hypothetical purpose without sacrificing any creature comforts.
It was not difficult to picture the past: the carriages arriving from Paris with the necessary provisions, which were, of course, the most desirable choices of the court. Some of these young ladies had already been measured and found to be of adequate spirit. The others were indeed ready to experience initiation. All anticipated the delights of the chase. On the first pleasant afternoon, according to the rules, the pretty young things were sent scurrying into the woods in various directions, disrobing as they ran, leaving a trail of silks and laces and linens for the royal hunters. High hairpieces were knocked awry by low-hanging branches. Dainty slippers were left in the crotches of trees. Stockings streamed from the tips of saplings. And when the last, the most intimate of their female attire was left to mark the way, they themselves prevented the possibility of escape by revealing their locations with little cries of despair. Finally, feigning fatigue, each collapsed upon some carefully selected bed of moss or leaves, and waited to be overtaken. The stalkers were soon upon their quarry, whose ecstatic shrieks often frightened away such guileless creatures as birds, rabbits, and, sometimes, a doe.
Maren contended that some of these merrymakers still inhabited the house and its grounds. In their spiritual forms, of course. She claimed she could literally feel their presence. Once she found a length of pink ribbon in the woods and considered it to be a supernatural confirmation. The girls were still playing around, she claimed.
It was a provocative thought, that those lovely libertines and their gallant counterparts were scampering about the place. Certainly the premise was inspiring enough to make one want to believe. It didnât matter, really, that the ribbon found by Maren had actually been left there unintentionally just a few days before by a young girl of the town, who, while lovemaking, had released her long hair to please her partner. Maren did not know that, and even if she had, she would have said the girl had been prompted by the pervasive spirits.
Maren called London and asked Mildredâs opinion. Mildred heard the facts and promised to ask around. An hour later, the little medium called back collect and confirmed Marenâs perception. Yes, the spirits were there in considerable number. Mildred had communicated directly with several, particularly one named Simone who revisited every year from April to late September. Not more than a hundred yards from the house was a mossy glade where Simone had, with delightful compliance, taken and given her first with none other than the Monarch himself. An experience Simone could not repeat, naturally, but one so exquisite that she was irrepressibly drawn back to the place. Said Mildred.
The following day, without explaining to Chesser, Maren arbitrarily chose a direction and made him count off a hundred paces into the woods. Coincidentally or not, it brought them to a moss-covered spot. Maren was overjoyed. She circled the small area, respectfully. She transmitted some silent, sisterly communion to Simone, and received feelings she translated as invitation more than impulse.
Maren removed her shoes and placed them precisely on the peak of a jutting rock.
Chesser asked what she was doing. She didnât reply, so he shrugged and leaned against a tree to watch.
Next, she took off her skirt and blouse and, with some care for arrangement, draped them over a dipped bough. All that remained were her bikini panties. She got quickly out of those, bent a young, pliant tree and placed them on its highest point. She released the tree and the panties were swished up out of reach, high, like a guiding pennant.
Then she lay face down on the spread of moss, motionless for a long moment, pressed by her
It was not difficult to picture the past: the carriages arriving from Paris with the necessary provisions, which were, of course, the most desirable choices of the court. Some of these young ladies had already been measured and found to be of adequate spirit. The others were indeed ready to experience initiation. All anticipated the delights of the chase. On the first pleasant afternoon, according to the rules, the pretty young things were sent scurrying into the woods in various directions, disrobing as they ran, leaving a trail of silks and laces and linens for the royal hunters. High hairpieces were knocked awry by low-hanging branches. Dainty slippers were left in the crotches of trees. Stockings streamed from the tips of saplings. And when the last, the most intimate of their female attire was left to mark the way, they themselves prevented the possibility of escape by revealing their locations with little cries of despair. Finally, feigning fatigue, each collapsed upon some carefully selected bed of moss or leaves, and waited to be overtaken. The stalkers were soon upon their quarry, whose ecstatic shrieks often frightened away such guileless creatures as birds, rabbits, and, sometimes, a doe.
Maren contended that some of these merrymakers still inhabited the house and its grounds. In their spiritual forms, of course. She claimed she could literally feel their presence. Once she found a length of pink ribbon in the woods and considered it to be a supernatural confirmation. The girls were still playing around, she claimed.
It was a provocative thought, that those lovely libertines and their gallant counterparts were scampering about the place. Certainly the premise was inspiring enough to make one want to believe. It didnât matter, really, that the ribbon found by Maren had actually been left there unintentionally just a few days before by a young girl of the town, who, while lovemaking, had released her long hair to please her partner. Maren did not know that, and even if she had, she would have said the girl had been prompted by the pervasive spirits.
Maren called London and asked Mildredâs opinion. Mildred heard the facts and promised to ask around. An hour later, the little medium called back collect and confirmed Marenâs perception. Yes, the spirits were there in considerable number. Mildred had communicated directly with several, particularly one named Simone who revisited every year from April to late September. Not more than a hundred yards from the house was a mossy glade where Simone had, with delightful compliance, taken and given her first with none other than the Monarch himself. An experience Simone could not repeat, naturally, but one so exquisite that she was irrepressibly drawn back to the place. Said Mildred.
The following day, without explaining to Chesser, Maren arbitrarily chose a direction and made him count off a hundred paces into the woods. Coincidentally or not, it brought them to a moss-covered spot. Maren was overjoyed. She circled the small area, respectfully. She transmitted some silent, sisterly communion to Simone, and received feelings she translated as invitation more than impulse.
Maren removed her shoes and placed them precisely on the peak of a jutting rock.
Chesser asked what she was doing. She didnât reply, so he shrugged and leaned against a tree to watch.
Next, she took off her skirt and blouse and, with some care for arrangement, draped them over a dipped bough. All that remained were her bikini panties. She got quickly out of those, bent a young, pliant tree and placed them on its highest point. She released the tree and the panties were swished up out of reach, high, like a guiding pennant.
Then she lay face down on the spread of moss, motionless for a long moment, pressed by her
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