Chapter 33: “How could you?”

The vestibule of the Great Hall at Hoxton Hall

Edmund Molloy, journalist and dinosaur expedition member, has, despite his better judgement, been indulging in intimate encounters with a number of women before Lord Hoxton's birthday party commences at Hoxton Hall.  He his anxious about the behaviour of his sweetheart Daisy, who, to his regret, is attending the same notorious event.  A French publisher has agreed to publish Edmund's erotic reminiscences as well as his account of the journey to a lost plateau. Edmund is likely to make a substantial sum of money, as a result.

I left Lord Hoxton’s study, so that the two men could discuss something to do with Dupont’s daughter, who was, it seemed, joining our liner at Havre, as she was on her way to Portugal to meet her fiancé.

I immediately sensed that the house now had many more people in it.  I saw a small group of men and women pass at the end of the corridor and several more people were in the main drawing room being served Champagne by Anderson.  I spotted a number of attractive women among them, although I thought they were more Edith's age than Daisy's.  I arrived at the main entrance hall where several of the Babylon girls stood, apparently waiting for something, all dressed in the flimsiest of costumes.  With a shock I realised that two of them were, in fact, Daisy and Edith.

“Edmund!  What do you think of our costumes?” asked Daisy, spotting me as I walked into the hall.

“Goodness me!” I said. They stood before me and then twirled about to give me the benefit of all aspects of their attire.  Edith wore a long skirt in a rich silver and turquoise fabric which was low on her hips.  She had several strings of silver chains, with coins attached, below her hips too.  She wore one of the bolero jackets in bright scarlet and underneath had an almost transparent pale blue long sleeved blouse.  Her embonpoint was revealed through the transparent material as was her belly button. As she turned, I realised her skirt had a long slit from hem to hip which revealed her leg as she rotated. Her hair was hanging down her back and she had more coins hanging across her forehead. Daisy was, indeed, as she had desired, wearing a pair of the voluminous harem trousers I had first seen on Sutton the night before.  They were red and almost completely transparent, clinging to her bottom like a second skin and revealing her bald Venus mound, on closer inspection. She too wore a bolero jacket, which looked to be a twin of Edith’s; red with gold embroidered decoration, but wore nothing underneath it.  She had a red scarf tied over her forehead, like a gypsy girl and her hair tumbled down her back as well.  Both were wearing soft, scarlet slippers.  Daisy also had the bells around her ankles that Emily had worn but also had them around her wrists.  She jingled as she moved.  Edith now had her eyes outlined with kohl too and they wore some sort of purple paint on their eyelids.  “You both look completely wonderful!” I said.  They did but, in fact, I felt that Daisy was revealing far too much.

“We feel so exotic!” said Daisy.  I was going to comment that perhaps she was a little too exotic, when she stepped forward and embraced me, raising her sweet face for a kiss I was happy to bestow. She slipped her hands onto my bottom and rubbed herself against me as she slipped her tongue into my mouth.

“Well, it looks like you have found your friend, Mr Molloy.  Unless you have just made a new one!” Daisy and I broke apart to see Mrs Attwood, wearing a dressing gown, crossing the hall.  I didn’t know where her clothes had gone.  She was barefoot. 

“Well hello you four!” she said looking at the women’s bosoms.  Edith laughed. Mrs Attwood squeezed my arm.  “I tried to entice him to wash my back in the bath earlier but he was more intent on finding you two ladies and I can fully understand why, now. What a delicious thing you are, young lady.  You quite make my pussy dribble!  And you, madame,” she said addressing Edith, “carry yourself like a queen of Byzantium! I’m Diane, by the way.”

“I’m Edith!”

“You are a lovely woman!  What a pair!” said Mrs Attwood, leering at Edith’s barely concealed cleavage.  Edith, I noticed, thrust her chest forward a little.

“This is Daisy!” I said.  Mrs Attwood stepped forward and kissed Daisy on the lips.  Daisy stiffened slightly, I noticed.

“Well, how nice to meet you.  I had better get my costume sorted out.  Although it will consist entirely of a few gold chains.  I cannot see the point of wearing a costume which you then remove almost immediately for the first dance!”

“Perhaps it is better to keep some things hidden, initially, rather than putting everything on display from the start!” said Daisy, icily.  “The latter might be taken for desperation!”  Mrs Attwood smiled and removed her dressing gown, draping it over her arm, so that she stood naked before us.  

"Desperate for the salty, musky delights of feminine parts!” she said. My manhood twitched, despite myself. “It is you in that naked picture inside the main door, is it not?"  Daisy opened her mouth to say something but shut it again.  Edith's mouth twitched. "Anyway, ladies, more people are arriving every minute!  Bye Muscles!  See much more of you later!  You too, ladies, hopefully!” she grinned and started to climb the stairs. Daisy watched her until she was out of sight.

"What a nice bottom!" observed Edith. Daisy scowled.

“Who is that woman?” hissed Daisy after Mrs Attwood had disappeared upstairs.

“Mrs Roger Attwood.  The MP’s wife!” I said.

“Is her husband here?” asked Edith.

“No, he remained in London,” I said.

“You’ve obviously been getting to know each other!” said Daisy to me.

“I met her when she arrived, that is all!” I said, rather glad that Daisy seemed to be jealous.

“I don’t like her!” said Daisy.

“You’ve only just met her!” I said, even more pleased. And I don't like the general, either, I thought.

“She looks like a bad lot!” said Daisy. “I can tell!”  Just at this point Daphne Crozier appeared, dressed in a long, royal blue skirt and a crimson blouse.  She had a white and gold scarf around her hips.

“We have just met Mrs Attwood, Do you know her, Daphne?” asked Edith.

“Yes.  In passing. She is close to James but since Lady Caroline has been on the scene she has not quite been the regular visitor she once was.  I haven’t see her for a while, now.  She can be very amusing!”

“Hmm,” said Daisy.  “She tried to get Edmund into the bath, she said.”

“Hah!  Her reputation is that she would have been more interested in getting you into the bath, Daisy!  There is a reason her husband has taken up with an Italian poetess in Hampstead!” said Lady Crozier.

“Perhaps she just genuinely needed someone to wash her back,” I ventured. 

“Not likely!” said Daisy.  

"She has been riding this morning!" I continued. "She indicated that..."

"Edmund you are so innocent sometimes!" said Daisy. 

“Daisy did not take to her!” said Edith.

“Oh!  But she is a model for the new woman, Daisy, like yourself,” said Lady Crozier.  “ A suffragette! You should try to get to know her, Daisy.  She is a pilot,” said Daphne.

“What of a boat?  You mean a yachtswoman,” said Daisy.

“No, a pilot of aircraft.  She has her own flying machine!” said Lady Crozier.

“Really?” said Daisy.  “She actually flies?  In a machine?  In the air?” She looked thoughtful.  “Perhaps I should interview her for my column in the Courier!”

“She has a motor car too.  She drove herself here!” I said, trying not to sound too impressed. We chatted for a little longer and then Lady Crozier said she needed to find her husband.

"Probably testing one of his prophylactics on a Babylon girl!" she laughed. “Dancing in the ballroom at eight, don't forget!” said Lady Crozier.  “You must pick up masks from the French Salon where you got your costume, Edmund. You have to be naked to dance, of course.  Leave your clothes and collect your mask!” She laughed.  “Nearly time, newcomers!  I am so excited, it is running down the inside of my thigh!” She kissed us all and went upstairs too.

“Are you ready for the debauchery you two!” asked Edith.

“Ready for the harem!  Ready to be ravished!” said Daisy.

“Only by me, I hope!” I added, trying to smile.

“Don’t tell me what to do or who to do it with this evening, Edmund,” she scolded.  “I will not do that to you.   I saw you looking at that MP’s wife!  If we both follow our carnal desires and forget our society’s morals for one weekend we can enjoy ourselves and look forward to much more time together with no jealousies, I hope.”  She stood on tiptoe and kissed me.  “Please.” Her face softened.  She really was a prize.  Could I bear to see her disporting herself with others at all, though?  Perhaps, deep down, I felt that I wasn’t worthy of her.  Perhaps I knew that one of these more successful men could easily turn her head and spirit her away.  Was this the case for all girls born disadvantaged?  The pretty ones, like Lady Caroline, could climb the social ladder that their backgrounds would otherwise not permit.  I wondered what my own mother would have thought of me disporting with a maid.  Apart from the none to small issue of me having sexual relations with any woman before marriage, of course.  Oh dear! I would be seeing her the following week and I worried that she would be able to read my mind!  Like Sutton.

I went upstairs to use the facilities and Daisy and Edith went off in search of Lady Caroline to discuss ‘something for later’ which they would not elucidate on. I knocked on the door of our bedroom, wandering if Emily and Britten were still in there. They were not and the bed looked undisturbed, to my surprise.  I sat and jotted down some notes in my journal.  What if I just stayed up in the bedroom?  Would anyone notice if I appeared or not, given the mass of people due into the house?  I sat and thought and changed my mind several times.  In the end I decided that I had already proceeded so far down a slippery slope that weekend that hiding upstairs would do me no good whatsoever.  Perhaps I should approach it like Daisy seemed to be doing and just enjoy myself.  I had certainly enjoyed Lady Hoxton and Ruby the maid that day. I was startled from my reverie by a knock at the door.

“Come in!” I called. It was Edith, alone. She sat on the side of the bed and patted the mattress next to her.  I sat down.

“Are you alright, Edmund?  You look thoughtful!”

“I am!” I said.

“Looking forward to this evening?  I certainly am!”

“I am not sure, Edith.”

“Worried about losing Daisy to a richer more powerful man?”

“It is difficult to conceal anything from you, Edith.”  Was I so easy to read that all women could tell exactly what I was thinking?

“I am, although it pains me to admit to the fact, a lot older than you are, Edmund.  I have considerably more experience of human emotional affairs.  My personal view is that Daisy genuinely adores you but sees this as a unique opportunity to explore the boundaries of her carnal desire.  As do I, I must confess.  I intend to fornicate with alacrity this weekend and then return to my normal life.  Treat this time as a brief madness.  Like taking cocaine, for example.  I will not become addicted to opiates and I will not become addicted to having intimate relations with random men and women.  I will return to George and, once I have identified a new young man to satisfy my fleshly desires, carry on as before.  I am not a slut, Edmund and neither is Daisy.”

“I did not suggest you were, Edith but Daisy is behaving...”

“Now stop just there! Since you have been here you have copulated with Lady Hoxton and the maid, Ruby at least. Do you wish to confess to anyone else?”

“Sutton, the butler!”

“Good heavens!  You really cannot make any comments about Daisy!  Are you going to tell her?”

“No. It will just encourage lewd behaviour in her, I think!”

“Behaviour like you yourself have already indulged in, Edmund!”

“I suppose so!” I admitted.

“Now, Edmund, contemplating my own sexual pleasure, you leave for South America on Wednesday.  This may be our last chance!”

“Last chance for what?”  She removed her jacket and blouse, stood and pushed her skirt over her hips.

“Last chance for a goodbye fuck!” She smiled at me.  Embrace your carnal desires, I told myself.  I pushed my trousers down over my growing manhood. Sh grinned and lay on the bedspread, her thighs splayed. I began to gamahuche her and probe her juicy cunt with my finger.

Edith and I had an energetic coupling on the bed.  Her with her knees up over my shoulders, me pounding her vigorously. I slipped a finger up her arsehole and she started to spend, her internal muscles squeezing my manhood, although I did not spend myself. Too many dark thoughts prevented the necessary relaxation.

“That was terrific!” said Daisy's voice from behind me.  I rolled off Edith to see Daisy sitting in a chair over the other side of the room.

“How long...” I gasped.

“Since ‘fuck me Edmund, fuck me like there is no tomorrow!’" laughed Daisy.  “You certainly did!  I could see your cream dribbling out from here, Edith!”

“Daisy, I can explain,” I began.

“You don’t need to!  Edith said she was going to try and find you for a goodbye one!  It was all I could do not to join in! Such fun!” Daisy came over to the bed and kissed me on the lips.  She then kissed Edith too, then knelt down and kissed my wet manhood.  “I intend to get fucked senseless tonight!  I have just been fondling Sir Gerald through his trousers!” said Daisy. “He was stroking my bottom!  William and Emily have done it this afternoon. Have you had any sensual fun, Edmund?  I do hope so.  I don’t want you to be boring tonight.”

“I..I did have a bath with Lady Hoxton.  And drew her naked!” I confessed.

“Lady Hoxton!  Really!  She is old enough to be my grandma!” laughed Daisy.

“She is in excellent shape for a woman half her age!” I said.

“Which would still be ten years older than me!” said Daisy.“Was it just a bath or did you do more?”

“There was some mutual pleasure,” I said, carefully.

“Did you do her?” asked Daisy, caressing her mound through her trousers.

“From behind.  In the bath,” I winced, expecting to be hit.

“How could you!” shouted Daisy. I jumped off the bed and grabbed my clothes, wondering if I could make a run for it. “How could you do her without me being there to watch?  I would have loved that!”

“Oh!” I said.  Edith smiled at me and got up from the bed too.

“Superb!” said Daisy.  “Does James know?”  I shook my head. “Better not tell him!  He might use you for target practice!  Running across the lawn, naked with your cock bobbing.  Bet he could shoot it off from a hundred yards!” She laughed.

“I.. I also had Ruby the maid and Sutton the butler!”  I might as well come out with it all.

“Ooh!  At the same time?” I told her all the details and she gently frigged me the whole time as I recovered my tumescent state as soon as Daisy touched me.  She was very jealous of Edith having watched me have Ruby. “What a shame Mr Smaile didn’t photograph that!”  I had also told her about our photographic session with Lady Hoxton.  Daisy insisted on cornering Smaile for photographs of the two of us the following day.

“The best part was when Ruby stuck her finger up his arse,” said Edith.  “You should have seen his cock twitch!”

“When you next have another woman you better make sure I am there to watch!” said Daisy.  I didn’t ask her what she had got up to.  I didn’t want to know.

“Right!” said Edith, having put her clothes back on.  “Downstars to debauchery!”

“Terrific!” said Daisy.

Daisy and Edith, after kissing me goodbye, went to find Elizabeth Smarme, who they had agreed to go to the dance with, as that officially launched the festivities.  I said that I would join them in the ballroom in due course. Before I left the room I picked up a small notebook and a soft pencil, so that I could try and capture something of what went on that night. I looked at myself in the mirror, took a deep breath and headed out of the door.

I descended the stairs to the ground floor and heard the peculiar wailing sounds of what I took to be the Turkish orchestra tuning up (in fact they were not tuning up at all. That was the sound they made when playing properly). The Great Hall was just off the entrance hall so I walked under the stone arches at the top of a short flight of stairs to the vestibule.  All the electric lights had been turned off and only candles lit the house.  I had not ventured into the Great Hall yet. As I passed under the arch, with the doorway to the hall in front of me, I was confronted by two large Negroes, dressed in similar trousers to myself and sporting ornate gold sashes around their waists.  Their upper bodies were bare and appeared to have been oiled.  They wore silver bracelets and necklaces decorated with the teeth of some wild animal.  They both wore be-feathered headbands of leopard skin.  They each had long spears and carried curved swords at their hips. When I tried to enter the Great Hall they crossed their spears in front of me, blocking my way.

“No, sir!” said one.  They had six inches on me so I decided not to argue.  I suppose it was only fair that Hoxton should enter first, I supposed. “The ballroom is open for guests, sir.  You may dance if you are masked!”

“Just looking!” I said, trying to peer past them into the hall but they were so large that they effectively obscured my view. All I could discern was that the room was very dimly lit indeed and I could hear the wailing sound of the Turkish orchestra. “Goodbye, gentlemen!” I said to the Negroes.

“We will welcome you soon, sir!” said one.

“I look forward to it!” I said and turned back to the entrance hall. As I approached the front door, I could see there were now about a half a dozen girls from the Babylon Exploration Society waiting there. They all wore brightly coloured silk skirts which were slashed both sides almost up to the hip revealing enticing slices of leg.  They also wore variants of the short bolero waistcoat jackets thus revealing the bare skin between their bosoms.  They were adorned with gold and silver bracelets, anklets, necklaces or the tinkling bells Daisy wore.  Some had gold chains around their revealed waists. “Hello Bettina!” I said spotting the lovely blonde German.

“Hello sir!  How nice to see you, Mr Edmund!” she said, smiling sweetly.

“Likewise, Bettina.  Don’t you all look lovely in your Turkish attire!”  They looked utterly magnificent.  Lord Hoxton's Turkish fantasy was to be brilliantly realised, given the presence of these delicious creatures, I thought.

“I do feel that I should be appearing in pantomime in Forty Thieves or Sinbad!” laughed Bettina. “As should you, sir!”

“It is certainly theatrical!” I agreed, admiring her.  She introduced me to the other girls who I had not met before, although I recognised some of them from the ‘menu’ from when I first visited the society. Claudia and Gina, sisters from Italy, Gretchen another German, Elvira from Barcelona, Koula from Greece and Marie from Switzerland. “And what is your exact role here?” I asked, as they appeared to be waiting for something.

“To be having the fucking with the guests!” said Claudia.  I blushed, fearing I had embarrassed them by not thinking about my question.

“Of course that but we are here to guide the guests to the French Salon, for their costumes, as they arrive,” explained Bettina.  “Ah here!”

A couple had just stepped through the front door which was being held open by Sutton.

“Well, what a reception committee!” said a distinguished looking man with a loud booming voice.  He would have given Professor Challenor a run for his money in the volume stakes.  He was tall, broad shouldered and had thick black hair with a touch of grey at the temples.  He was accompanied by a much younger woman.  She was small, curvy and blonde and wearing a tight white hobble evening dress which plunged, rather undecorously, at the front. Her embonpoint covered by a thin layer of gauze.  He leered at the assembled group of Babylon girls but did not greet them.  “Ah and who might you be, young fellow?” he asked me.

“He is a dream that’s who he is!” said the girl, who looked to be about a third of his age.

“I am Mister Edmund,” I replied, deciding to use the Babylon Society protocol.  “An acquaintance of Lord Hoxton!”

“Ah!  One never knows who are servants who are, er, entertainers and who are guests at these affairs. Not that it matters I suppose, when it comes down to it, what?  I’m Mister Robert!” he held out his hand and I braced myself, as his hand was enormous, but his grip was firm but measured, thank goodness.  I have comparatively small hands and always suffer from those who seem to think a handshake is some sort of virility test.

“You’re Judge Robert!” said the girl.  Ah, so this must be the notorious Judge ‘life imprionment” Rowland, I realised.

“Quite, dear.  And this is my, ah, niece!”  Her hair didn’t look the natural tone of Lady Crozier’s blonde locks but looked like it came out of a bottle and seemed to have the texture of baked straw.

“Mavis!” she said to me.

“A distant relative,” said Judge Rowland.  “Niece is a catch all definition to obviate the need for complex and tedious ‘twice removed’ explanations and what not!”

“Very sensible!” I said.  Mavis took my hand and winked at me.  I suspect she had no blood relationship to him whatsoever and wondered why he needed to dissemble on the subject here but, perhaps, it was force of habit to explain his having such an unlikely looking companion.

“If you would come with me, sir and miss, we can be attending to your costumes!” said Claudia.

“Well, I hope I can fit into mine!  Put on a little weight since the New Year!” said the Judge.

“I love it!” said Mavis, putting her arms around his waist.  He actually didn’t look that heavy but was obviously large boned.

“Do not worry sir, we have many spare items of clothing in the very different sizes!” said Claudia.

“Splendid!  Lead on Claudia!” said the Judge.  So he obviously knew her name from the Babylon Exploration Society.  Claudia led the way towards the other wing where the costumes were.  

“Splendid arse!” said the judge as he watched Claudia’s behind undulate away from him.

“Bet you’d like to give her a good spanking, Rob!” said Mavis.  I couldn’t imagine Judge Rowland answering to ‘Rob’ very happily.

“The girl I want to meet is that one from the newspaper you showed me!” he said as they walked off. “The one in the picture just inside the door!  Now that is an arse in a million!”

“Told you the Courier is a better newspaper than the boring old Times!” said Mavis, looking over her shoulder and winking at me again.  Oh dear, what if all the men wanted to meet Daisy?  I could see her loving that!

I decided to follow the judge and Mavis, discretely, as I needed my mask to gain entrance to the ballroom.  The French Salon changing room was thronged with people in various states of undress as they changed from their normal clothes into the fantastic garb of a Turkish palace.  There was a separate table with masks upon it behind which stood a Baby;on girl I did not know.  She was a Negress of luminous and exotic beauty with hair tied into shoulder length braids.

“Do you require a mask, Mr Edmund, sir?” she asked in an appealing, lilting accent.

“Oh!” I said, surpised that she knew my name, although Lord Ventnor had insisted that my portrait appeared next to each piece I wrote on the Challenor expedition, so perhaps she recognised me from there. “You have me at a disadvantage, er...”

“Kitty, sir,” she said giving me a dazzling smile. My heart leapt.  What a lovely smile.

“It seems, Kitty, that if I am to dance I need a mask!”

“That is quite correct, sir.  These are the gentlemen’s ones.  They are bigger than the ladies ones, of course.  And less decorated.”  Indeed some of the ladies masks were encrusted in feathers, sequins and other gewgaws. I chose a plain one in green, although I later realised that people might guess my identity from the colour of it. Some were full face ones but many, especially the ladies ones only covered the eyes and nose.  I chose a full face one but later wished I hadn't. “Of course to gain admittance to the ballroom you will have to remove all your clothes as well as don a mask, sir!”

“What here?”  I looked around the room and realised that fully half a dozen people, men and women, were completely naked, as they were in the process of changing.  One or two already had masks on.

“You put your clothes in this box sir,” said Kitty handing me a cardboard box on which she had written ‘Mr Edmund’ using a charcoal pencil “and you can pick them up from here when you desire. At the bottom of a box was a folded white cotton robe.  “This is to wear to the ballroom, if you are shy, sir.  Most don’t bother.”

“I think I will bother,” I said.

“Marks you out, sir.." she said.  "As a first timer.  I’d advise against it.  Most have attended before. Hide in plain sight, sir, if you will!”

“Oh! Alright!” I said, watching, entranced, as two ladies strolled out arm in arm, quite naked apart from their masks.

“They are Babylon girls?” I said, noting how insouciantly they walked in their natural state.

“Not at all, sir!” I was shocked.  The women’s bodies looked young and their bottoms were full but pert.  I had imagined middle aged men and girls from the Babylon almost exclusively not these fine independent specimens of womanhood.

“I will have to be careful how I behave!” I said.

“That is part of the fun.  Not knowing!” laughed Kitty.  “Now off with your clothes, sir!”  I admit I turned away from Kitty as I disrobed; an action that took but seconds.  I dropped my clothes into the box, boldly on top of the robe. “The girls weren’t lying!” said Kitty, looking at my groin.  I fled the room, my face flushed, and hoped I wouldn’t meet anyone as I made my way to the ballroom.

I heard the music of a waltz played by the string quartet from around the corner.  When I rounded the corner myself I saw, ahead of me, the naked bottoms of the two ladies disappear into the ballroom. Outside the doorway were two masked, naked girls.  They nodded at me as I went in and I tried not to look at their ripe bodies.  These must be Babylon girls, I guessed. They had a small pile of masks on a table next to them, no doubt for people who had forgotten theirs. I stepped into the ballroom and while, intellectually, I knew that it would be populated by people dancing naked I was not prepared for the reality of the space. There were naked couples dancing everywhere.  Often, at dances where people do not know each other, it takes some time for them to enter into the spirit of things but here things were in full sway. The masks concealed faces and so my vision was naturally drawn to the bodies. Most were trim although there were several male ones who carried a bit more weight and several ladies too who, I now supposed, could not be Babylon girls.  Several women were dancing with each other, whether independent or hired I could not ascertain.  The room was candlelit and was not at all bright.  The murkiness made it even harder to identify individuals.  I looked to see if I could identify Daisy or Edith but there were so many bodies whirling about and it was so dark that I could not. 

“Are you seeking to ask a lady to dance, sir?” I looked to my left and saw a woman advancing upon me.  Her Venus mound was bald and I quickly realised that she must be a Babylon girl or, I suddenly, realised, one of the girls who had spent the day in Lady Caroline’s harem. I caught a flash of copper off her hair in the candlelight.

“Elizabeth?” I asked.

“I am whomsoever you wish, sir.  Lady, maid or harlot!”

“Well,” I said, recovering my composure somewhat, “what I wish is that you dance with me.” As I put my arm around her warm waist I knew for certain that it was, in fact, Sir Jonty Smarme’s lovely daughter, Elizabeth.  Her hair was hard to conceal.  Even if some was now missing. “You have adopted the Turkish fashion below as well,” I observed as we glided across the floor.  I had retained my slippers, as had about half of the dancers, I noticed.

“I haven’t seen daddy yet so he has not seen it.  I hope he likes it!  It feels very exciting to be so bare below.  It makes me very conscious of my...pussy!” she giggled. As I danced  with Elizabeth (and she was a fine dancer) I tried to scan the room for Daisy but could not see her.  I thought I saw Edith at the far end of the room, dancing with a man with a rigid manhood, not surprisingly given he was pressed against her voluptuous body.  Several men sported erect phalluses but there was no caressing or kissing in evidence.  People were just dancing. as they might at a ball anywhere.  The only difference being that their garments had been made by the tailor who produced the Emperor’s new clothes.  As a result I managed not to become engorged myself (well, perhaps partly, Elizabeth had a splendid body and skin like satin) or perhaps my anxiety over Daisy caused me to remain somewhat distracted.  I noticed a woman who, I realised, must be enceinte.  Her belly was distended, her navel protruded like a knot and her bosom was massive.  I was fascinated.  The man dancing with her was dancing quite vigorously and not treating her as if she was particularly delicate, I noticed.

“May I cut in, Molloy?” came a voice from behind me.  I turned to see a man behind me sporting a fully engorged cock.

“Daddy!” said Elizabeth, delightedly, after looking at his groin.

“Of course, Sir Jonty!  Doesn’t she look fine?” I said, trying to sound calm, despite him being in an inappropriate state in front of his daughter. I was even more taken aback when he embraced her and they waltzed off together.  They really did have a very unsettling relationship.

I walked to the edge of the ballroom and a masked Babylon girl with protruding labia, offered me a glass of Champagne, which I gratefully took, while my manhood returned to its normal proportions. I looked for Daisy and then thought I spotted her over the other side of the room.  She was dancing with a man I did not recognise.  She waved at me.  Oh well, as long as it wasn’t the general, I thought. I supposed that, given everything else that was going on, a little naked waltzing was rather innocent; if you ignored his excited state, that is. It was certainly not the general, anyway.  This fellow was both too short and too elderly.  He looked to be one of the older men there and had grey hair. It was Daisy’s perfect bottom I recognised, as she danced with her back to me briefly.  I was sickened to see her partner was also engorged as he turned towards me; his cock sticking out, although drooping somewhat below the horizontal. I shuddered involuntarily and then jumped when I felt a hand on my behind.

“It seems a shame for us to be standing on the sidelines,” came a voice, I did not know.

“Would you care to dance, then madam?” I said, turning towards her.  She wore a white Venetian style mask, decorated down one side with silver and blue sequins. She had full and luscious lips. We whirled across the floor and I tried not to look at her thrusting bubbies and their thimble like teats. I could smell her arousal as we danced and because she was aroused I began to become so too, to my embarrassment.  She looked down at me and smiled.

“Good God!” was all she said. I looked away and saw a body I knew to be Daisy’s just two yards away. She inclined her head towards my groin and nodded, grinning.  Then she was gone. I was so embarrassed that she had caught me in such a state with another woman. It would, I know, just encourage her own lasciviousness.

I must have danced for half an hour, including a turn with Edith and one with Lady Crozier, who did caress my manhood, and the room was becoming warm.  I and several of my subsequent partners were perspiring.  One lady in particular’s body slid across me wetly and I responded to the touch of her slippery skin even more. The orchestra stopped playing and a woman wearing a gold mask called for attention. 

“Your highness, lords, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the birthday celebrations of our beloved Lord Hoxton!” I recognised Lady Caroline’s voice and her outrageous form.  “While you may continue dancing shortly, I can announce that a light buffet supper will now be served in the dining room, to clothed guests only, I am afraid!”. 

“Quite right!” came a voice which sounded like Lady Hoxton’s.  There was ripple of laughter.

“In another half hour our entertainments proper will begin in the Great Hall!” continued Lady Caroline. There was a round of polite applause. “But now I will launch our celebration in the traditional way!” She bent at the waist, her pendulous breasts swinging below her chest and took hold of her ankles.  A man approached her from the rear and I recognised the large asparagus shaped phallus of Lord Hoxton.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” he said, putting his hands on Lady Caroline’s ample hips.  “From this point on you may copulate at will!” With that he bent his knees and penetrated Lady Caroline with one well aimed thrust.

“That’s a fine trick with no hands to guide you!” said a man standing next to me. I felt my current dance partner clasp my cock as we watched Hoxton pounding into Lady Caroline.  Some women fluttered fans, excitedly, like Spanish ladies.

Overcome by the sight, I stepped out of the ballroom and retrieved my clothes, followed by my dancing partner who did not seem to bother with finding any clothes.  Unlike the other women there, she did not have a single item of jewellery on, either.  She was completely and gloriously naked. We removed our masks together and smiled at each other. She was a lovely brunette with wonderful green eyes and a soft looking bosom, who was probably in her early forties. She had thick thighs and broad hips but a narrow waist.

“Thank you for a lovely dance,” she said.

"A pleasure, madam!" I said.  She was wearing a wedding ring, I noticed.

"You will accompany me outside and satisfy my desires immediately!" she said.

"But madam we have not been properly introduced!" I replied as she tugged at my member.  I could not really say that I was not interested as my manhood betrayed me.

"You will introduce your cock to my receptacle forthwith, then!"  I had to follow her as she was tugging at me very hard.

"Where shall we go?" I asked, wondering how I could talk her out of the act.  Was this really how things would proceed?  Would women just come up to me and demand to be satisfied.  I would not dream of doing the opposite.  Was this a vision of the New Women's egalitarian utopia?

"Ah!  I will kneel on this seat!" She had stopped at an upholstered bench just around the corner from the ballroom,  We were but yards from it on the main corridor to the rest of the house.

"But we shall be seen!" I said, as several naked people walked past us.

"You have not been to one of these parties before, have you?" she said, getting onto all fours on the bench, her bubbies hanging down, invitingly.  The bench was covered in tapestry material depicting windmills and people on ice skates, I noticed, rather dazed by this development. She looked over her shoulder at me,  I was standing behind her looking at the thick fleece between her upper thighs.  She put her knees apart a little. "Please begin!  Or do you want to be sucked first!"

"I...I don't know!" I said, watching as she inserted two fingers into her pink opening which was glistening with her juices, I realised. I sensed people watching me and looked to the side and just behind me. Edith was on her knees gamahuching someone I did not know.  It was not the man I had seen her dancing with earlier. She had another woman squatting behind her, caressing her bosom with one hand and the man's thigh with the other.  Edith caught my eye and winked at me.  Other people were walking past with out looking.  The two women I had followed into the ballroom were walking past.  They paused for a passionate kiss with each other and then walked on, their hands on each other's bottoms. What if Daisy came out now?  That made my mind up.  I postioned my knob at the entrance to the woman's cunt and thrust forward.

"Mother of God!" she cried.  I wondered if she was a fellow Catholic, even as I thrust in and out of her.  My, I later realised, very unfair anger at Daisy was transformed into an aggressive urgency that was not a reflection of how I like to treat women.  It would not be the last time that my frustration with one woman was taken out on another who was innocent of any wrong towards me. Fortunately, in both  cases, the woman on the receiving end of my pumping member seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. "Bloody hell!" gasped the woman. My hips impacted on her substantial bottom and the soft flesh quivered with each impact. I thrust an index finger into her arsehole. "Oh you filthy bugger!" she cried.  "I can take another finger!"  I was very, very tempted to withdraw from her cunt and bugger her but knew that would limit my options for the rest of the evening without a proper wash.  Unless Sutton might help, I thought.  I then imagined Daisy on her knees taking my slimy manhood in my mouth and cleaning the woman's anal residue off with her mouth.  "Oh God! Oh God! I am damned for sure!" she gasped and I felt her feminine tunnel grip me like no other had done before.  I actually thought she might crush my manhood but, thankfully she relaxed and I was able to withdraw.  I had not spent and I wondered if purely physical pleasure without some emotional attachment was not for me, unlike Hoxton. The woman, whose name I did not know collapsed on the bench her arms and legs dangling like a downed deer.  I felt someone smack my behind.

"Well done Molloy!" said Hoxton. "Good to see you in up to the hilt!  Just what I want in a travelling companion on a dangerous expedition.  A proper man!"  He then patted my erect member, to my discomfort.  "Shame we can't take Edith with us!" I turned around and Edith was on the floor astride the man she had been fellating, supporting her self on her elbows while he kissed and squeezed her bubbies.  The other woman  was lying on the floor between the couples legs licking his cock as it slid in and out of the Edith's cunt.  Even as Hoxton and I watched, another man appeared from the direction of the ballroom, knelt behind the second woman, put his hands under her thighs, pulled her on to his lap and entered her in turn.  The four were moving as one now, gasping and moaning as Edith poured forward a stream of filthy language.  It really was like she was two people; the dutiful but slightly acerbic wife and the full blown harlot.  I thought of Daisy.  Perhaps all women were like that or had the potential to be like that.  Perhaps their true natures had really been as suppressed as the Suffragettes maintained. Such thoughts, I pondered, as I explored my personal carnal lost plateau, might make my book more than just a dull collection of accounts of coupling. "Well done Catherine!  took it like a trooper!" said Hoxton.  He leant down and kissed her behind.

"James! I hope I can fit you in later too!" she said, recovering her composure somewhat and sitting up.

"If you can fit Molloy in you can surely cope with myself!" he laughed.

"Up the arse!" she said.

"Now you're talking!" he said and strode off. 

"Fucking Christ! Fucking, fucking Christ!" screamed Edith.  I saw the lady I now knew as Catherine cross herself. She looked up at me.

“Thank you for a lovely one,” she said.  “ But now I must find my husband!” She kissed me, gripped my manhood again and left. "I do hope your magnificent prong does not get eaten by a dinosaur, Mr Molloy!" she said over her shoulder. 

"Inside me! Inside me!" screamed Edith. "Fucking spurt your spunk up my fucking cunt!" As I watched it was patently obvious that the gentleman was doing just that. I wondered if Edith had a twin who had taken her place, or perhaps she had been partaking of Lady Caroline's cocaine again.  As I left them writhing on the floor, the man at the rear of the quartet pulled out of the other woman and ejaculated with some force and distance over her back  and hair. I wondered if all these people had been taking opiates, that they could rut on the floor like animals or the most base of savages.  As I headed for the dining room I realised that I had taken nothing but had behaved the same way.  Was the house being overtaken by a collective madness?  Was some of Hoxton's marijuana smoke in the air, bringing out our most base instincts despite ourselves?  As I headed towards the dining room, suddenly ravenously hungry, I had to step over a man taking one of the Babylon girls, one of the Italians, from the rear.  They were lying across the corridor rather inconsiderately.

 The dining room was packed and although Lady Caroline had insisted clothes should be worn many of the women were baring their bosoms to all. Cook, Ruby and Jenny were working hard to serve the exotic Turkish food. The lamb, served on metal skewers was superb. It was cooked over an open flame on a metal grill in a small tent erected outside, adjoining the dining room,.  I was not so sure about the vine leaves, stuffed with a spicy rice mixture which proved rather difficult to eat with one’s fingers.  Well, I found it difficult and dropped rice all over the floor, to a glare from Sutton, although I noticed the judge’s niece, Mavis, had solved the problem by eating them whole.

“I can take a lot more in me mouth at once than that!” she said, grinning at me. There were curious flat breads and olives and strange pots of a beige, creamy substance which Cook told me I should dip my bread into. 

“Having fun Molloy?” asked Britten, coming over to see me with a typically laden plate and his arm around Emily.  Britten seemed attached to the girl in every way.  Not surprisingly, as she was a beauty, albeit half his age.

“You had a a massive stiffie with your last partner,” said Emily.  “Who was she?”

“I have no idea!  Name of Catherine, Hoxton told me.” I said.  “A handsome woman, anyway, when she removed her mask!”  I did not mention our frantic coupling.  I wondered if, perhaps there were strict rules of etiquette and you might, for example, have to pretend that none of this was happening when you conversed with others.

“I think its fair to say that there won’t be any ugly women here tonight!” said Britten. 

“Some of the men, however,” observed Emily. 

"Ah, but they are probably extremely rich or powerful," I said.

"Or both!" said Emil;y, looking suddenly excited.

"Thanks old chap!" said Britten, looking a bit downcast.  Perhaps he realised, as I did with Daisy, that Emily was way above his usual romantic level of achievement.

"Don't worry William!" said Emily.  "We can sneak off and have one very shortly!" She giggled.  "If you have recovered from earlier!" 

"That costume, Emily, has seen to that!"  She kicked her leg and her ankle bells tinkled. 

Edith came and joined us with her arm around a tall man with dark wavy hair. Not the one she had been copulating with earlier.

“Saw you responding to my wife in impressive style!” said the man. "In the ballroom!  Missed you having her over the bench.  James said you fucked her damn nigh senseless and that ain't an easy achiviement!"

“I, ah,what?” I said.

“Your last partner. My Catherine!”

“Oh.  Yes.  What a good dancer!” I said, blushing furiously.

“Not just dancing she is good at! As you no doubt discovered!” he said, poking me in the stomach, to my annoyance. 

"Edmund has a simply massive cock!" said Emily to Catherine's husband.  "I would actually fucking die if I tried to take it!"

"Emily!  Language!" said Britten.

"Well I would!" she said.  "Blood pouring out of me like the first day of my p..."

"Emily!  That is enough!" said Britten.

"Ooh, you're so forceful!" she said, slipping her hand down the waistband of his trousers.  He smirked.

 “Anyway," said Catherine's husband, "I was going to take Edith here off somewhere quiet later, if that is alright by you. old chap!” said the man.  "James said you have some history together!"

“Well I have no ownership or control over Edith,” I said.  “She may do with you whatever she wishes!”  Although what she sees in you I have no idea, I thought. 

“Excellent!” he said, squeezing Edith’s waist.  She smiled at him.  I felt rather sick.  She had dispensed with her under blouse and just wore her jacket undone, like the Babylon girls. 

“Time to go to the Great Hall!” announced Sutton.  “The entertainment begins!”

“Better stock up then!” said Britten heading back towards Cook with his plate. “These leafy jobs are addictive!”

"Started early, I gather!" whispered Sutton to me as I walked past her.

"Sutton, I..." but she had swept off.

I accompanied Britten and Emily to the Great Hall, very shortly afterwards. On the way I encountered Lord Ventnor who, disturbingly, had his arm around Daisy’s bare waist and showed no inclination to remove it.  Given that his money was paying for me to travel to South America, with a healthy pay rise as well, it seemed invidious to make a scene about it. He smiled and nodded but didn’t say anything. Edith and her new male companion joined them and they entered the hall together. The corridors and other parts of the house were now just lit by a few candles, providing  a dark anonymity about the place.  It was difficult to estimate the number of other guests but it could have been as many as sixty plus the Babylon girls.  Some of the guests still wore Venetian style masks and several just wore the masks.  Sarah joined us just as we were about to enter the hall.  She wore a completely transparent, pleated, royal blue skirt with two thick bands of gold embroidery around the hem,  The front of the skirt plunged below her belly and sat very low.  Her mound was covered by the elaborate knot of a gold scarf tied on her hips.  She wore an embroidered, sleeveless top made of the same material as her skirt.  You could see her bosom move underneath it.  She was festooned with bangles and bracelets.  Her long, black hair was tied back with a gold and royal blue scarf. I had to admit that she had, perhaps, the most seductive costume I had seen so far.  She caught me appraising her and winked.

“Anytime, you want, Edmund!” she whispered to me, after Emily and Britten had entered the Hall, leaving us in the dark vestibule situated beneath the minstrels' gallery. She put her hand on my waist and stroked my naked skin with her soft fingertips.

“I have told you before, Sarah,” I said, feeling myself starting to swell.

"I'm so soft and smooth," she whispered,  "So young and tender, So moist and excited!  See!  She took my hand and placed it between her thrusting breasts.  My heart is pounding and my clitoris is all stiff!  You simply must have me!"

"I will not.  Lovely though you are.  So very lovely!" I added.  I felt like I had once, standing on top of a sand dune at Wittering, the previous summer, on a very windy day.  I could feel the sand giving way beneath me and was worried I would slip down the slope. I felt her hand grasping my manhood through my striped trousers.  "You want me so much, don't you?  You want to slide your curved, rigid, throbbing cock right up my dripping cunt.  Don't you? To bang me so hard that I piss myself!  It's dark in here.  Let's go to the end and fuck.  You can take me upright against the tapestry.  I'm desperate.  I'm actually dripping juice. Please."  She had put her hand down the front of my trousers.  Her hand was so soft on my manhood. She slid it down until her fingertips were tickling my balls.  I felt a big thump on my back.

"Come on you two!"  said Sir Gerald.  "No loitering! Must get in for the big show or your mother will skin you if you miss it, young Sarah!" I breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled her hand out of my trousers. Sir Gerald went inside, leaving me alone with Sarah again. I edged towards the door into the Hall.

“In a week," whispered Sarah. "I will be sixteen and I will wear this costume for you on board ship!  I have already agreed with Daisy that you can have me on my birthday, provided she can watch us. You will go on your back."  She started to stroke my manhood through my trousers again, " I will ride your big fat cock and Daisy can kneel between your thighs and lick your balls and my shit hole as we do it!  You can even come inside me if you want.  I know what to do after that!  James had a little accident inside me once! I have a syringe, now...” She stepped forward and kissed me on the lips before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door where the two Negroes had been standing  earlier, although there was no sign of them now, their purpose as guards no longer needed.

The Great Hall was also gloomily lit by oil lamps and candles.  It was more brightly lit near the door and in the centre there were a number of large standing candelabra which gave out more light,  The room seemed to get progressively dimmer as it stretched into the distance.  The wailing Turkish music came from the minstrel’s gallery above the vestibule we had just entered from,  The Hall  appeared as a more magnificent version of Hoxton’s Turkish salon.. I could see little of the room’s internal architecture as everywhere there were hanging draperies, from large Turkish carpets to pale semi-transparent curtains which divided the edges of the room into small kiosks.  Large palms and other potted greenery were present, some of the trees were as tall as twelve feet.  And cushions and divans everywhere.  It must have cost a fortune to decorate it so.  

I stood next to Britten, taking in the scene.  Emily was kissing Sarah in a most lascivious way.

“I wonder what is going to happen next?” whispered Britten. 

“Disgusting things, I hope!” said Emily, breaking apart from her sister..  

“Absolutely fucking disgusting things!" added Sarah.