Two rich
London rakes – assertive Micky and his accommodating friend Edward – visit
their usual bordello on a masquerade night and get offered the chance to
deflower a virgin.
A Dangerous Fortune (1993) by Kevin Follett.
The book is divided into several parts. This excerpt can be found under Chapter
four, June, One. I have transliterated the excerpt from an audiobook since I
could not find a free eBook.
A few minutes later he stepped into Nellie’s.
The party was in full swing. Every table was occupied. The air was thick with
cigar smoke and ribbled banter and raucous laughter could be heard over the
sound of a small orchestra playing loud dance tunes. All the women wore masks.
Some were simple dominoes but most were more elaborate and a few were entire
headdresses, covering everything but the eyes and mouth.
Micky pushed his way through the crowd,
nodding at acquaintances and kissing some of the girls. Edward was in the card
room, but he got up as soon as Micky walked in.
“April’s got a virgin for us,” he said
thickly. It was late and he had drunk a lot.
Virginity had never been Micky’s particular
obsession, but there was always something stimulating about a girl who was
frightened, and he was titillated.
“How old?”
“Seventeen.”
Which probably meant twenty-three, Micky
thought, knowing how April estimated the ages of her girls. Still, he was
intrigued.
“Have you seen her?”
“Yes. She’s masked of course.”
“Of course.”
Micky wondered what her story was. She
might be a provincial girl who had run away from home and found herself
destitute in London. She might have been abducted from a farm. She might just
be a housemaid fed up with slaving sixteen hours a day for six shillings a
week. A woman in a little black domino touched his arm. The mask was no more
than a token and he recognized April.
“A genuine virgin,” April said.
No doubt she was charging Edward a small
fortune for the privilege of taking the girl’s maidenhead.
“Have you put your own hand up her to feel
her hymen?” Micky said skeptically.
April shook her head. “I don’t need to. I
know when a girl is telling the truth.”
“If I don’t feel it pop you won’t get paid,”
he said, even though they both knew Edward would be paying.
“Agreed.”
“What’s her story?”
“She’s an orphan, brought up by an uncle.
He was eager to get her off his hands as soon as possible and arranged for her
to marry an older man. When she refused he put her out on the street. I rescued
her from a life of drudgery.”
“You’re an angel,” Micky said
sarcastically. He did not believe a word of it. Even though he could not read
April’s expression behind the mask, he had the strongest feeling that she was
up to something. He gave her a skeptical look.
“Tell me the truth,” he said.
“I have,” April said. “If you don’t want
her there are six other men here who’ll pay just as much as you.”
Edward said impatiently: “We want her. Stop
arguing Micky, let’s have a look at her.”
“Room three,” April said. “She’s waiting
for you.”
Micky and Edward made their way up the
stairs, which were littered with embracing couples, and went into room three.
The girl stood in the corner. She wore a simple muslin gown and her entire head
was covered with a hood, leaving only slits for the eyes and an opening for the
mouth. Once again Micky was seized by suspicion; they could see nothing of her
face and head. She might be hideously ugly, perhaps deformed. Was this some
kind of prank?
He realized as he stared at her that she
was trembling with fear, and he put his doubts aside as he felt a stirring of
desire in his loins. To frighten her more he crossed the room quickly, pulled
the neckline of her gown aside and plunged his hand into her bosom. She
flinched and there was terror in her bright blue eyes. But she stood her
ground. She had small firm breasts. Her fear made him want to be brutal.
Normally he and Edward would toy with a woman for a while but he decided to
take this one suddenly.
“Kneel on the bed,” he told her.
She did as he said. He got behind her and
pulled up her skirt. She gave a little cry of fright. She was wearing nothing
underneath. It was easier to penetrate her than he had expected. April must have
given her some cream to lubricate herself. He felt the obstruction of her
maidenhead. He grabbed her hips and pulled her roughly to him as he thrust deep
inside her and the membrane broke. She began to sob and that excited him so
much that he reached his climax immediately.
He withdrew to make way for Edward. There
was blood on his prick.
He felt dissatisfied now that it was over
and he wished he had stayed at home and gone to bed with Rachel. Then he
remembered that she had left him and he felt worse.
Edward turned the girl over onto her back.
She almost rolled of the bed and he grabbed her ankles and pulled her back into
the middle. As he did so her hood came partly off.
Edward said: “Good god!”
“What’s the matter?” Micky said without
much interest.
Edward was kneeling between the girl’s thighs
with his prick in his hand, staring at her half revealed face. Micky decided that
the girl must be someone they knew. He watched, fascinated, as she tried to tug
the hood down again. Edward prevented her and pulled it right off. Then Micky
saw the big blue eyes and childlike face of Edward’s wife, Emily.
“I never heard of such a thing!” he said.
And he started to laugh.
Edward gave a roar of rage: “You filthy
cow!” he yelled. “You did this to shame me!”
“No Edward, no!” she cried. “To help you.
To help us.”
“Now they all know!” he shouted and he
punched her face.
She screamed and struggled and he hit her
again. Micky laughed all the more. It was the funniest thing he’d ever seen: a
man going into a whorehouse and meeting his own wife.
April came rushing in in response to the
screams.
“Leave her alone!” she yelled. And she
tried to pull Edward off.
He pushed her aside.
“I’ll chastise my own wife if I please!” he
roared.
“You great big fool! She only wants to have
a baby!”
“She’ll have my fist instead!”
They struggled for a moment. Edward punched
his wife again. Then April punched him on the ear. He gave a cry of pain and
surprise, making Micky collapse with hysterical laughter.
At last April managed to haul Edward off his
wife. Emily got off the bed. Astonishingly she did not immediately rush out. Instead
she spoke to her husband.
“Please don’t give up Edward. I’ll do
anything you want. Anything.”
He lunged at her again. April clung to his
legs and tripped him up. He fell to his knees.
April said: “Get out Emily before he kills
you!”
Emily rushed out, weeping.
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