DR. STANTON AND MISS MARTIN FIND EACH OTHER

Dr.Stanton, on his appointment as headmaster at St. Swithin's School For Girls, made many changes in his staff in order to improve the school's performance and reputation. Some of these changes had a double purpose, however, being carefully planned to facilitate his private ambition in regards to the caning of his pupils. This punishment was already accepted as a proper way to maintain the discipline so necessary to excellent academic performance, but pursuing this activity to an unusual extent was a very distinctive part of his own satisfaction. Among the most important of these two-edged changes was his appointment of a new school matron, one whom he felt he could rely upon to accept without qualms the parade of striped bottoms that would inevitably result from extensive reliance upon the cane for the maintenance of high standards in all aspects of his pupils' activities. This was especially important because he believed that, if a caning was to be effective, it should be administered with appropriate severity across a bared bottom. Such a belief produced bottoms that were not merely striped by the cane, but often very colorfully marked and deeply corrugated. His own career had earlier suffered a temporary reversal when a school matron had protested at the frequency of painful results that were coming to her attention. This, he was determined, would not happen again.

He had not trusted the matron who was already in place on his arrival at St. Swithin's and, after advertising the position anew, had selected Miss Martin from the applicants. She had most convincingly passed a test he had devised, conducting the applicants through his office while a cane was hanging in view and casually commenting that the matron would be required to attend canings as an observer. Miss Martin had accepted the notice almost enthusiastically and he had promptly appointed her. That she was young, only 30, with a remarkably fine figure and a bottom that, even obscured by her uniform, had immediately aroused in him thoughts of what a splendid target for the cane it might be, were only additional bonuses.

She proved both effective and popular at the school. She had, further, exhibited no reluctance when, soon and sure enough, the first erring young lady had to report to Dr. Stanton's office for a severe caning. Dr. Stanton not only required that Miss Martin attend but also that the young lady first visit Miss Martin's office so that Miss Martin could ascertain whether the day appointed was an appropriate one according to the young lady's own personal calendar. Indeed it was and Miss Martin provided this information very readily. Dr. Stanton had her come to his study 10 minutes before the miscreant herself was due to arrive. This was early in his career as headmaster of St. Swithin's and he was still administering the cane in his official study, located on the second floor of his residence. He informed Miss Martin in as matter of fact a manner as possible that he would have the young lady remove her skirt and knickers and bend over the back of an armchair to receive 18 hard strokes. She did not seem in the least surprised at this and, when the pupil appeared, remained discretely in the background as Dr. Stanton gave his orders. She stayed there as the miscreant, face red with embarrassment, removed her skirt and knickers, placed them on the seat of the chair over which she was to bend, and then shuffled around to the back to bend over with very evident reluctance, placing her elbows on the seat and her head between them, helplessly sticking her bare bottom up above the back of the chair.

During the caning itself, of course, Dr. Stanton had to concentrate on that bared bottom and the accurate delivery of his strokes, but he managed to steal an occasional glance at Miss Martin. If she was at all disconcerted, either by the sounds of the hissing cane, the thwacks of its impact across the proffered bottom, the gasps and yowls of protest, or by the sight of the young lady's rear jumping in response to the cane, the gyrating of her hips and the crimsoning tram-lines across her bottom cheeks, she certainly did not show it. Indeed, when the miscreant was finally sent sobbing on her way, clutching her bottom under her restored skirt, Miss Martin complimented him quietly on the effectiveness of the punishment. Dr. Stanton, seeing an opportunity to sound her out a little further, remarked that he hoped that she did not find this discipline too severe, and she responded, after a slight pause, "Oh, not all! Not at all! The female posterior is remarkably resilient and well capable of absorbing very severe chastisement in the cause of educating the brain, without any lasting damage to itself whatsoever!' Dr. Stanton congratulated himself anew on making such an admirable appointment.

The future continued to confirm this judgment. Dr. Stanton realized even that he appreciated Ms. Martin's presence at the canings, which grew ever more frequent. Whether it was because he felt the appreciation of a kindred soul, or whether he felt that it was an insurance against criticism, he wasn't sure, but he regularly checked for her agreement. In general, however, it was her approval that he sought, rather than her advice. There was, however, a partial exception to this. As he established his practices, he also ordered the conversion into a second study of some space on his third floor that had formerly been servant's quarters. This study he used almost exclusively for discipline and there he installed a specially designed caning table, kept his extensive collection of canes and consulted his registers of corporal punishment. With the increasing number of canings and the elaboration of the accompanying rules, he thought it a good idea to introduce another level of approval. Thus, when a pupil was receiving a severe caning he would customarily consult with Miss Martin on the state of the young lady's bottom after 18 strokes (and again after 30, on the rare occasions when the punishment was to exceed that), continuing the punishment only if she declared it acceptable. At first, he would simply ask her to examine the bottom under the cane and inform him if he could go further but, after some discrete encouragement on her part, he allowed himself to join in the inspection. This, of course, allowed him two privileges that he had secretly desired: one was a careful and close-up look at the marks he had just inflicted, the other was a chance to peer into the intimate places within the cleft of the bottom and between the thighs. Miss Martin was surely aware that he made the most of these opportunities but she certainly did nothing to discourage him.

Miss Martin, to consider her in her turn, had arrived at this situation by a long and complicated route. Her childhood had not been a happy one. Her father had died when she was four and her mother had remarried a man of very unpleasant disposition. He had treated the mother very strictly and had frequently beaten the child. Her mother's attitude had been somewhat ambiguous, for she had seemed to side with her husband in the administration of discipline but had also warmly comforted her child after it had been administered. Miss Martin had thus come to associate affection with chastisement. A particularly traumatic occasion had occurred when Miss Martin was twelve years old and was just discovering the pleasures of sexuality. Her stepfather had discovered her lying on her bed pleasuring herself and had responded with a rage, beating her mercilessly with a strap. Afterwards, in her bewilderment, the young Miss Martin had examined her severely bruised bottom in a mirror and, in further confusion, had finished masturbating, reaching her first orgasm.

A further conflation of pleasure and pain had occurred when she was fifteen. She had been discovering that she was sexually attracted to both boys and girls and on this particular occasion her stepfather, whom she had supposed to be away at work, had walked into her room while she and another girl were naked on her bed, exploring each other enthusiastically. Her stepfather, enraged even more than before, had sent her friend running screaming from the house and had fetched a cane that, although kept in the house, had not been used on Miss Martin before. Her mother had joined him and had seemed to be as upset as her husband. Perhaps because of this, they had made the punishment unusually formal, bending her, still naked, over the back of a chair, and caning her until her bottom was black and blue. The pain had been excruciating, but Miss Martin had by now learnt to keep still and protest as little as possible, for protesting had always earned her more punishment. Afterwards, perversely perhaps, she had gone out with a boy her own age, who had asked to see her severely bruised bottom. She had showed him and, to her surprise, he had become very excited, asking urgently to have sex. Knowing at least something about the risks of becoming pregnant, Miss Martin had refused. The boy, however, was more experienced sexually than she was and, undeterred, had then persuaded her to try anal sex. He had been surprisingly careful and, sore though her bottom still was, she had actually enjoyed it. Thus, again, did particular kinds of pleasure and pain become even more strongly connected.

It was not the last time her stepfather her punished her and from this point onwards he used the cane. These beatings were excruciatingly painful but, peculiarly enough, Miss Martin actually found that she preferred the cane to other implements he had formerly used. Perhaps it was because the immediate pain of the cane's impact was almost paralyzing and usually, by the time that it began to subside, she had gained control over herself. Perhaps also it was because every time she was caned she remembered that peculiarly pleasant feeling of the boy squeezing in and out of her bottom.

The boy, unfortunately, had left the neighborhood almost immediately after the incident and she did not find a replacement for him, either male or female. Her stepfather had died about two years later, little lamented. Miss Martin had gone on to nursing school, for it seemed a good profession. Being a very intelligent young woman, she had done very well and continued on to a job in an excellent hospital. During this time, she had had a sequence of intimate friends, both male and female, but none of them had been able to make lasting sense of her peculiar blend of intelligence, warmth, neediness, and masochism. She had learnt to exercise a very high degree of self-control and had been both very friendly but peculiarly distant with most people. But she had grown into a distinctly beautiful, fair haired and fine-figured young woman. It had been clear at the hospital that several doctors had been extremely irritated at finding so attractive a nurse so unavailable,

After acquiring an excellent training, she had accepted a job as nurse in a private girls' school, where she performed very well indeed. Having acquired such a high degree of self-control, she never threatened the morals of the older girls, even though she admitted to herself that she found some of them physically attractive. And neither did she form any attachments to adults, either male or female, for experience had taught her to recognize people who would be intimately compatible and she met no such person. Her excellent performance led to a more senior job at another school, and then to a position as head nurse in another, smaller school. At this last school, corporal punishment with a tawse was sometimes administered and, since girls who had suffered this indignity sometimes came to her afterwards, hoping for some relief, it was here that she finally saw the bottom of another person who had been chastised. In her actions she was entirely professional, suggesting nothing wrong about the punishment itself but offering comfort and some salve. But she was entirely fascinated by the bruising, characteristic of the tawse, with the long, dark-edged, rectangular red marks wrapping around the cheeks, and bluish patches on the right cheek where many strokes overlapped. Long before, her stepfather had used the tawse on her but, at that time, she had seen the results only by twisting round to look in a mirror. Now she got to see them in detail, and on another bottom actually presented for her examination. It was also the case that rubbing salve into the bottom cheeks of a tearful sixth-former lying face-down on her nurse's table was a very pleasant experience. As a nurse, of course, she had seen everything, male and female, and such experience had enabled her effectively to distance her feelings from the activity. But there was something rather more personal about this particular activity, partly because of her identification with the events that had led up to it.

She had applied for the position of head school nurse at St. Swithin's as soon as she saw the advertisement, for the school was much larger and the salary correspondingly higher. A colleague had warned her that St. Swithin's had a reputation for its severe discipline (a reputation which, of course, was shortly to be much reinforced) but, not surprisingly, this did not deter Miss Martin from applying. On her visit for an interview, although she was a little dismayed at finding how remotely situated was the school, she had been very impressed with the quality of the education and the school's resources. The sight of the cane hanging on a chair in the headmaster's study and his seemingly casual mention of both his disciplinary practices and the attendance expected of her, intrigued rather than offended her, for the cane had played an important role in her own development and she had not seen one since. She was delighted when her application was successful.

She soon settled into the school and was very popular with both pupils and staff for, despite the distance she privately maintained for herself, she was very friendly and helpful. When Dr. Stanton had first informed her that an offense deserving of the cane had been committed, her interest was intense. She knew, however, that she would have to maintain a cool and professional attitude, even as she might also let Dr. Stanton know that she was quite comfortable with the event. And so it was, for Dr. Stanton had not the faintest idea of what was going through her mind.

When the young woman removed her skirt and knickers, as ordered, and presented her bared bottom over the back of the chair, and Dr. Stanton adopted his position to the left, raising his cane to measure his first stroke across the proffered target, it was as though Miss Martin was recovering the sense of identity that her childhood had imprinted on her some fifteen years earlier. She was almost mesmerized by the sight of the fully rounded, twinned cheeks presented to the cane as this implement bridged the dark cleft, and she felt not only the sudden stillness and silence in the room but also her own fear as she had been forced to present her own bottom in such a similar way so long before. But now she realized that raising and rounding the female bottom in this way was singularly effective in maximizing its aesthetic and, equally, it was never one of the many views afforded during medical practice. She stared with dawning astonishment at this remarkable association of beauty and pain.

Swish! Thwatt! Ooohoo Ow Oh! Ms.Martin almost jumped out her skin in sympathetic shock as the Headmaster, in a very well-practiced movement, suddenly released the first stroke and the unfortunate young lady bucked her bottom and howled in protest. Ms. Martin'shock, however, turned into fascination again, as she watched a momentary thin white line across the bare bottom turn red, then crimson and begin to corrugate the formerly smooth skin . Her reliving of her own experience, now as a peculiarly detached observer, was oddly mixed with her expert medical knowledge of what was going on under the skin of the stricken cheeks to produce these colorful changes.

Fortunately, neither the Headmaster nor the young lady were in a position to notice Miss Martin's initial reaction and, when the Headmaster stole a glance at her (of which she was well aware), she had entirely composed herself. She watched the entire punishment, all eighteen strokes of it (the miscreant's protests would normally have earned her extra strokes, but Dr. Stanton, uncertain of Miss Martin's reaction, decided to forgo this in the interests of maintaining her approval), with continuing fascination and, when the young lady finally pulled her knickers back on, over her quite vividly striped bottom, put her skirt on again and fled tearfully from the room after a brief admonition from the Headmaster, Miss Martin knew exactly what and how the sorry young woman was feeling.

She recognized in the Headmaster's concluding questions to her that he was sounding out her attitude, so she tried to give him reassurance without revealing anything of her own emotions and then took her leave. Subsequently Miss Martin attended the canings of a great many of the school's pupils and was, indeed, peripherally involved with Dr. Stanton's planning and construction of a new room expressly for corporal punishment on the third floor of his residence. She maintained a remarkable balance in her professional attitude between cooperation with Dr. Stanton's policies and friendly advice and ministration for the pupils. Meanwhile, she was thinking long and carefully about the desires that were welling up inside her. It was not until almost a year and a half had passed that she finally decided to take what was admittedly a large risk and commit herself to satisfying her impulses. Having determined to do so, she made sure to move with extreme care and waited until an interesting but comparatively mild session of punishment was sent to her for approval. Three of the more innocent pupils were scheduled each to receive a classic six strokes. She thought this would be a suitable occasion for her fateful move, since she did not want to make herself immediately vulnerable to the excitement that she often recognized in the Headmaster when he had finished a more severe caning.

The three pupils were called into the study together, where the Headmaster briefly lectured them, having previously done so at greater length, and told them that they were each going to receive six with the cane, the one who was less culpable six good strokes and the other two six of the best. The latter two were then sent to wait outside the study door, which was carefully left ajar, and the first miscreant, remaining on that critical spot in the center of the study, was told to turn to her right, bend over with her feet together, and touch her toes. The Headmaster than folded her skirt up, pulled her knickers down to her knees, and administered six very smart wrist-strokes across her bottom, producing a neat pattern of six, closely spaced red lines. The girl was obviously both very startled and pained, but managed to maintain her position. Tears were oozing from her eyes, however, as she was ordered from the room. The next girl was called in and was told to remove her knickers and hold them in her hand, and then to face the right, place her feet apart and bend right over, all of which she did with a reddening face. The headmaster raised her skirt, folding it up carefully, stood back measuring his distance with the cane and delivered a hard half-stroke. The miscreant shrieked and jumped up clutching her bottom. Her punishment was finally completed, with an extra two strokes for bad behavior and, after desperately pulling up her knickers back over a bottom striped both more extensively and more scarlet than that of her predecessor, she almost ran from the room. The third pupil was called in and caned in the same manner as the second. She had looked rather rebellious so the Headmaster delivered the strokes a little harder and the crimson stripes across her bottom grew noticeably darker, but she managed to keep her position and received only six strokes.

After the three miscreants were dispatched along the corridor and down the stairs, Dr. Stanton closed the study door. As he returned to the center of the room he suddenly found Miss Martin had made a very unusual move. She had come from behind the desk, from where she always observed the canings, and was now more or less where the three girls had stood before bending over, standing with eyes downcast.

Dr. Stanton, who had come to wonder about Miss Martin's distinctive attitude towards his disciplinary practices, had an immediately instinctive sense of what was about to happen, but nevertheless proceeded extremely carefully.

"Well, Miss Martin, let us hope that those three have learnt an effective lesson, though certainly I wonder whether their punishment was sufficiently severe?"

A pause, then, suddenly but quietly, "Headmaster, my own behavior has been equally dubious ... I ... I think it would be appropriate for you to give me six of the very best as well."

So! The moment that Dr. Stanton had occasionally allowed himself to envision had quite unexpectedly materialized! But he continued, again, cautiously. He refrained from enquiring about her offense, which almost certainly was imagined and probably irrelevant.

"Very well! It is unfortunate but, as you say, necessary. I will administer six-of-the-very-best ... do you understand what that means?"

"Yes, headmaster, I do.'

He had asked because he always used deliberately specific terms and he knew that Miss Martin was aware of them. Six-of-the-very-best meant that he raised the cane above his shoulder and delivered a full, very hard stroke. It also normally required the miscreant to remove both skirt and knickers before bending over. Even more cautiously, however, he proceeded along this path.

"Very well, again! Will you please remove your skirt and knickers accordingly, turn to face the wall on your right, and bend over."

He was abbreviating his orders and leaving out some details, such as the request to cross the room to place discarded clothes on a chair by the door, a short walk that inevitably resulted in exposure of the body below the blouse, and the command to place legs apart before bending over. Truth be told, he was slightly flustered by this sudden development, but he also though it best to leave some choices to Miss Martin, who knew well enough what was normally expected. In fact, she made some choices and, rather than walking across the room, removed her skirt and panties (for they certainly were not regulation school knickers) were she was standing, letting them drop to the floor, before turning in the necessary direction and bending over, but with feet together.

Dr. Stanton, at this moment, almost wished he could simply be an observer rather than an administrator, for here in front of him was suddenly revealed, completely bare, the bottom that he had secretly admired in its clothed privacy for nearly two years. Her long, elegant legs were together, and in her position, bending right over with fingers touching the floor, the conjunction of the cleft between the glorious spheres of her bottom with the creases where bottom met thigh, and the tantalizing disappearance of these folds of flesh up into the dark between her thighs, presented a view that he could have happily contemplated for some time. He would have loved to have done what he had often done with Miss Martin, rather to her as would now have been the case, that is to bend forward and gaze into those intimate recesses between the thighs. Miss Martin, however, appeared to be offering him her bottom only, and not those inner secrets. He thus remained strictly upright, concentrating his attention on what was certainly the most desirable rear view of a female he had ever been granted. He had seen a great many female bottoms presented in this position, but he had become extremely efficient at separating his outward actions from his inner reactions. Now, however, they threatened to reconnect in an almost irresistible way. The striking perfection of Miss Martin's bottom was not distinguished from those he normally observed by its perfection alone, but also by the fact that she was wearing stockings and a suspender belt. The peculiar sight of her cleft cheeks framed by the suspenders seemed to make them even more desirable – and also more explicitly promised. But what if she were to abruptly change her mind, in which case she would probably leave and never be seen again?

He decided he should proceed with care but also with dispatch, while she was still committed to this very peculiar choice. He was still holding the cane from the earlier punishment, so he took up his customary position to the left of Miss Martin's proffered bottom and raised his cane to measure its first stroke across that perfection of divided symmetry. He noticed that her eyes were wide open and that she was staring at the floor. She had confirmed that it was six-of-the-very-best that she was expecting, but he left out his usual warning about penalty strokes. He decided that his first stroke would be straight across the crown of this extraordinary target, took an unusually deep breath, settled his aim, paused a moment, and then Swisshh THWATT! He felt the impact of rattan on bottom cheeks as the cane blurred and bounced in its own reaction to the striking instant and his inner desires surged at the signal.

Miss Martin's bottom gave a sudden jump as she uttered a loud gasp and her eyes squeezed shut. But she held her position and left Dr. Stanton contemplating the thin line that was crimsoning across the crown of her stilled bottom, stretching between the nearer and the farther suspenders. It was real. She had asked for the cane, he had administered the first stroke, she was still there, and the evidence of its impact was as clear as it could be. He paused but not for too long, about fifteen seconds, and raised his cane to administer the second stroke. And so he continued, for six crackingly hard strokes. Having completed the sixth stroke, however, he suddenly found himself himself stranded at a loss, not knowing how to proceed, quickly filling with fear that this remarkable opportunity might yet collapse. The view of her stockings and suspenders somehow now seemed to paralyze him.

Miss Martin had not felt so unsure of herself for a very long time. Although she had thought carefully through her entire plan many times over, once she had taken the drastic step of initiating it she was consumed by anxiety and even fear. Before she could think much further, however, she already found herself ordered to remove skirt and panties. She was, in fact, too petrified to walk across the room, to the chair where miscreants were expected to perform this action, and simply dropped the garments to the floor beside her. Then, suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness she had not known since her childhood, bent over to assume the fateful position. She tried to make her mind a blank, staring at the floor in front of her eyes as she sensed the Headmaster adopting the stance she had observed so often from behind the desk and felt, once again, that long, thin, threatening line of pressure across her bottom. At the last moment she remembered the advice she usually gave the girls who had been sent to her before their canings were scheduled ... breathe deeply! She took several deep breaths and held the last. Swisssh THWATT! Her long experience allowed that awful sound to register clearly in her brain, even as the sharp line of fire suddenly leapt across her bottom. She heard herself gasp, squeezing her eyes shut with the quickly mounting pain andthen letting out her breath as the pain began to soften. She knew this so well, so very well. And so she kept to her chosen role, as the next five strokes seared her bottom, her feelings sinking back into her memory as they did. After the sixth stroke, however, her mind quickly reasserted itself, urgent with the knowledge that she had to take charge again. She stood up rather quickly, her face red and her eyes still wide, even as she completed her role.

"Thank you sir. I will try to improve my behavior, thank you sir," and then she bent again to grab her panties and skirt, hurriedly pulled them on, and fled from the room, face and bottom burning.

Dr. Stanton was somewhat taken aback by her abrupt departure, but also somewhat relieved at not having had to decide what to do next. The time was now just before supper, a little after the hour at which canings were usually scheduled. Miss Martin went directly to her bedroom and Dr. Stanton, without knowing where Miss Martin had gone, went to his. There, alone but consumed with each other in their separate bedrooms, they both stood for a while, looking in their mirrors, trying to collect their tumbled thoughts and then both, under the same impulse, moved to seek solitary release of their powerfully pent-up feelings. Their methods were comparable. The main difference, except for that of anatomy, was that Miss Martin knelt on all fours so that she could see her own bottom in a mirror, staring at the crimson marks that were imprinted so vividly on both her cheeks and her memory as she frantically fingered herself to climax, the pain in her bottom and her memory transformed in the hot crucible of her sex. Meanwhile, Dr. Stanton was feeling he might die of the pent-up tension, exploding with the astonishment of the events in his study.

On the next day, as was usual, Dr. Stanton met Miss Martin in the course of their duties. For Dr. Stanton the occasion was a very peculiar one. He was, of course, well used to meeting pupils whom he had caned just previously and generally enjoyed these encounters. The pupils usually looked somewhat embarrassed and averted their eyes, but Dr. Stanton would greet them as though nothing untoward had happened, while privately imagining the state of their bottoms under their school skirts. Miss Martin, however, appeared completely oblivious of what had occurred the previous evening and continued in the following days to give him no clue as to her feelings, even when they met in his study for the next scheduled caning, which occurred less than a week later. At least, however, she had not resigned her position.

It remained this way for several weeks and Dr. Stanton was beginning to believe he had imagined the entire episode. After one normally scheduled caning, however, she suddenly repeated the request for six-of-the-very-best and the first episodes was repeated in exactly the same manner. Afterwards, she still continued as though nothing had happened for several more weeks, but at least Dr. Stanton knew that he hadn't dreamt it.

Then it happened again, but this time she asked for eight-of-the-very-best. Dr. Stanton, of course, obliged. Then there was another long interval before she suddenly asked again. This time, she not only asked for eight strokes but also, of her own accord, walked across the study to the designated chair to remove her skirt and panties. Dr. Stanton, naturally enough, took advantage of this to catch a glimpse of her mons veneris, made very noticeable by the patch of pubic hair that protected her slit, light-colored like the hair on her head but somewhat thicker than the pubic hair that he was used to seeing in his pupils. He was considerably excited by this glimpse but, unfortunately, in adopting her normal bent-over with legs together position, she still declined to reveal any of the intimacies between her thighs. The eight strokes, however, were perfectly delivered and deeply satisfying.

Miss Martin was, characteristically, proceeding with great caution. She now felt that she could trust the headmaster to administer the cane with his normal professional standards, and she also felt confident with her own choice in returning to this center of her psyche. She finally decided to take the last major step and, accordingly, prepared carefully. She waited until a rather severe punishment had been scheduled. Three of the senior pupils had been caught playing truant and were to receive 24 very hard strokes each. This, she knew, would leave the Headmaster in a very excited state. Shortly before going to attend this punishment, she administered herself an enema, placed a small bottle of Vaseline in a small purse, composed herself, and went to the study.

The punishment was indeed severe. The three young women were by now clearly terrified of the fate that they had brought upon themselves, and their discomfort was considerably increased when the Headmaster had them all remove all their clothes at the same time, except for their socks, while he prepared the caning table, and then ordered them to stand naked in a row in front of the desk. One by one, they were then ordered to bend over the table and present their bottoms for the cane. As pupils who were inclined to misbehavior, they had all been caned before, but not this severely. One of them received three extra strokes for a total of twenty-seven and another received an extra six for a total of thirty, but they all managed to survive their punishments well enough to avoid being strapped to the table. Miss Martin, of course, had a wonderful view of all this, not only of the caning itself but of the purple-welted bottoms of the first two as they stood with their backs to her, hands on heir heads, after their own canings were concluded. In addition, naturally enough, she had joined the Headmaster to inspect each of their bottoms after twelve strokes, and again of two of them after twenty-four strokes, giving her approval for the completion of their punishment. While doing so, taking advantage of all the usual side benefits, her long acquaintance with the headmaster had enabled her to sense the rising excitement beneath his business-like exterior.

When seventy-eight sizzling thwacks of the cane had echoed through the study, punctuated by many gasps and cries of pain, and the weeping young ladies had pulled their clothes back over their colorfully bruised bottoms and then hurried from the room, the atmosphere was indeed electric. When the Headmaster returned from seeing them down the stairs, he was not really surprised to find Miss Martin standing in the significant spot at the center of the room. She did surprise him this time, however, by requesting twelve strokes and stipulating that they should be over the table. She then delighted him by walking over to the chair and removing all her clothes, except for her stockings and suspender belt, before returning to bend over the table and offer her bottom to the cane. She delighted him yet more by parting her legs in the manner that was usually ordered for pupils bent over the table. She did not encourage him to bend low to inspect, but she knew that he could now see quite clearly the soft secrets between her thighs that she had so far denied him. Dr. Stanton, having suddenly and without warning been granted a view of Miss Martin entirely naked (except for her suspended belt and stockings), would, once again, have dearly liked to have simply stood there staring. But duty, in its very peculiar way, was calling.

Miss Martin knew from frequent observation that the Headmaster always caned harder when the bottom was in a "bend-over-the-table" position rather than a "bend-over-and-touch-your-toes" position, even when the caning was meant to be of the same severity. She was, in fact, very nervous about the first stroke. She knew she must have excited him by taking off her clothes and she also knew that he usually made the first stroke especially hard. She had its seen its effect on a great many young women, as they jumped upright with a howl, clutching their seared bottom. But so far he had not exercised the penalty-stroke policy on her, and she did not wish him to. Neither did she want to spoil the rules of control by breaking from her position. The hypnotic effect of the caning usually set in after the second stroke and so she had make sure that she could stay in place at least for the first two. Fear and doubt began to assail her again, as they had when she had first presented herself to the Headmaster for a caning, but she knew she would go through with it.

She slide her feet apart, having already decided that she would offer him this view, and bent over the table, as she had previously imagined herself doing while watching other unfortunate young ladies presenting themselves for their punishment. The table seemed at once strange, familiar and even comforting. She knew how the cushion at its end was pushing up her bottom, parting her cleft and rounding her full cheeks as a target for the cane that the Headmaster was holding. She sensed him moving around and at last felt the thin pressure of the cane across her bottom. This time she closed her eyes, took several deep breaths and clutched the edge of the table as tightly as she could ...

SwisshhTHWATT! Oh my God! It hurt so much and for a moment the burning grew worse and worse, before slowly softening. But it left her knowing she could manage it. She also knew that hearing the sound of the cane hissing through the air and cracking across her cheeks was an essential part of her excitement. As the pain receded, she took several more deep breaths. Then her ears, her bottom and her whole being began to feel that fearful but urgent expectation of the next stroke that always held her helplessly in place until a caning was finally over .

The caning was indeed hard, so hard that she still had great difficulty in holding her position, but she gripped the table as tightly as she could while twelve times the cane hissed and thwacked and fire streaked across her bottom. Her gasps and stifled cries and the jumping and twisting of her hips became quite involuntary, as was the fact that these movements, with the inevitable squeezings and openings of her bottom cheeks, finally afforded Dr.Stanton not only clearer glimpses of her sex but also quite shamelessly revealed what he had so longed to see, namely the pale brown circle of her anus.

When the twelfth stroke had been delivered, there the two of them were again, both of them panting, and with the Headmaster having no idea as to how to continue. But Miss Martin now knew what she wanted, and as the burning of the last stroke slowly faded she took charge of the by now almost breathless Headmaster. He was shortly to be even more breathless.

"Pickup that purse I've left on the desk .... have you got it?"

"Uh ... yes ..."

"There's some Vaseline in it, get your finger covered with it and come and stick your finger in my anus ... ." A fumbling pause and shuffling of feet (she could not see the look of momentary bewilderment on his face followed by faint comprehension), the sound of a metal lid being unscrewed. Then she felt his finger pressing into her cleft and finding her hole.

"That's good, now work it around ... that's right ... now more Vaseline ... good! Now put someone yourself and stick it in my anus!"

She was now completely in charge and raised her head to look back along the table, watching with some concern as the Headmaster first of all seemed as though he did not understand her orders and then, finally grasping the point and regaining control of himself, began to fumble his trousers and underpants off, still looking as though he might be too confused to succeed in the task. It was obvious that he was, in fact, much less experienced sexually than was she. But he finally manage to remove both trousers and underpants, and she saw him move right behind her and felt the greasy pressure of his fingers and then his hardness, moving against her bottom cheeks. She reached back with both hands and pulled them apart, wincing as her fingers pressed into the welts left by the cane.

"Now! Put it against the opening and push ... slowly, not too hard ... that's right! Now more ... deeper ... yes, right in.... now leave it there a moment!"

She waited until she felt herself relax and then began to move against him.

"Now! In and out ... slowly ... good ... now more!"

She reached under her stomach with her right hand, finding her clitoris, feeling his slippery hardness sliding to and fro past her fingers, sensing its pushing deep in her bottom, and she began to rub herself furiously, grateful in one corner of her mind for the softness of the cushion that raised her hips, while the rest of her brain dissolved into the confusion of her own history, barely aware of the now loudly panting Headmaster, thrusting desperately between two bottom cheeks vividly crossed by the scarlet tramlines left by his own cane.

The end result was very messy but profoundly satisfying to both of them.

After this momentous event, the relationship between Dr. Stanton and Miss Martin became mutual and explicit. They quite often discussed both the school's practice of caning and their own participation in it. Dr. Stanton was extremely careful not to allow any glimpse to others of this relationship, and Miss Martin continued her distinctive approach to those many young ladies who were ordered to the Headmaster's study. She always let them know that such discipline was proper and indeed essential to maintaining an excellent educational institution, but she also offered them advice and sympathy, including the availability of comforting measures after their caning, should they desire it. Not surprisingly, some pupils found her attitude somewhat ambiguous and, indeed, rumors sometimes circulated through the school. Such is the nature of boarding schools, however, that these rumors were never taken seriously.

As for the private privileges she continued to allow Dr. Stanton, she kept her own subjection to the cane at intervals of months rather than weeks and never offered him a bottom on which signs of earlier encounters were still visible, and she never allowed him to administer more than eighteen strokes. She did not, in fact, like walking around feeling bruises on her bottom, for her main pleasures were confined to the experience of the caning itself and then to feeling the hot ache and the corrugations of the tramlines across her cheeks in the immediate aftermath. She did, however, continue to offer her bottom to him for that other purpose with rather greater frequency, and there were several occasions on which their excitement threatened to let his maid, at least, suspect their strange conjunctions in pain and pleasure.