After lunch, Don Estanio excused himself from the ladies' company, saying he had pressing matters to attend to.

Jayne and Lady J. took coffee together in a small drawing room off the Don's sumptuous office. Some five minutes later Don Estanio returned, nodded briefly at Jayne before turning to Lady J.

'We are about to proceed. If you would care to bring her through she will be able to watch everything.'

'Splendid' replied Lady J. 'Come, Jayne.'

As the young woman followed her imperious mentor, Lady J. addressed the immediate, not to say apprehensive, curiosity the grandee's enigmatic manner and pronouncement had aroused in the breast of her niece.

'What you are about to be shown will certainly be beyond anything you have seen before, possibly beyond anything you have previously imagined credible. It will certainly put what you consider the rigours of your own training into a new perspective. You may be intrigued, excited or even shocked and dismayed. Whatever your private reaction, I want you to watch attentively and remain completely calm and silent throughout, keeping your reactions entirely to yourself.

'We can discuss your feelings later. For the moment, do me the kindness of revealing nothing of them to Don Estanio, or anyone else.'

As she spoke, she led the young woman from the grooming hall, down a corridor to another part of the stable complex, explaining as she went: 'When an inmate here first comes to be trained as a pony-girl, she spends four weeks as what is called, for obvious reasons, "a filly". It is, as it were , a probationary period. It's purpose is to establish that she has the aptitude for what will, should she be selected, lie before her and that it is worth training her fully - and, for that matter, that she will enjoy the life. There are no conscripts here, as I already told you. Even someone sent by a Master is carefully evaluated: if she genuinely dislikes the life she will be sent away - and I might add that it is a precondition of accepting even a full slave for evaluation that there be no recriminations against her should be found, for whatever reason, not to be suitable and be returned.

'Of course, the Estancia cannot police the behaviour of every owner, nor the treatment accorded every unsuccessful applicant, once she leaves here, but any owner known to have punished a slave simply for not having the aptitude for full training here would quickly be ostracised by his circle of acquaintance and no further dealings be contemplated.'

She paused briefly, as a pony girl in full harness, her arms with their long wrist-cuffs secured behind her back, approached. Her forearms clipped one to the other horizontally across the small of her back so that her naked breasts - for she wore no training bra - thrust prominently and quivered with every step, she was being led up the corridor down which the trio walked, the bifurcated leading rein from her oversize nipple rings looped over the wrist of the diminutive groom. The girl herself must have been almost six feet tall, yet appeared utterly to accept as normal that she should be led around, tightly corseted, by reins attached to large, utilitarian harness rings fitted through her own living flesh and held by a man whose head could barely touch the underside of those same majestically jutting, captured and captive breasts. The rings by which she was led were conspicuously large, almost 5cm in diameter, and her nipples unusually long and large. The breasts, although they did indeed jut majestically, were in fact of little more than medium size. It was their remarkable firmness (if it had been induced by silicone, Jayne could see no tell-tale signs of surgery while the breast itself was of natural shape) which gave them their prominence. Each nipple thrust ahead of the body of the breast by almost an inch, while the rod from which the rings were made was thicker in diameter than Jayne had observed on the other pony-girls she had seen. In consequence the heavy teats bulged balloon-like above and below to accommodate the thick rod which pushed through the transverse holes bored through them. Trying not to stare, Jayne nonetheless surreptitiously watched spellbound as the beautiful girl, her firm-muscled body glowing with health and fitness, was led towards them.

Like Marietta this pony-girl, Jayne noticed, had also had at least her lower body hair removed, and the bald hump of her carefully depilated pubic mound swelled smoothly above unusually thick lips at the join of which peeked out, like a miniature cockscomb, the fleshy hood of a prominent clitoris. Glancing swiftly down at the junction of the long thighs as the girl strode along, Jayne saw but fleetingly - but enough to be sure what she had seen - that the upper part of the girl's conspicuously developed sex cleft had been somehow cosmetically remodelled and modified. The fleshy clitoral protuberance was conspicuously visible, pulled out from its normal place between and within the folds of the outer labia and kept exposed and prominent by some sort of jewelled pinning arrangement. The deeply pink, soft folds had been transfixed, quite literally, by a bulky golden ornament, a bar it appeared, with a small gold ball, perhaps 5mm in diameter, at either end. The twin gold balls sat one on either side of the prominent sex slot, resting on the swelling folds of the girl's large and smoothly bald labia, and appeared to be joined by a thick gold pin pushed through the gathered flesh of the clitoral prepuce but underneath the stalk itself, so that the tiny organ rested on top and by the presence of the transverse pin was forced to thrust out and forward almost horizontally. The end of the clitoral stalk itself peeped from under the heavy folds of a particularly loose and generous hood, but where one might have thus expected to see pink flesh there was instead a tiny white conical cap, of ivory or bone, with the stud of a small silver rivet head showing at either side. Jayne shuddered.

As they passed, Jayne had time only for the briefest of glances but nonetheless was able to take in virtually every striking detail of the girl's bizarre accoutrements. The pony-girl, she noticed, looked neither to left or right, but only ahead.

'At the end of four weeks,' continued Lady J. when the high-booted pony-girl, her heels tap-tapping on the tiled corridor floor, had passed, 'the filly is, if suitable, accepted for full training. It is at that stage that she is branded and - as you saw on Marietta this morning - has her nipples pierced and ringed. It is this ceremony which you were about to witness.'

Jayne's lower belly fluttered in sudden alarm and excitement. Alarm at the prospect that there might be something in this which could involve her directly, either now or later in her own training - excitement at the sudden flush of arousal which the heady mixture of fear, eroticism, submission and stoicism which such thoughts produce.

Did her aunt have it in mind that her own nipples would be pierced and ringed, her own buttocks branded with a hot iron as were those of the pony-girls? Is it her aunt's intention that her own training will include a time, at least, as a pony-girl herself? How would she cope with being subjected to such a rigorously disciplined existence - and for how long would her aunt dictate that she be incarcerated in such a place? A welter of emotions flooded her imagination at the prospect, growing all morning but now formed unmistakable and unavoidable, of becoming at her aunt's insistence a pony-girl in training. Still coming to terms with her own sexuality, the young woman could not wholly explain to herself why the prospect of witnessing this pony-girl being ringed and branded - or of even being put through such an ordeal herself - should arouse her sexually. All she knew was that it did.

If Lady J. had seen any reaction on the face of her niece, she made no comment. Instead she continued her exposition: 'The expression used to describe the transition from filly to mare is that she is "taken to the blacksmith", implying an end to her carefree days as a youthful filly, the getting down to the hard work of being a real working and racing pony. The young woman who is to be brought to the blacksmith today is the kept mistress - perhaps one of the kept mistresses would be more accurate - of a French aristocrat. To indulge a whim for him, she has agreed to run in a gala race in France in three months, and accepts that she can do so only as a fully-fitted pony-girl - with all the trimmings, as it were. She has therefore, to please her lover, agreed to come here for training, and to become a pony-girl.

'In fact she has already been here for some five weeks - Don Estanio wanted to make quite sure she had no illusions about what would be required of her, of how she would live and be trained, and so on. She has satisfied him that she knows what she is doing, and letting herself in for. He has therefore agreed that she make the final transition to full-fledged pony-girl.'

Don Estanio, walking ahead of Jayne and Lady J., had stopped before a heavy brown door at the end of the long corridor down which the three had been walking slowly as Lady J. talked. Now he was waiting for the two ladies, still exquisitely and fashionably dressed in marked contrast to the other females with whom the three had come in contact this day, to catch up.

When they did so, he opened the door, and ushered his guests through, closing the door and turning in its heavy lock a large iron key. The room in which the trio now stood was small, windowless, lit by a single large bulb hanging from a centre fitting in the cream-washed ceiling, shielded by a plain green-and-white enamelled shade. The broad-boarded floor was bare, the walls from floor to ceiling panelled with vertical boards of tongue-and-groove red-stained pine. There was another door at the far end of the room, presently closed. A long work table covered with green baize cloth stood along one wall and on it were laid various instruments on stainless steel trays or in white enamel bowls. In the middle of the opposite wall was a small fireplace with cast iron surround and grate, the grate raised from floor level to allow the ashes to fall to the hearth beneath. The fire had been lit and glowed a dull red, giving the room its unnatural warmth, and before the fire, arranging on the hearth with their ends resting on the glowing coals two wooden-handled metal rods, a heavy-set barrel of a man, dressed only in work-stained jeans and a long leather apron. His shoulders and arms were heavily muscled and covered in a tangle of swirling, fine black hair. He glanced briefly at Don Estanio, Jayne and Lady J., and turned back to his work.

'The blacksmith' explained Lady J. 'His more normal work is servicing the pony-traps and doing the leather work for the harnesses. He has been with Don Estanio for many years, and is used for this task principally because, quite frankly, he looks the part. There is an element of showmanship in everything here, even what goes on behind the scenes.’

Tearing her eyes away from the intimidating figure of the so-called blacksmith, Jayne allowed her gaze to take in the rest of the room.

In the centre of the floor, and extending from floor to ceiling, were two stout wooden pillars some five feet apart, with between them, slotted into hoops on the far side of the pillars so that they stand on their edges, several broad planks, set horizontally across the vertical pillars. From these broad boards, which were padded with a mat black rubber surface on the side which faces the door whence the three entered but not, Jayne later saw when with her aunt she moved around to their far side, on the other face, hung heavy black leather straps, those on the left side short, buckled, those on the right longer, with evenly spaced adjustment holes.

'Like all sports - or one might more accurately say fetishes - this one has its traditions and culture' continued Lady J. once she had seen that her niece had examined the room, and had had time to take in its appearance and contents. 'When it is time for one of Don Estanio's fillies to be taken to the blacksmith, this is where she is brought.

'You have already seen something of the culture of this particular fetish in the way in which the girls live, were groomed and so on. It is no less a part of the culture that the marking of the pony-girl, once she is admitted to the academy, be carried out in a particular manner, a ritual distinctive to each training camp - for of course this is not the only place in the world - or even this country - where women were trained and raced as pony-girls. What you were about to witness is the Ordeal of Estancia Don Estanio, through which every pony-girl trained here must pass. It is one of the reasons an owner will send his pony-girl here as opposed to another establishment, or why someone who wishes to become a Licensed racer will chose to be trained here rather than anywhere else. Everyone in the Fancy will then know her as an Estanio Mare, with all that that accolade stands for.' Leading her niece forward by the elbow Lady J. guided her closer to the central structure which appears, from its very solidity, partly at least to support the ceiling of the room. Two chairs have been set to one side of the massive, and to these Lady J guided Jayne. Together they take their seats.

'This is the ringing frame,' she told the silent girl 'in which the filly to be marked will be secured so that she is completely immobilised. No narcotics or anaesthetics were used: it is a requirement that every pony-girl be fully conscious and sensible throughout her marking.

'The girl to be marked today, whose name is Constance, is to be branded on each buttock with her lover's personal crest. The brand you saw on Marietta this morning is what is called a light brand, done with an iron which is heated in a fire until it is red hot but which on removal is swiftly plunged into a bucket of cold water both to sterilise the metal and to cool it. It is then briefly and very lightly applied to the skin - usually the buttock, but sometimes the belly or back - of the girl to be branded. The residual heat is sufficient to mark the skin but such that the marks in time - six months to a year, normally - will fade.

'A full branding is of course altogether a more rigorous matter. The red-hot iron is again very briefly plunged in water - if it were applied while still red-hot it would cause severe burning and blistering, which itself would scar badly and ruin the shape of the branded image. So the iron must be merely grey-hot. But in this instance instead of merely a light, fleeting touch the branding iron is pressed firmly into the flesh to be marked for a count of between three and five, depending on the required depth of the brand.

'Constance is to be fully branded to a count of three. The resulting marks will be indelible, and permanent, When the brands have healed they will leave indented patterns on the crown of both buttocks in the shape of her lover's family seal, which is a raven in flight contained within a Norman shield. With double-branding, two irons are used, applied simultaneously.' Lady J. paused, allowing her niece's gaze to take in what she can now recognise as the twin branding irons, already heating in the low fire of the grate. She continued:

'During her probationary training Constance has been available to, and has been taken sexually by, several of the grooms and of course by Don Estanio himself, who reserves the right to sample any girl in his charge, whatever other restrictions may be placed upon her use. She is, I understand, a willing and compliant lover. However, her own lover has now said that she is to be closed and not enjoyed sexually again until after she has run: if she wins, he will enjoy her himself. If she loses, she will be enjoyed by the owners of each of the ponies who beat her, or by their trainers if they be Licences. In addition to her lover's marks being branded onto her buttocks, her sex will therefore this afternoon be sealed.

'And of course, her nipples will be pierced and ringed, for her harness.' Lady J.'s prescription for the immolation of Constance was delivered with such matter-of-fact evenness of voice that she might be ordering lunch, or listing her requirements to her laundress - but as she finished and as if on cue the far door opened, and Constance herself was led in by one of the diminutive men who act as grooms and drivers. She was completely naked, even to bare feet.

She was a dark-haired young woman of about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, of a well-rounded, athletic build rather than slim. Her luxurious jet-black hair reached to her neck, and the eyes in the strikingly handsome face seemed as black as her hair. Her breasts were full, still firm but already showing a tendency to heaviness which made them sway quiveringly as she walked. The prominent nipples, Jayne noticed immediately, already trying to visualise how they will look with their titanium rings, were thick and even in repose almost half-an-inch in length, the surrounding aureola a deep pink. Her skin and body glowed with health, and she docilely accompanied the groom who without preamble guided her by the elbow towards the heavy frame.

'She has been given a pre-med, a mild sedative, to relax her and calm her natural apprehension, for of course she has had explained to her in detail what is to be done, but otherwise she will not be drugged in any way' explained Lady J., beginning a low-voiced commentary for her niece which she will keep up throughout the proceedings 'She was given a thorough work-out this morning, in the gymnasium, before being placed on a bench and taken sexually by each of the grooms in turn - a sort of passing out ceremony, There are twelve grooms, so she has had a busy morning. As is traditional on such an occasion, each will have fucked her as vigorously as he can and fully spunked inside her, the next taking his turn immediately, so that by the end she has undergone a fairly rigorous ordeal, finishing with her own regular groom, with whom you see her now. His name is Claudio, and I am assured by Don Estanio that the smallness of his overall physical stature is not reflected in the matter of his male member, which is apparently prodigious. She is then flushed out, bathed and given a final grooming and burnished with rubbing oil. She will be secured without further ado.'

The girl was led round the frame, and as she advanced Jayne noted with interest that her pubis was already fully depilated, the smooth mound a prominent bulge and the sex lips clearly visible. Her clitoris, or rather the fleshy hood of her clitoris, protruded at the top of her sex-slot, but it was impossible to tell whether this and the prominent fullness of her sex lips was her natural state or the result of the sexual use to which she has been so recently subjected, or indeed of a sexual arousal she may well feel in anticipation of all that lay ahead. Her skin shone from the effects of the rubbing oil with which she had been massaged.

She was turned to face the padded boards, and without further prompting stood close up against them while first the broadest of the leather straps was passed around her waist by the blacksmith, pulled tight and buckled. The diminutive groom stepped aside, leaving his charge in the less than tender care of the swarthy, heavy-muscled blacksmith.

The girl's arms were lifted one by one for her wrists to be secured, but not as might be thought to the upper corners of the frame. Instead, the broadest board, that at shoulder height but the lower edge of which extended almost as low as the girl's navel, was adjusted in the hoops so that her upper arms could be secured horizontally with straps at her shoulder and above her elbows, the elbows themselves crooked in a right angle so that the forearm was secured vertically, straps at wrist and across the middle of the forearm. She stood thus, with arms raised like one threatened in a bank hold-up, her palms pressed flat against the rubber, her head turned to the left and her right cheek also pressed against the rubber-padded blankness of the board.

Next a broad strap was placed across the centre of her back, across her shoulder blades, buckled and pulled securely tight. The girl's upper body was now pressed tight against the padded boards, the sides of her breasts bulging beneath her opened armpits where they were pressed flat against the mat black rubber.

The girl's feet were parted, and as her thighs opened the fascinated Jayne from her seated position was able to see that the young woman's well-developed inner labia show distinctly beneath the swell of the carefully shaved outer lips, beneath the underhang of the buttocks. The pendulant lobes, Jayne noted with curious interest, were darker by several shades than the flesh of even the plump labia major, and hung down freely an inch or more below the cleft of the sex itself. Swiftly the young woman's parted legs were secured with more straps at thigh, at knee and at ankle.

'First,' continued Lady J. 'her breasts will be firmly secured for ringing then, before her nipples are pierced, her sex will be dealt with.' As Don Estanio and the blacksmith busy themselves with checking the security of the straps which so comprehensively secure the girl to the ringing frame, Lady J. rose and, signalling her niece to follow, moved round in front of the girl.

From this side of the frame it was apparent that what at first appeared a solid board across the girl's torso was not solid at all. There were two circular holes, exactly and very obviously where the girl's breasts were pressed against the rubber covering on the face of the boards, and it was apparent also that the rubber must not be as heavy as at first Jayne thought, because it bulged into the holes with the pressure of the girl's breasts pressed against it. In the centre of each hole there was also a smaller hole in the rubber, and already one nipple partly peeked through.

'The rubber lining on the other surface of the board' continued Lady J.'s compulsive commentary, 'is not in fact of a consistent weight or thickness. As you see, the padding and wood have been removed just where her breasts press against the boards. In fact, the latex at this point is very thin and already highly stressed, by pre-stretching. You might also see that at the centre of each breast hole in the wood there is a corresponding hole in the rubber, through which her nipples, and indeed the entire breast, will now be worked.’

As Jayne watched, fascinated, Don Estanio reached out to one of the two breast-holes, teasing the small hole in the rubber over the emergent nipple until the nipple itself could clearly be seen. He repeated the exercise with the other nipple, and stepped back.

The blacksmith now approached, holding a pair of long-tongued surgical tongs, not unlike barbecue tongs but with heavy black rubber grips at the closure end.

Without fuss, he clamped the rubber grips of the tongs over the girl's exposed right nipple and began to pull.

The girl gasped once, then was silent, as the blacksmith continued to pull with the tight-gripping tongs, teasing the nipple and then the entire tip of the breast through the now opening, stretching rubber.

'Quite deliberately' continued Lady J.'s commentary 'her breasts are being handled roughly, even callously. It is to remind her of her station - a station that she herself had chosen and which she must now get used to: it is of the essence of this procedure that it be carried out with total detachment. There must be about it the minimum of eroticism, despite the obvious sexual undertones.

'She is no longer a girl, a woman. Her breasts are no longer objects of romantic veneration - not even so called erogenous zones. She herself has become asexual, while at the same time must now grow used to the fact that her body is no longer her own. Her 'owners' will do to it whatever needs to be done - not do to her, as a woman, but to the body which must now be trained and even modified. As a pony-girl, she hangs in a special limbo, as some mythical creature. What you are witnessing is indeed, and quite simply, a rite of passage - a rite not so much imposed upon a victim, but willingly undertaken by the candidate herself. At any stage during the rite, she has merely to say one word, and it will come to an immediate end. But by her voluntary submission to the rite, she denotes her acquiescence to the system within the stables, and her acceptance of its disciplines and code.

'She is, in short, agreeing to become a pony-girl. By permitting these rough-handed liberties, by voluntarily offering her breasts to this uncomfortable, even unpleasant, mistreatment, she demonstrates that agreement.’

Lady J. paused in her narrative, and both watched the blacksmith as he tugged with the tongs on the swiftly swelling, reddening nipple, first pulling directly, then working the emerging teat up and down, then side to side, to tease it through the tight rubber. Occasionally, from behind the anonymous wall, there came a low grunt, as the girl accommodated the discomfort of what was being done to her breast.

'The more breast he draws through the hole, the more stretched becomes the rubber' continued the exposition.

'And the more stretched becomes the rubber, the tighter it grips the breast until, when the entire breast has been drawn through, the rubber will form a tight ring round the base, causing the breast to swell out on this side of the hole. Of course, the more the breast swells, the tighter the grip: the tighter the grip, the more the breast is caused to swell.'

By now the anonymous, de-personalised breast, gripped firmly by the rubber, bulged into and through the hole in the board to which the girl's torso was strapped, the nipple and aureole swelling also.

'There is also a practical consideration for treating the nipple, in particular, quite so roughly' went on Lady J.

'The more the nipple itself is manipulated and man-handled, the more erect and extended it becomes. This of course will make it much easier to pierce, when that time comes.'

None too gently - from beyond the boards' blank wall there continued to come an occasional and quickly stifled gasp, a muffled grunt when one of the rough-handed blacksmith's tugs was particularly forceful, reminding Jayne that the purpling breast on this side was not entirely de-personalised - the blacksmith repeated the process with the left breast, using the tongs to grip the nipple and pull, while with the fingers of the other hand he both teased the breast itself through the tight hole and eased the rubber back, rolling it into a tight ring round the emerging globe until, his task completed, he paused and moved aside, perhaps simply to let the unaccustomed visitors appreciate the appearance of what had been effected. From this side of the ringing frame, only the heavy boards could be seen, beneath the lower edge of the lowest of which the girl's feet were visible pressed out against the inner face of each upright. Above, there rose what was effectively a blank, wood wall - save that there were two round holes in the wall at torso height, and through these holes protruded, surrealistically Dali-esque, two tautly swollen female breasts, bulging roundly, the nipples angry red and heavily swollen.

'Pressed hard against the ringing frame and with her breasts gripped so tightly by the rubber is not particularly comfortable for her.' murmured Lady J. 'What follows will be even harder to bear - but of course, it is intended to be. As I said, the rough handling to which her breasts are being subjected is part of the culture which the girl now joins. And it is nothing to what she will have to bear during the actual ringing, which is carried out with quite deliberate harshness.

'However, she knows that she is expected to endure this and what follows quietly and with acquiescence, to indicate her docility and willingness to co-operate in all that lies ahead. No one wants a troublesome, rebellious pony-girl any more than they want a rebellious, troublesome horse. ' Lady J. moved a little, and Jayne followed, taking in the spectacle of the pinioned, panting nude girl pressed so hard and tightly to the boards of the ringing frame.

'The methodology of her marking' continued Lady J. after a moment more 'has been carefully explained to her, so that she knows precisely what will be done to her and what she must do. Seven days ago, she was brought in here with her lover by Don Estanio. They were together shown the ringing frame, the rings which would be fitted to her, and the tools with which that fitting would be accomplished. The different forms of branding were explained in detail, and Constance herself was shown how she would be strapped to the frame, and how her breasts would be secured, while what would be done was carefully explained.

'Three days ago, Constance's lover confirmed he wished to proceed - but asked that it be Constance herself who should specify the type of brand she should bear. Yesterday Constance came to Don Estanio's office with her decision and formally asked that she be Taken To The Blacksmith, signing a form to signify she fully understood the implications of her request.'

Lady J. paused, to allow the blacksmith to finish the first part of his cruel task. Having teased the second breast through the tight black rubber he returned his attentions to the first, re-gripping the swollen nipple in the hard rubber jaws, pulling upwards, then downwards, then from side to side again, worrying continually at the tightly held firm cone to pull as much as possible of the breast through the tight aperture. He shifted his attentions to the second breast, repeating the process, worrying at first one hard cone of flesh then the other until he appeared satisfied there was no more to draw through. Almost reluctantly, he stepped away from the bizarely protruding breasts, and stood waiting for Don Estanio's next move.

'Now that her breasts have been pulled fully into the ringing position,' Lady J.'s commentary continued 'she will be given a few moments to compose herself, while the tightness of the rubber slowly numbs the breast, dulling the feeling in the nipple, so that during her piercing she will feel less pain. Then she will be ringed.

'In the meantime, Don Estanio himself will attend to attaching the seal to her sex.'

Together, Lady J. and her niece, her heart now pounding heavily, her mouth dry with anticipation, walked once more to the back of the ringing frame, the side to which the girl was strapped and immobilised, while the older woman continued with her fluent and fascinating explanations.

'Unlike Marietta whom you saw earlier, Constance will not be fitted with a pudendal ring. Each sponsor had his own preferences. As you can see, this girl has unusually long labia minora so a simple tag will be used on one of these, permitting normal bodily functioning and personal hygiene, but limiting sexual access.' At Lady J's signal Jayne bent, then dropped to one knee, behind the girl to permit a view up between the opened thighs. Between the spread columns the full cleft of Constance's carefully shaven sex slot was plainly visible, her stance already drawing slightly open the thickened labia majora. Between them the girl's unusually developed inner labia hung in two slightly crinkled, fleshy lobes fully half-an-inch below the undersweep of the lower torso.

'In fact,' continued Lady J. as Jayne rose from her dispassionate inspection 'it would still be possible to have sexual intercourse with her with the tag in place, but it would be uncomfortable, certainly for her and probably for the male. But the real purpose of the tag is simply to mark her as unavailable. Don Estanio will do it now.'

On cue the grandee went to the table, and returned with what looked like a large plier-action stapling machine.

'It is' said Lady J. 'exactly of the design I explained to you earlier and used to tag the ears of sheep or cattle, save that it is made in stainless steel and scrupulously sterilised before being used. However, on this occasion rather than merely punch a hole through the labia, Don Estanio will simultaneously affix the tag.'

With little preamble, the master of Estancia Don Estanio kneeled on one knee at the girl's left side, permitting the watching duo an unrestricted view of what was to happen. He reached up between the spread thighs and lightly caressed the partly open sex, stroking his fingers several times back and forth along the parted slot in a soft, soothing caress. The girl moaned, softly. His fingertip found the nubbin of the girl's clitoris, which (although Jayne could not see it) swiftly hardened under his light touch. In a moment the girl was moaning, quietly.

'He is arousing her sex - that way she will feel less pain when the spike of the stapler is driven through her inner lip.'

Holding the stapler in his right hand he grasped between the finger and thumb of his left the fleshy lobe of the girl's inner sex lip, on the right side, and pulled it downwards, hard. The girl's buttocks clenched in anticipation as she felt the cool, hard jaws of the stapler close over her stretched flesh. This procedure, too, had been explained to her when she visited the Ringing Room with her lover. Now the first of her trials, she knew, was at hand. She knew what to expect, had no illusions as to what was about to happen, to be done to her. She did not want to let her lover down.

She willed herself to endure.

Don Estanio tightened the grip of the plier-like handles, so that the machine itself now griped the sex lip. He pulled downwards even further, stretching the loose flap of skin more until it was cruelly distended, then with a quick movement, his fingers whitening with strength, he squeezed the pliers fully together.

There was a dull snapping sound, exactly like that of a large stapler firing into several layers of paper, and the girl gave a single sharp cry, the muscles of her buttocks, straining to move her immobilised hips, fibrilating rapidly.

Don Estanio opened the pliers, moved them away and rose to his feet, returning the pliers to the table.

Hanging down from the girl's sex, its weight pulling the inner sex lip now vertically downwards from the opened slot, was a metal tag of some 2 centimetres length. When her aunt, Jayne quickly realised, said the girl's sex was to be sealed, she had not used the word to mean completely closed, but rather in an older usage. Marked, indelible until it be sawn off, with her lover's personal heraldic device.

Lady J. motioned her niece to move so that she stood behind the girl. A sheen of perspiration glistened between the bare, tanned shoulder blades, the fine hairs on the downy skin fair despite the raven blackness of her head, and at Lady J.'s gesture the other of the young women in the room, the one fettered, the other free but in her own way no less fettered dropped to one knee, reaching up to lift and gently test the weight of the metal tag. It was indeed noticeably heavy: two, perhaps three ounces, formed like a metal strap, doubled in a loop over the petal of the inner sex lip, and held by a thick stud which was driven cleanly through the labia, on through the second leaf of the metal tag where, presumably by the action of the stapling device, the stud end had actually been riveted over the hole in the tag.

Only by cutting the metal stud could the tag now be removed.

Jayne, still kneeling between Constance's parted thighs, turned and looked up at her aunt, her face flushed, an unspoken question in her eyes. Will this be she, one day, spread-eagled, strapped - and marked indelibly?