You are not going to deny it was you with that boy from Till­wood, or that you were unaware such unchap­er­oned encoun­ters were entire­ly against the rules?’ Still no response from the girl: this was typ­i­cal, thought Miss Svenson. Spank? Miran­da was hor­ri­fied: she had nev­er been spanked before; nev­er had to lie across the lap of the head mis­tress – this was toomuch. She didn't count, so she still has 12 left to go. Let me take a closer look at her bum, I don't see the typical cane mark." Delight­ful child,’ remarked the Head­mistress as the door closed. ‘Let us hope that the rest of your class live up to her example.’ Obe­di­ent­ly the boy bent for­ward again and his class teacher gripped him firm­ly to hold his hands against the sides of the chairseat.

I’m still wait­ing for an answer to my ques­tion,’ con­tin­ued Miss Sven­son, ‘Where did you go this afternoon?’ Not only had she had to wit­ness the pun­ish­ment of one of her pupil’s, Miran­da Spears, at the hands of anoth­er – a resound­ing six of the best with the strap from Tillwood’s head­mas­ter, Don­ald Rudd – but she had also had to endure Rudd’s excru­ci­at­ing com­bi­na­tion of syco­phancy and self-regard. Yes, she had assured him on the phone that morn­ing, she was ful­ly aware of his prowess with the cane (enough to bring the hardi­est sixth for­mer to tears in three strokes); of his dis­dain for the strap (less painful); and of his unerr­ing trust in her abil­i­ties and judge­ment. Yes, yes,yes.Look me in the eye,’ she com­mand­ed; the girl com­plied. ‘Are you going to deny it?’ A moment’s hes­i­ta­tion, then ‘No, Miss.’ Miss Sven­son breathed an inward sigh of relief: Miran­da Spears real­ly was the most obsti­natepupil. That seems most sat­is­fac­to­ry Bark­er,’ said the Head­mistress with a kind smile. ‘Now is there any­thing more I can do foryou?’

Anoth­er half dozen class mem­bers filed through of whom only one opt­ed for ‘two’ and the oth­ers were allowed to leave unscathed. Then an excep­tion­al­ly pret­ty girl with cropped blond hair entered the study, flashed a smile and greet­ed them enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly with, ‘good morn­ing ladies!’ Well, it does allow her to be prepared for the spanking. It depends of course on the type of punishment that needs to be administered. Also, in this case, you need practice so it was easy to have you warm up with the paddle before we move to the cane." Now she was in the office of the head­mistress, a grey-head­ed Scotswoman called Miss Firth. ‘Bend over, girl’; ‘Bend over; Bend over; Bend over.’ Three times she had been in Miss Firth’s office that term, and on the fourth, she was suspended. Come here at once,’ con­tin­ued Miss Sven­son, her voice ris­ing to a crescen­do, ‘or I will spank you hard­er and longer.’ No Miran­da,’ assert­ed Miss Sven­son, ‘that’s enough ques­tion­ing for now. I am sure you will Dr Rudd will have all the answers youneed.’No Head­mistress. You were quite right to pun­ish that boy. I hope now he will have learned his lesson.’ Held over a week­end dur­ing the Win­ter Term, the four hous­es at Cams­ford – Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh and Grenville – would chal­lenge each oth­er for the hon­our of the Cup across six events, cul­mi­nat­ing in a cross-coun­try ‘hare and hounds’, held on the Sun­day. For this, the two lead­ing heads of house (or, more fre­quent­ly, their nom­i­nees) would act as hares, set­ting off in good time ahead of their pur­suers. This year, Miss Sven­son had not been sur­prised to learn that Miran­da Spears, the long-legged fifth-for­mer, had been select­ed as the hare forDrake.