“No! No!! No, never!!! you may kill me, and then I should be out of my misery!” I exclaimed.
She scowled with ferocity, but said with all the calmness she could command, “
make [41] ]haste, Serena, up with her clothes, and open the drawers well, and keep her as steady as possible.” Then taking up the instrument of punishment I could see it consisted of five or six long thongs of whipcord, plaited and knotted at the ends, fixed on a very elastic handle.
It was poised in her hand for a moment, and then brought down with stinging force on my exposed buttocks, then again, and again, and again, in quick succession; each cut seemed to sear the flesh as if done by a red hot iron, my piercing screams filled the whole place, and the Superior, her eyes sparkling with ferocious joy,
jeered me about how I liked the scourge. “How lovely you look, Mdlle. Lucille, as you plunge and scream, and I know the intense agony of every cut; would you rather die now, my little dear? Well, I’ve a good mind to kill you, outright, only I want to keep you as long as that dear, kind papa of yours is willing to pay! How he must have loved his Lucille, to place [42] ]her with me; I’m so kind, so very kind, you know, my dear girl! What do you think of my kindness, you little love?”
Her cuts were awful, and I swayed and plunged so that it was impossible for Serena to keep my body steady, so she seized the other scourge, and tried her best to second the Superior in her efforts to cut me up more and more.
At last they fairly panted for breath, as I was left dangling, sobbing and moaning, with my clothes torn, my drawers in shreds, and streaming with blood all down my thighs and legs.
Fearing I might faint, they poured a little strong cordial down my parched throat, sponged my face with cold water, and put some strong snuff up my nose, which almost drove me into convulsions, so very violent was the fit of sneezing produced.
They seemed carried away with delight at the sight of my sufferings, and sprinkled a quantity of the snuff over the cuts on my [43] ]bottom, just to dry up the blood, as they said with a laugh. Next all my clothes were cut or torn off, till I had nothing on but slippers, stockings, and the remains of my drawers.
“Now we’ll finish off the obstinate, impudent little beast, I wish I dare kill her,”