The Loden-Twins 20-22

Chapter twenty – Worries about fever

At two o´clock Miss Glass slept deeply once she had spent more than four hours against her inner restlessness she could not explain herself. Normally she had found her sleep without any problems, even when her aunt had punished her overnight. She used to cover her with an extra large additional duvet when she was in disgrace. It covered her in a similar way the bed-cover Mrs. Kelly used, covering the whole bed and making the atmosphere under it hot and sticky as her own breath warmed the remaining air quickly. So she was used to sleeping under uncomfortable conditions in her youth but as she never got any stimulants before bedtime she had had no troubles to cut it out and fall asleep.

This time it took ages to fall asleep and so she was tired and dizzy when her colleague woke her at the pre-arranged time. She had not realized that Miss Bell had removed the bed-cover, loosened the duvet and opened the wrap of the thick acrylic velour blanket before she spoke to Miss Glass. “Seems you could not take your punishment?” were her first words and she expected her colleague would not get the meaning as the sound of the words woke her. “Get completely out now, you need to dress and start your shift”. Miss Glass was still dizzy so she assumed her colleague had just helped her to get released and was not aware that Miss Bell let it look like it had happened during the night without her knowledge. Miss Bell prepared the thick woolen tights and the turtleneck dress, her velvet dress and the cardigan and watched her during she dressed herself. At the end she offered her the scarf she had unwrapped from the blanket before and made sure that he was tightly knotted again. Then Miss Bell went to bed and before she fell asleep she formed her plan how to report to Mrs. Kelly. She would play it with a touch of sympathy for her colleague together with an uncomfortable feeling to rat on her. She would look like fighting between ‘stay loyal to a colleague who unfortunately failed’ and her ‘duty to be honest and conscientious’ to Mrs. Kelly. At the end her honesty would win and she would report that the bed-cover was beside the bed, the duvet was loosened and the wrap of the velour blanket opened when she came from her shift. She would further tell her boss that she had noticed her colleague to be very restless during the evening and that she shifted her body several times from one side to the other instead of staying motionless as was usual during a punishment. Miss Bell had a smile on her face when she finally fell asleep.

Miss Glass had, still tired but fully dressed, reached the staffroom and first drank some water. She needed a coffee but she wanted to take it and let it cool down as a hot drink was nothing she would need in the next hours. The special caress of Miss Kelly to protect her from the chilly night was absolutely unnecessary as she would stay in the house the whole night and she hated the way she was treated more and more without any chance of changing it.

Miss Bell had told her that everything is okay with the girls so Miss Glass just had a short look at the monitor about a quarter to three. She was horrified about the figures she saw there as the actual measured values. The body temperatures had risen to 38.9 and 38.7 degrees Celsius. The ‘outside’ temperature measured at the same wrist was much higher, but this was explainable by the heated blanket that was still running on level four. Obviously Mrs. Kelly had lowered it from the maximum level seven but decided to keep it on the whole night.

Due to the isolation the body temperature should show the correct temperature and that would mean that both girls had a fever! It was not unexpected that both girls had the same symptoms as they stuck together most of the time. Miss Glass went upstairs and looked inside of the girls sleeping room. Both seemed to be awake or were sleeping restlessly. They could not move a lot due to the straps that fixed their sleeping bags but a slight movement of the heavy bed-cover was visible from time to time at both beds.

As the girls had to sleep muzzled Miss Glass could not get any verbal answers but she wondered if she should talk to them anyway. If they had a fever they would have headaches or anything else than just feeling hot and sweaty. Then she would have to remove the bed-cover, open the sleeping bag completely and unwrap at least the girls head. She would also have to switch off the heating blankets as this was too dangerous for a person with high fever. They would need cool towels on their forehead and not a complete closed heating and wool blanket totally covering their heads.

But Miss Glass hesitated. Should she wake up Mrs. Kelly and report the body temperature of the girls and wait for orders? She left the sleeping room silently although the girls could not hear much under all the layers they were buried. Just when she stepped out of the room she grew stiff. Mrs. Blackwood was standing in front of her, wearing her nightgown and a dressing gown plus slippers. Miss Glass was surprised and felt so overdressed in her three turtlenecks and tights she had to wear this night. “Oh. Mrs. Blackwood I hope I did not disturb you?” The old lady was also surprised as she did not expect someone to leave the girl’s bedroom at this time. “No. Not at all Miss Glass. I could not sleep and was just walking around a little bit. You could not disturb me as my bedroom is on the first floor in the west wing of the building so there is no chance to hear any sound coming from the east wing.”

“So can I do anything for you, Madam?” Miss Glass asked, still worried about what she should do about the twins apparent fever. “No nothing . . . although I just came by to have a quick look at my grandchildren. You must know, I did this with my daughter at night, at least when she was punished or in disgrace. And to my sorrow that happened quite often in the last year before she left us. My husband was . . . let’s say he had a strong will and a clear vision of how Maria should live and behave. His daughter had inherited this strong will from him, but to his displeasure she had a totally different opinion regarding her future. So I had to punish her often in the last years. And as my husband absolutely disagreed with corporal punishment she had to suffer in layers of warm wool. Now I am afraid my grandchildren are in a similar situation, aren’t they?” “Yes, Madam, regarding their punishment you can be assured they are. Mrs. Kelly has them suffering in wool and other extreme warm layers for twenty-four hours a day. And during the night they stay in a sleeping bag together with an electric blanket.”

“For the love of God, that’s cruel. Although it was much hotter in Australia and I had to turn off the air conditioning in her room during punishments Maria never slept in her sleeping bag WITH an electric blanket. I found this too dangerous as she could overheat without being recognized.” “We have good monitoring equipment Madam. You don’t need to worry. We know their pulse, their body temperature etc. and one of us are on duty throughout the night and could react immediately” “And can I see them and check if everything is alright? Don´t misunderstand me, I believe you do a perfect job, it is just, I want to be near them and see it for my own sake, you understand?” “Of course, Madam, it is just . . .” Miss Glass was not sure if she should tell her the truth. She was worried about the girl’s having a fever but should she dare to tell it to Mrs. Blackwood instead of Mrs. Kelly? And what if Mrs. Blackwood wanted to see the sleeping faces of her grandchildren? They were covered in sleeping bags but top down, and wrapped into two blankets and a fully closed balaclava!” Miss Glass had to make a decision and as Mrs. Blackwood was the boss of her boss she had to be honest to her.

The old lady offered her the chance to speak freely by saying “Please my child, speak openly to me, you do not have to be afraid that I will blame you”. “I was just in the room as the monitor showed too high body temperature. But then I worried if I should report it to Mrs. Kelly first because it is not so easy to test them directly” “Why not?” “Please come in and have a look, you will see what I mean, Madam” Both women reentered the bedroom and Mrs. Blackwood turned on the light as she could not see enough with the permanent night light. She saw that the heavy black bed-covers had been used to ‘hide’ the girls in their beds and she began to realize how strict or maybe too hard Mrs. Kelly was. “Please remove the bed-covers I will see if the girls have fever. And if so, we will cool them” “But, Mrs. Kelly . . .” “Mrs. Kelly will have to accept what the legal guardian of the girl’s decides to do with them. Otherwise she can look for a new job” Mrs. Blackwood said in an unexpectedly loud voice. Miss Glass removed the heavy blankets and Margaret noticed that the sleeping bags lay top down. “What was the reason for that?” she asked as she opened the zipper. “It should allow the cable for the heating blankets to run at the girl’s feet and the bag would fit closer over the two blankets in this case.” “TWO blankets? And I believe they are dressed in layers of wool underneath?” “Yes Madam. In wool and polar fleece” “AND a completely closed balaclava too. The girls must be roasted and not only punished with warmer outfit than necessary” “I believe this was the idea” Miss Glass agreed.

After Mrs. Blackwood managed to unwrap the blankets, which was not easy due to the Velcro straps that had been used, she removed Angelica’s double layered balaclava and looked into her red face. “The girls are muzzled, Madam, you cannot talk to them” “But you know where the key is, don´t you?” “Yes, in the staff room” “Then get the key and two big glasses of cool water. Not ice cold, but cool.” The young governess left the room after she had removed Katharina’s balaclava. Both girls enjoyed the fresh air and looked thankfully at their grandmother. When Miss Glass was back she removed the muzzles and both women helped the girls to drink a big glass of water. “Mrs. Blackwood touched the foreheads of both girls not caring about the sweat on them. She had done this in the past for her daughter so many times and had missed taking care of her girl so much that she would have done anything to help the girls. “It looks like they have no fever, but they have been extremely overheated” she said in a whisper to the governess. “How do you feel my dears?” “Now much better, Grandmother, thank you very much” answered Katharina and really meant it. “Yes Grandmother, thank you, it was a nightmare but now I feel better” agreed Angelica. “I got a report about the day and although your behavior disappointed me, I do not agree with you being treated like this. I hope you know that a punishment is deserved as running away and hurting a governess is unacceptable.” “But we did not hurt anybody” “But you pulled your governesses into the room with all your strength and they could have been injured during your escape.” “So, as sorry as I am for you, I cannot release you from your nightgown or the blankets. All I can, and WILL do, is to unplug the electric blanket and turn the sleeping bag so your head is on the right side and not inside the thick bag. And I will talk to your head governess and your grandfather tomorrow, or better today in the morning. I cannot promise you too much but I will try to prevent these cruelties in the future. Miss Glass, do you need my help to do what’s necessary?” “No thank you Madam. I believe I can manage it, and the girls will not cause me any troubles” “No, they won’t as this would ruin my trust and I believe they need someone that trusts them”

It was clear for the girls that they had to obey and thanked their grandmother again before they got muzzled and made ready to sleep again. Although it was still hot inside of the wool lined sleeping bag it was easier since they had their face only covered by the blankets and wool and mainly because of the fact that electric blankets had not been not turned on again.

At ten minutes past five in the morning Miss Glass finally could take a shower and rested for another ninety minutes in her lightest cotton nightgown. She was not sure about that but she had not received any orders on how to dress or sleep after her night shift so she hoped the head governess would not ask for details. She could not sleep as she worried about the confrontation with Mrs. Kelly. She would notice for one or other reason the changes during the night and Miss Glass hoped that she would believe her that it was Mrs. Blackwood’s order to relieve the girls a little bit. 

Chapter twenty-one – Confrontation in the morning

Mrs. Kelly checked her notebook as usual and saw at first glance that something happened during the night. First the outside temperature sank rapidly, later also the body temperatures went down a little bit. Both increased about twenty minutes later but not back to the previous level. Mrs. Kent had not worried about as she thought Mrs. Kelly had turned off the electric blankets or given orders to do so during the night shift. But as the head governess had not given such orders she checked the girl’s bedrooms and found the blankets turned off. She could not see the sleeping bags turned around as they were hidden under the bed-cover. For the rest of the morning she just turned on the blankets again and went to the bedroom of the junior governesses to ask for an explanation. “Good Morning Ladies” she said loudly as she entered the room without knocking. Both young women were surprised and Miss Bell still dizzy as she had not slept so well last night. Miss Glass was up in a second and had obviously a guilty conscience about her outfit.

“Miss Bell, do you have an explanation for last night?” Mrs. Kelly said with a cold voice. “Mrs. Kelly. I . . . I mean, you did not give me an order what to wear AFTER my shift and you allowed me to shower, so I . . .” “I do not care about your outfit, at least not now. We will discuss that at a later stage. What I want to know is why the girls were obviously allowed to cool down during your shift!” “It was . . . I recognized a body temperature of thirty-nine degrees from both girls, and I found this too high. Dangerous high, so I checked the bedroom and . . .” “So you removed the bed-covers, opened the sleeping bags and uncovered the girls. AND you turned off the electric blankets without my order or permission JUST BECAUSE they had high body temperatures. IS THIS CORRECT?” “Yes, but it was Mrs. . . .” “THERE IS NO ‘but’ I have informed you on the first evening that the sensor might not be correct in case a heating source is near the inner AND outer sensor. That was NO excuse for you to release them completely AND change the settings of the blankets!”

“But you did NOT inform us that this might happen!” Miss Glass dissented. Mrs. Kelly did not remember having mentioned it but nevertheless she asked Miss Bell if she could confirm this point. “Yes, Mrs. Kelly, I do remember you mentioning that the outer sensor might influence the body temperature sensor by up to two degrees” Miss Bell understood the intention of her boss and lied without any doubts. “So you DID not listen to my instructions. You released the girls without a reason. You turned off the electric blankets without orders to do so AND you changed your nightgown without permission” she yelled at Miss Glass. “Did I forget anything?” she asked Miss Bell thinking of her monitoring role during the night. “Well, Mrs. Kelly, it is . . . I am sure, or better said I hope she did not do it intentionally and maybe she was dizzy but . . .” “Just tell me what you have seen. You do not have to protect her. I will make my own picture of the facts.”

With well played displeasure Miss Bell answered: “When I came back after my shift the bed-cover on Miss Glass’ bed was turned back, the duvet was loosened and she had lost the scarf and was partially unwrapped from her blanket. She must have . . .” “That’s not true, I did not do that!” Miss Glass interrupted angrily. “But when I woke you up, did you awake completely covered?” Miss Bell replied, still playing the colleague who did not want any harm for her ‘friend’. “I don´t remember. I had a hard night and had not slept well and when you woke me up I assumed you had already removed those layers” “Is that the usual way you have been woken up in your youth. I can just say it for myself, when I was punished by my governess or my parents I was woken up first, to remember me a last time what was wrong last day BEFORE I was unwrapped or released. And I assumed. Mrs. Kelly would want me to do it in the same way” “Which I certainly DID” the head governess remarked. “But when I came back I found you already released but sleeping deeply again, so you must have done it hours before, at least this is my opinion. Sorry, I did not want to betray you but as I have to be honest and you treat me like a liar, I had no choice.” “It is okay my dear. YOU have nothing to worry about as it’s not your fault that your colleague cannot obey orders.” Mrs. Kelly said to Miss Bell before she turned to Miss Glass.

“Maybe the next thing you’ll tell us is that Miss Bell changed your nightgown from the flannel to the cotton version while you slept?” “No, of course not, but . . .” “NO MORE ‘buts’ or you can start to collect your personal belongings and leave the house! I give you a last chance to endure your punishment now and make no more mistakes. IF you fail again, you made your decision to quit the job. Is that clear” “Yes, Mrs. Kelly” the junior governess replied as she saw no chance to exculpate herself. “Now, go to the bathroom, but hurry, I will wait here.” Soon the woman was back and although Miss Bell could have gone to the bathroom now, she stayed to watch the confrontation. Mrs. Kelly helped Miss Glass to tighten the corset and asked her to present her own woolen tights and winter turtlenecks. Miss Glass had some although in blended acrylic quality and not in pure wool, nevertheless they were warm and tight. “You will wear one pair of your own thick knitted tights on top of the cotton one and a winter turtleneck over your thin turtleneck” The junior governess did as ordered and reached for her velvet dress. “Did I say anything about ‘INSTEAD’ of the borrowed woolen tights and the turtleneck dress? I do not remember”. Totally depressed the woman took the thick woolen items and dressed herself. In the meantime Mrs. Kelly opened the wardrobe and found Miss Glass’ winter dress made of heavy velvet. “You will wear THIS dress and your cardigan from last night on top. And you will wear it for at least two weeks instead of one week.” “Yes, Mrs. Kelly” came the weak answer. “Is that all Mrs. Kelly” “Let me see, you forgot to hide your woolen turtleneck. You will take your scarf again so you can keep in mind that you may NOT remove any item without my personal permission.”

After the governesses had breakfast together, the only time, Miss Glass was allowed to remove her scarf, it was time to release the girls but Mrs. Kelly stopped them. “Although I have recommended that the twins stay at home for at least three weeks, Mr. Blackwood wants them to go to church tomorrow. Therefore it is necessary to prepare them or better test their behavior. I have decided that the girls will go to church TODAY. At least they will think they are. We will leave them in bed for another two hours then, after they have had breakfast we tell them that we celebrate an extra high mass today. They will get dressed and wear the loden disgrace hood Madame Levine had created which means they will be totally blind as this hood has no eyeholes. We will see how it looks when we take a little walk in the garden. It’s a nice sunny day and the girls will like to walk to the ‘church’. They will hear one of the recorded sermons from our reverend, I think the one he talked about obedience will fit the situation perfectly and they will not realize that they went in a circle back home. The girls will receive orders they get by headphones, stand up, kneel down, sit down and at the end we will take another walk around the garden for their ‘return’ home. If we turn them around several times before each walk they will have no idea that they spent the whole time on the Blackwood’s estate. In case they behave well we can go to the mass on Sunday. If not, it depends on the training we can hold for the rest of the day. In worst case I have to inform Mr. Blackwood that the girls are not ready, but this would have very hard consequences for the young ladies.

Miss Glass had listened to the plan with discomfort as it meant her going out in her current outfit or even worse with her coat or even her winter coat on top of it. But there was nothing she could do against it as she had checked her contract in the meantime and found the paragraph that allowed Mrs. Kelly to request an ‘appropriate’ appearance of the staff at any time of the day. Miss Glass went back in her youth where she had several very hard days to endure due to her aunt who seemed to like her power over her. So she did not notice that Mrs. Kelly spoke to her directly after the plan for the morning was announced. “MISS GLASS” she repeated with a cold voice “Hm, yes, sorry Mrs. Kelly, what did you say?” “You should pay more attention to my orders and stop daydreaming! I had given you the order to pick up some spare parts from Mr. Bishop’s electronics shop. We need those special small batteries for the headsets of the twins in case they need to be replaced during a weekend or in the middle of the day. I do not except any excuse, so I do not want to give them the reason that they did not hear me with their headsets.

You have nearly two hours until we start our training for the mass so you should speed up a little. I believe it´s an hour’s walk to the shop but if you walk a little bit faster you should be able to make it in five or ten minutes less to pick up the batteries. Mr. Bishop will hand them out on invoice so you do not need to pay. You just hand him the note with the request and take the items he gives you. To speed things up I will help you to get finished for your walk. Mrs. Kent and Mrs. Hunter can prepare the standard outfit for the twins in the meantime. Miss Bell will come with us.”

Miss Glass was not happy about this order for several reasons. Although it would mean leaving the Blackwood estate and Mrs. Kelly for two hours, it would mean walking as fast as she could through the town in her current outfit. She was also afraid of the fact that Mrs. Kelly wanted to help her to get finished as this could not mean any good for her. As they reached the governesses bedroom Mrs. Kelly opened Miss Glass’ wardrobe and took her winter coat out. “As you are already wearing a scarf you just need a bonnet with veils, mittens and your coat” she said without letting Miss Glass any chance to refuse it. She had not expected to wear mittens as a governess needed her hands to support their guardians. But as she would only be picking up some batteries she could not argue against it. As fast as possible, and helped by Miss Bell, she laced her mittens and Mrs. Kelly helped her into her heavy velvet coat. The head governess opened the cupboard of Miss Glass and searched for something. Soon she was successful and picked up the young woman’s muzzle. “As Mr. Bishop will read my note there is no need for you to speak during your trip so I will help you to follow the rule of silence on the streets.” She showed the muzzle to Miss Glass and the young woman slowly opened her mouth. When she was muzzled Mrs. Kelly wrapped the scarf as tight as possible over neck, mouth and nose. With the bonnet she had two layers of veils for the whole face and then the velvet veil for the lower part of her face. “As it is bright sunshine outside you will see more than enough with two veils and the face veil will hide your woolen scarf in public.” Mrs. Kelly explained her activities. Now I will write you a short note, you can wait in the hall for Miss Bell. She will bring it to you.

Miss Glass curtseyed and left extremely VERZWEIFELT (En.: in despair) the room and went downstairs. The head governess had made every effort to make this trip as uncomfortable as possible for her. She was dressed for a cold winter day, muzzled, veiled and wore mittens, so she could not even look at her watch to see if she was on time or not. She had to move as quickly as possible to make it in the requested time that would heat her up even more. She waited in the big hall for Miss Bell and was sure that her colleague would not hurry to bring the paper down.

Miss Glass was focused on the staircase and did not see Mrs. Blackwood coming from the breakfast room. “Good Morning, my dear” Mrs. Blackwood said and Miss Glass quickly curtseyed. “Please, this is not necessary when we women are alone. Can you tell me how the night ended for the girls? Did they get any sleep?” Miss Glass could not answer as she had been muzzled and just made some noise to indicate she was restricted. “Oh, you have been muzzled?” Miss Glass nodded. “But why? You are a governess and you still wear mittens and a muzzle? I know you cannot answer, my dear. Are you going out?” Miss Glass nodded again. “But so heavily dressed, isn’t this your winter coat?” When Miss Glass nodded again her eyes were wet and Mrs. Blackwood had a VERDACHT(En.: suspicion). “Would you mind if I check your outfit, my dear. I would like to know what you HAVE to wear as I do not expect it was your choice.” Miss Glass did not deny this and moved her leg to show the thick woolen tights under her coat and the velvet dress. Mrs. Blackwood lifted the veil, saw the woolen scarf and was sure that there was more than one turtleneck beneath it. She checked the hem of the coat and found the cardigan and the layers under the velvet dress. “It looks like a hard punishment you’ve received. Did you do anything wrong?” Miss Glass neither nodded nor shook her head instead she just looked in the eyes of the old lady and hoped she would understand. “So YOU mean you did nothing wrong, but Mrs. Kelly did? Has it to do with last night?” Now Miss Glass nodded heavy. “So, she punished you because of the help the twins got by MY order?” Again Mrs. Blackwood received a nod.

“Wait here. I will clear this up with Mrs. Kelly” Mrs. Blackwood said but at this moment Miss Bell came down with the note. “Excuse me Madam, but Miss Glass has an order to pick up some items and she needs to hurry to be back on time” Miss Bell said and offered the note to Miss Glass, who took it between her mittens. “But she is dressed much too warmly and just because of ME” “I believe you should discuss this with Mrs. Kelly Madam, but as much as I know she deserves her outfit and I have my strict order to escort Miss Glass to the door NOW. Will you please excuse us?” Mrs. Blackwood was not sure how to react so she allowed the junior governesses to leave and went upstairs to talk with Mrs. Kelly as soon as possible. Miss Bell opened the front door for her colleague and gave her a last note from Mrs. Kelly. “Mrs. Kelly told me to warn you. In case you are NOT back for our trip to the garden you will stay dressed for it as you are now AND receive an additional punishment for every minute you are late. Did you hear me?” Miss Glass nodded a last time, still desperate but with a little hope that Mrs. Blackwood might help her when she came back.

In the meantime Mrs. Kelly was in her room where she had a private phone line. “Mr. Bishop? This is Mrs. Kelly calling on behalf of Mr. Blackwood” she opened the conversation. “Mrs. Kelly. It’s nice to hear from you. What can I do for you?” Mr. Bishop had known the head governess for many years and she had ordered a lot of equipment during that time including the microphones and headsets used at the Blackwood’s estate now. “I have a special wish and I am sure you can help me. I have sent one of the young ladies of my team to you to pick up four batteries for the in-ear headset and microphones as spare parts” “that’s no problem Madam I have them in stock but you know that these special batteries hold for several month in standby mode and for at least six weeks in use” “I know that but I want to have some just in case, AND I would ask you to NOT have enough on stock” “I do not understand, Mrs. Kelly?” “Miss Glass will be muzzled and wearing mittens as it should be for a young woman alone on the street. I would appreciate if you would make only two of the batteries available in your store. You should then go to your warehouse and search for the required quantity as you are sure you have them in stock. This search should take about ten minutes while Miss Glass is waiting in your store. Coming back you should apologize for the waiting time AND the fact that you could not find any more. You could promise to order them on Monday morning and give me a call when she leaves, telling me you just found your stock but Miss Glass has already left. On Monday Miss Glass will come again and get the rest of them. It is just a little joke and I hope you will do me the favor to play your role as described?”

“All right, Mrs. Kelly. Just so I understand you want me to give her two batteries then pretend to search for the rest for ten minutes but without success.” “Exactly. As we do not need them for the weekend it does not matter and you can invoice all four on Monday and send it to Mr. Blackwood as usual. “No problem Mrs. Kelly, it will be my pleasure to help you with your little joke” Mr. Bishop said and removed all but two batteries from the shelf after ending the call.

Miss Glass was doing her best to walk as quickly as possible but the thick turtleneck dress had a very narrow skirt and the three layers of tights did not make it any easier. She was used to being a little overheated as her velvet dress with the coat was never easy to wear during summer time, but the outfit she had to wear now was really a challenge. She was sweating profusely and could not even remove it from her eyebrows due to the veils. She had never worn a woolen scarf under her veils before and breathing had become difficult due to the wetness of the scarf. She managed to arrive at the electronics shop after fifty-six minutes and was sure that it would take less than five minutes to get the batteries. She entered the store, curtseyed and placed the order on the front desk. Mr. Bishop greeted her and read the order. “Ah, yes, the extra powerful batteries for the headsets. I told Mrs. Kent and Mrs. Kelly that they would hold for weeks, or in standby mode, even months before needing to be replaced. Mrs. Kelly must be very careful to think about spare parts just in case of any accident. So let´s see which ones are used for this set.” He took one of the sample headsets and opened it to read the number on the battery. As it was very small he searched for his eyeglasses to read it. Okay, 2318, that´s . . . oh, only two here. I must have more of them in stock. Would you please excuse me for a minute while I check the stock in the back room?”

Miss Glass had no other choice than to nod although she had hoped her purchase would not be delayed. But all she could do was wait patiently and pray for an early return of Mr. Bishop. She had learned in the past to stand absolutely motionless and as she was muzzled and veiled there was nothing she could do or see in the meantime. She did not dare to go out and look through the window screen again to check the time and hoped that it only felt like hours before Mr. Bishop returned. “I am so sorry to keep you waiting, Miss, especially as I was not successful with my search. They MUST be there but stored under the wrong number or something. I will search for them during the weekend and, if I am not successful, I will order some on Monday morning. Please accept my apology and tell Mrs. Kelly that I am extremely sorry, but at least two of them should do for the weekend as they are just meant as spares and not for an immediate replacement.

Miss Glass took the two batteries and curtseyed before leaving the shop. She had in mind the departure due to the clock on the church just about five minutes away from the estate. Therefore she knew that she knew that seventy-five minutes of her allotted time had passed. Even without being slower on the return trip, which she doubted, the remaining forty-five minutes would not be enough to be there on time. Even if she managed the same time for the return journey back home she would be between ten to fifteen minutes late. As she had no idea what it meant to be punished for every minute of her delay she again hurried as fast as she could. But by the end of her trip she got slower without recognizing it due to the increasing heat of the day, or overheated body and the unbearable outfit.

Mrs. Blackwood had found the head governess and explained the situation to her “It looks as if Miss Glass has been punished for activities she did under my orders. I had asked her to remove the bed-covers and turn the sleeping bags around to leave the girls heads free from the down of the sleeping bags. And I ordered her to turn off the electric blankets as I found it dangerous and overheating the girls to an inappropriate level. So if you are punishing her for that, you must withdraw the punishment as soon as possible.” “Madam, I understand your concerns but did Miss Glass tell you that she was punished for something?” “Not with words, as she was muzzled and veiled, but I could see the multiple layers she was wearing and I cannot believe she was wearing it of her own free will or just for fun.” “Not for fun, but more as a reminder to listen more carefully to my words. I can also assure you that the girls were NEVER in a dangerous situation. I have checked the measurements of the whole night and ats no phase were they overheated. I had told Miss Glass that the sensors would not show the correct values due to the outside heat. So everything under forty degrees Celsius IS no fever but just a result of the temperature around the wearer of the sensor.” “However, I would appreciate to see Miss Glass dressed in two layers less than now during her work here in house. Do you think that is manageable?” Both women knew that it was more than a question about IF it was possible to do, and Mrs. Kelly agreed, already thinking about the fact that Miss Glass was needed OUTSIDE of the house for the next few hours. And Mrs. Blackwood had made NO comment about what was worn outdoors.

Chapter twenty-two – Test for the Mass

Miss Glass arrived when the twins had just been guided to the garden. “Eighteen minutes late! That is an inacceptable value, I hope you know that?” Miss Glass bowed her head when her head governess told her the time. “It is your duty to support the girls in the garden. I will remove your muzzle to give you the chance to guide the girls but everything remains as it is. Is that clear?” Miss Glass curtseyed and after Mrs. Kelly used her key to remove the muzzle she hurried to support the girls.

Miss Angelica and Miss Katharina where totally blind, mute, deaf and restrained as much as possible. They had been dressed similar to the day before, just her loden dress was not lined with thick wool again. After they got their coat where the hood was removed, they had to hold their hands in a praying position before the muff was pulled over their forearms and secured at wrist and elbows. They had got a complete closed woolen balaclava so they did not know what came next when the where wrapped in one of Madame Levine´s so called disgrace hoods. It was close fitting and pressed their arms in the praying position against their bodies. The Hoods had a synthetic velour layer inside, followed by a thin duvet and loden as the outer layer. This winter version was - as all of the disgrace hoods - equipped with nearly invisible tiny holes, so the wearer was never in dangerous to suffocate, but as they where real tiny, the air became very hot inside and there was at least a lack of fresh air, which made them feel suffocating most of the time. The loden was dark grey as the coat and the dress, but inside every layer was deep black. So there was absolute now light inside and the two inner layers could be pressed against the body by pulling on hidden strings at the backside. As the ‘hood’ went down to the wearers hips it was a perfect bondage item to secure the arms and reduce the world to the “sound” of their own hot breath.

It was again Miss Bell who found that the hood was perfect but changed the used look of the girls as they looked like a tight loden mummy. So she wondered “if the loden cape on top of it would fit at the collar and bring back the known look?” “That is an interesting idea, Miss Bell, I would say let´s just try it. IF the collar is a little bit tight that will do no harm for the ladies, and with the hood of the cape pulled over the girls head nobody will see the disgraced head. It came out that the collar of the capes could not be closed around the girl´s neck but the cape could be secured by using a little black chain that was secured with small karabiners on the button and the buttonhole. So the little gap of the collar did not make any difference for the hood. As soon as the massive hood was in place and the girls forced to bow a little, nobody could see the loden covered “face” in the shadow of the hood. “This is a perfect solution, Miss Bell, I will make sure you get a bonus for all your good ideas” “That’s too nice, Mrs. Kelly, it is just my duty to support you where ever I can.” Miss Bell said with a big smile

The girls could nearly not walk due to the heavy load of loden fabric they had to carry together with the thick wool that covered her bodies. Laced to the corsets even tighter as before they found it more than difficult to breath and each breath seemed to bring less oxygen in the their lunges. Angelica was sure to suffocate any minute and also Katharina need all her concentration to stay calm and breath as normal as possible under these restrictions. They supposed it must have been ages until they came downstairs and due to the direction they assumed to be on the way outside. They had been informed about the Mass they should join, and at the beginning this made them hope that a reverend might be the person who could help them. But after they had got dressed, muzzled, blindfolded and covered by the disgrace hoods, they realized that their only contact to the world was controlled by the headphones in their ears. And they had got a demonstration how it felt to hear absolutely nothing when the microphone was muted. The layers of wool and Loden together with the plug-in earphones reduced any noise that was not transmitted by the microphone. If someone would have shouted in front of them, they might not even noticed it. What they noticed very well was the increasing temperature caused by their outfit and in special by the disgraced hood. They only benefit – if it could be called like that – was the fact that they did not feel any difference of temperature or quality of the air when they finally arrived in front of the big house. At least not at the start, as the sun needed some time to send her heat through all those layers.

Both girls felt hands at their shoulders and heard a command “turn around” followed by the pressure showing the direction. First both stood still, shocked by the loud and clear voice of Mrs. Kelly in their ears, but then they turned around as quick as possible and after a view turns they lost any sense for directions. They had been trained upstairs to follow some commands and did not even realize when Miss Glass joined them and got blamed by Mrs. Kelly. They went through the garden and along the street to the main entrance, carefully trying to prevent any shadow. Miss Bell wore her lightest dress and coat and a bonnet with just a little veil for her eyes. She had also got a little umbrella to protect herself from the sun. So it was only Miss Glass and the girls who suffered in the already strong sun, promising a bright and hot summertime.

When the girls reentered the house they were guided to a small room with a bank and had to stand in front of it for nearly thirty minutes. Then Mrs. Kelly turned on the headphones and played a recorded sermon from the reverend. The girls got orders to sit down, stand or kneel for more than two hours and where totally exhausted at the end. Miss Glass was ordered to stand in the middle between the girls the whole time to support if necessary. Miss Bell was allowed to refresh herself in the meantime. By the end of the ‘Mass’ the twins were guided to the garden again and another hour of walking in the sun ended the test.

Although Angelica was not happy about it, she followed Mrs. Kelly´s advice to obey as she saw no chance to escape during the Mass anyway. She would need a chance to talk to her sister. Kathy was usually the better “analyst” of situations, the twins had to deal with. She did not react out of an impulse but looked in all direction before she made her next move. But since yesterday in the study room they got no chance to talk and Angelica felt lost and lonesome although she knew that her sister was with her most of the time. The walk in the ‘disgrace’ hood was another nightmare. It seemed they would suffocate every minute and Angelica did not know how she survived the Mass without any damage.

Back in the house the girls got a light lunch and were guided to the chamber of reflection to think about the reverends sermon in silence afterwards. For the girls it seemed to be an endless time as they had to kneel down in front of each heater, with their thick blankets over the head instead of the disgrace hoods and the heat of both electric heaters at the front and back side. At four o´clock they got released and Miss Bell and Miss Glass had to help the girls to stand up. They went to the study room and got fed there with liquid food and hot tea. Twenty minutes later Mrs. Kelly told them that it was time to go to bed. The girls had been up for less than six hours and although they were exhausted from the torture in the garden, during the Mass and in the chamber of reflection they were absolutely not tired enough to sleep.

But of course this had no influence on the next steps that brought them in the bath-, and dressing room soon. They got dressed as usual and went, with a complete closed balaclava to the bedroom. “Your Grandmother insists of keeping the sleeping bag in an upright position, means you will have your head just “surrounded” by the sleeping bags hood. And she also insisted that the heating blanket is not turned on during the whole night. But we will help you to warm up with the blankets for the first 90 minutes or so. And, as the sleeping bag is much too wide to be cozy, we will wrap you in your down duvets before we close the bag this time. This might be a challenge but it is possible and makes sure that you do not turn around or start to struggle during the night. Oh, before I forget it, as your balaclavas will not reduce the light to zero due to its woolen stitches, and the hood of the sleeping bag cannot be closed completely, we will pull a polar fleece hood over your head. It has no holes to make sure you will not be disturbed by any light during your sleeping time.

At this point, it was again Miss Bell who had an idea “Excuse me, Mrs. Kent, maybe I did not understand the äh “request” from Mrs. Blackwood correctly, but I just wonder, if she wants to see the sleeping not “upside down” again, OR did she give clear instructions how to place the girls inside their bags?” Mrs. Kent was not sure what the Jr. Governess was thinking about and replied “no need to be sorry, it is always welcomed to see that someone is listening carefully and addresses valid questions in the appropriate manner …” she looked at Ms. Glass, and her intention was clear for all Governesses. “ … but what do you mean is the difference?” “Well, there is a big difference from my point of view, Mrs. Kent. “Turning the sleeping bag around (from upside down) does not automatically mean that the head is on top of the hood. And you have worries, that the cannot be closed for 100% - which I honestly doubt – with the remaining opening at the girls nose. But in case the hood would be closed on the other side, the girls would with their heads on this possible remaining opening in the hoods. Putting the hood over their head and pull on the strings, knotting them behind the girls head, could be managed easily.”

Mrs. Kent thought about this option, also memorizing the discussion with Mrs. Blackwood. At the end she smiled. “You are absolutely right my dear, Mrs. Blackwood just wanted to get the girls head out of the narrow foot-part of the sleeping bag, she had no recommendation about the hood or it´s usage. I could have thought about this by myself, but as I did not, it is great to have Team members that feel responsible for their job. Ladies, please take this as an example for a perfect interaction in a team, and now let´s bring the girls to bed they need to rest.”

Although Miss Glass was not sure about this “good” example, as feeling responsible for “a job” did not mean “for the girls” she wanted to use this comment, to do something “good” for the girls. “Excuse me, Mrs. Kent, maybe I did not understand this correctly, so may I ask a question?” she started with the same wording as her colleague before. Nevertheless it had not the same result as Mrs. Kent was obviously angry to be interrupted AFTER her final speech. “What is still unclear for you” she asked and everyone could see, that the young governess needed a very good reason now. “I mean, as the girls will now get a down-filled hood over their faces, the double layer polar-fleece hood without any openings, which you ordered for the girls to cutoff any light won´t be necessary anymore?”

“Miss Glass, it really looks like you do not understand! Your colleague talked about an unclear statement coming from Mrs. Blackwood, which left room for interpretation. So she asked for MY interpretation to get a clear order. Comparing that, I cannot see why YOU need an interpretation about an order, I have given to you? The only reason for that can be, that you did NOT listen carefully, OR was there anything unclear in my order?” Miss Glass looked to her feet before she answered “No, Mrs. Kelly, your order was clear, but” “NO further “but´s”! I have heard enough. Such a simple order like pulling a hood over a girls head HAS NO room for misunderstandings except in case you did NOT listen. AND this means, I need to make sure, you are fully concentrated next time! Now do your job.” 

Both girls where absolutely despaired, but there was nothing they could do to prevent its execution. So it was ten minutes before five pm when the girls heard the last sound for the day and where completely immobilized and overheated as the nights before. Mrs. Kelly in fact welcomed the intervention of Mrs. Blackstone regarding the change of the girls night outfit. She believed that the same treatment – as hard or uncomfortable it might be – became sooner or later a routine. The human body would not like it less or more than before, but the brain would accept it gradually. And this would end in acceptance that would minimize the effect of the education. So it was important to change the treatment as often as possible and surprise the pupils so she cannot foresee what comes next. So they can never know the result of their behavior and this increases the efforts to give their best, because anything less than 100% good behavior could result in a punishment they never had to endure before. Even for girls that had learned to behave it was a good training to wrap a punishment in an obedient exercise just to show them that they were still at the mercy of their governess. So the ‘evening’ ended around five o´clock and Mrs. Kelly was glad to meet both, the orders from Mrs. Blackwood and her own intentions.

When the Jr. Governesses had done their duties, Miss Bell got the rest of the Afternoon and evening free time. Miss Glass got another order. “You have 40 minutes from now, then I want to see you in your room, ready to go to bed. It is too obvious, that you need more sleeping time to remain concentrated on your duties. AND before there comes another “but” – like “but it is not even dark yet” – I will bring another of the polar fleece hoods for YOU and the closed woolen balalclava of course, just to provide you an atmosphere of undisturbed rest.”