Lady Clarissa Falkstone was displeased and she was letting Hodges, the butler, know it.
"It is absolutely reprehensible," she stated. "The new maid is undertrained and careless. I am not used to such poor service. I am displeased."
"Yes, My Lady," intoned Hodges.
"You will instruct Mrs. Madels that she is to tighten up her training regime," Lady Falkstone stated.
(If you ever make the acquaintance of Lady Falkstone you will find she never just says something. Her every pronouncement is a statement made in indisputable terms.)
"Yes, My Lady," intoned Hodges. "If I may ask, in what way has the new maid fallen short?"
"You are blind, Hodges," stated Lady Falkstone. "You should have noticed immediately that she has spilt the tea in the saucer when she passed it to me."
"Yes, My Lady. You are correct, My Lady. I should have seen that immediately," agreed Hodges, eyeing the tiny drop of tea in the saucer. "It was extremely careless of her, My Lady."
"I was more than careless," stated Lady Clarissa. "It shows a sloppy attitude and demonstrates that the girl does not appreciate the fact that she has been given a chance to work here."
"Yes, My Lady," agreed Hodges.
"I am a kind and merciful employer," stated Lady Clarissa, "so I will not have the girl discharged without a reference for her first mistake. You will, however, arrange to have her beaten severely so that she learns that there are penalties when you make mistakes."
"Yes, My Lady," assented Hodges.
"Tell Mrs. Madels to arrange for me to have an unspilt cup of tea and go and attend to your duties."
"Yes, My Lady." Hodges departed to seek out Mrs. Madels and the new maid.
- - -
"Mrs. Madels, the old harridan had a spot of tea in her saucer. She wants a fresh cup."
There was a snort from Mrs. Madels.
"The way her hand shakes, it's a wonder the whole cup didn't finish in the saucer. The new girl, Kate, must have given her a cup that was more than half full. I did warn her not to."
"Well, you'll probably get a lecture on your training regime and its shortfalls. I'm also supposed to give the new girl a severe beating. Would you care to find her and explain the situation to her before you send her to me?"
"I can do that. I'll send her over to you about two, shall I?"
Hodges nodded and went on his way.
- - -
"I told you, Kate, that when you give Lady Clarissa a cup of tea, you only half fill it. Her hands tremble and if she gets a full cup she tends to spill some in the saucer and that upsets her no end. She says the maid did it and gets all stroppy."
"I only filled it about three quarters, ma'am," protested Kate. "I thought that would be safe enough."
"Well, it seems it wasn't. She managed to get a drop on the saucer and she's furious about it. She read me the riot act on my training, which I didn't appreciate, and she insists that Hodges gives you a sound beating."
"A what?" exclaimed Kate.
Mrs. Madels laughed.
"Don't worry about it too much. Hodges will have to give you a couple of whacks on the bottom but that's all there is to it. We wouldn't even do that much, but there's always a chance that the old witch will demand you lift your skirt so she can check that your bottom's red. She really likes to make sure her punishments are carried out."
"If I have to get a smack, why can't you do it? Why Hodges?" asked Kate.
"Hand size," said Mrs. Madels. "He'll leave a big handprint on your bottom and that will satisfy Lady Clarissa. Don't worry about it. It'll only smart for a couple of moments. It's better than losing your job."
"Do you mean that I'd get turned out if I don't do this?" protested Kate.
"Not by me or Hodges," Mrs. Madels assured her. "I'm quite happy with your work, but Lady Clarissa would take it to mean that you're insubordinate and unappreciative of your position here and demand you be turned out. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is."
Kate sighed. "He's not going to give me a real spanking?"
"No, dear. A few light swats and that's it."
"I don't really have much choice, do I? When do I have to see Hodges?"
"Two o'clock, Kate. Just knock on the door to his quarters. He'll be expecting you."
- - -
At two, Kate was nervously knocking at the butler's door. Hodges opened it and invited her in.
"Come in, Kate," he said. "I assume that Mrs. Madels explained everything to you?"
"Yes, Mr. Hodges," Kate said, embarrassed.
Hodges held up a finger.
"You should know better than that," he said. "It's Hodges, at all times. You never use mister when you're talking to a butler. Understand?"
"Yes, Hodges," said Kate. She paused and then added a curious "Why?"
"Tradition," said Hodges. "I don't know how or why it started, but that's the way it is."
Hodges led Kate through to his sitting room and sat on the couch, leaving Kate to stand in front of him.
"As you know, I'm supposed to give you a severe beating," Hodges said, putting finger quotations around the words severe beating. "As Mrs. Madels explained we tend to limit this to a simple spanking. You will probably find it easier to actually take off your dress for the spanking. It makes it awkward when it's all bunched around your waist. So if you don't mind?"
His tone of voice seemed to indicate that it didn't really matter if she minded or not, but Kate felt moved to protest.
Blushing, she explained. "But if I take off my dress, I'll be naked. I've never been naked in front of a man before."
"If you have to bunch your dress up around your waist you'll still be half naked," pointed out Hodges. "What does the extra matter? It's not as though you've got something I've never seen before."
"Not mine, you haven't," thought Kate rebelliously. She sighed. She didn't really have much choice and she'd rather just get it over and done with, no matter how embarrassing.
She quickly undid her buttons, relieved to see that Hodges didn't seem to be ogling her, but just sat there waiting patiently. Draping her dress over a nearby chair, she turned to face Hodges, modesty compelling her to move a hand over her pussy and to toss her arm across the front of her breasts.
Hodges smiled at her.
"Don't be silly," he told her, taking the arm that was hiding her breasts and gently pulling on it, moving it away from her breasts and drawing her to his side.
"Don't worry about these," Hodges said, reaching up and casually stroking her breasts. "I have no intention of paddling such lovely ornaments."
He urged her to bend across his knee, moving her pussy protecting hand away so that she was folded neatly across his lap. Hodges started gently running his hand over Kate's bottom, sliding it back and forth and every so often dipping between her legs to brush against the edges of her pussy.
Kate squirmed slightly on his lap.
"I don't think you're supposed to be touching me like that, Hodges," she protested.
"Oh, I know I'm not," said Hodges cheerfully, "but if I have to do this I think I'm entitled to a bit of fun while I do it. You have a very nice bottom, you know? Very touchable. Same here," he added, sliding his hand back down to cup her pussy.
"Hodges," Kate squeaked in protest.
"I know, I know. The spanking. How many strokes do you think will satisfy the old bat?" Hodges asked.
"I don't know," said poor Kate. "I've never been in this position before. What did you do last time?"
"Last time was Mrs. Madels," said Hodges with a laugh. "And she just lifted her skirt and bent over a chair while I gave a couple of swats. You are a completely different item."
"Just lifted her skirt and bent over the chair for a couple of swats?" thought Kate. "Then why am I naked and lying across your knee?"
"Why couldn't I have done the same?" she asked Hodges indignantly.
"Because you're half her age and a quarter of her size," pointed out Hodges. "If she'd bent over my knee, she'd have broken them. And I can assure you, I have no inclination to view Mrs. Madels naked. Now if you've finished stalling, I think we'd better get this show on the road."
"Me stalling?" thought Kate. "If you could just pry your hand loose from my bottom we'd be finished by now."
Then Kate gave a squeal as Hodges delivered a sharp spank to her bottom.
"I thought that it wasn't going to hurt much?" she protested.
"It won't," said Hodges. "It could be a lot worse, I assure you."
Hodges proceeded with the spanking, quickly turning Kate's bottom a rosy hue, ignoring Kate's squeals and protests.
After a few minutes Kate was relieved to find Hodges had stopped. Her bottom smarted a lot more than she had expected from the way Mrs. Madels had spoken. She waited for Hodges to release her.
Hodges had no intention of releasing this choice morsel for a while yet. His hand started soothing Kate's smarting bottom, once again sliding around her curves to brush against her mound.