An Excess of Ecstasy
By Alex Barton
Sir Giles Picton, Earl of Ranelagh and, despite being only in his late twenties, a qualified surgeon and Aide-de-camp to the Surgeon-General of the Army of the Duke of Wellington, aware he still had fifteen miles to ride to reach Dorchester which in turn was twenty miles north-west of his family estate, looked at the rapidly darkening sky and decided not to risk pushing on, eager as he was to reach his ancestral home.
Despite the thickness of his Army greatcoat and the wool muffler his sister Elspeth had sent to him, knowing he would chose to ride home rather than travel by coach, the December wind was bitingly cold and Giles longed for the warmth of a cozy bed and a good dinner with a bottle of Burgundy and several snifters of brandy to wash it down. Thus refreshed, and after a good night's sleep, he would make good progress in the morning and arrive at Ranelagh by mid-afternoon.
His anticipation of being able to put behind him what he had witnessed at the great battle which had finally put an end to Napoleon Bonaparte's ambition to become Emperor of all Europe caused Giles to be preoccupied and he suddenly realized his lack of attention meant he was in considerable danger.
The mail coach was approaching fast toward him along the narrow track. The driver, accompanied by a guard armed with a wide-bore shotgun, obviously believed a man on horseback with his face covered constituted a threat and whipped his horses into a sudden gallop. The guard, anticipating robbery, raised the gun to his shoulder, his finger on the trigger, and Giles had only seconds to react by pulling the muffler down to expose his features and draw his horse to the side of the road.
As the coach thundered past the guard nodded, hitching the wide-bore shotgun cradled in his arm so it was pointing away from horse and rider for which Giles was thankful; if the coach had lurched suddenly the gun could still have gone off, blasting him into the next world where so many of the Iron Duke's troops he had lately operated on waited to welcome him to their number.
*
Both horse and rider were flagging by the time Giles reached a respectable-looking coaching inn where he decided to spend the night. He made his way into the parlor where the landlord made him welcome, seeing from the crest on Giles's saddlebags that his guest was noble-born, and instructed his son to attend to Giles's horse while Maggie, the landlord's wife, a handsome woman Giles estimated to be in her mid-thirties, led the way up to the best room in the house.
Following behind up the staircase, Giles noted with a connoisseur's eye the way his landlady's plump backside jiggled and bounced with her every step and he was even more delighted when she opened the door to his room, turning toward him so that Giles could see her large heavy breasts, their slopes milky-white, were close to bursting free from the unlaced bodice she was wearing.
His eyes meeting Maggie's so she would know how attractive he found her, Giles handed her a shilling and requested that a warming pan be brought because he did not wish to catch a chill from an unaired bed, then asked if she could provide the meal he had set his heart on as he journeyed: slices of roast beef on fresh bread, an apple for dessert and, if it was available, a bottle of claret. Giles was delighted when Maggie smiled and confirmed her husband not only had a fine Burgundy in the cellar but also a quantity of French brandy she expected he would enjoy, winking at him which meant it was contraband and had been smuggled into the nearest coastline to avoid payment of Customs & Excise duty.
Scrupulous about his personal hygiene, aware that men might die if his hands were dirty and their wounds became infected, Giles arranged with Maggie for her son to bring him hot water so he could sponge himself down. In preparation for which he stripped off and laid his clothes on the bed, delighting in the warmth of the fire on his naked body as he waited for the water's arrival. While he did so, he rummaged in his saddle bag for his purple silk robe and was tying it closed when the landlord's son knocked and was about to enter, obviously struggling with the weight of the bucket. The boy's mother, following close behind and carrying Giles' meal on a tray, shooed her son out, her eyes irresistibly drawn to the size and thickness of Giles' long, heavy prick which he made no attempt to conceal as it hung down between his legs.
But then Giles noticed that Maggie winced with pain as she placed the tray of food on a small table and then carried the bucket of hot water over by the fire. He brought the folds of his robe together so he could enquire why.
"It is the back of my wrist sir, at the base of my hand," the woman said. "Whenever I carry something heavy it hurts most grievously."
"I am a surgeon," Giles said. "Let me see."
Maggie walked across to him and bent forward as he took her hand and brought it to the candle in order to examine her closely. The movement made Maggie's breasts even more likely to fall free of her bodice but Giles' professional interest was piqued and he hardly noticed.
"It is a ganglion, a bundle of nerves that has become swollen from overuse," he said. "A sac of fluid forms round the constriction which is what causes the pain. It must be drained."
"That's what my mother said, my Lord," Maggie offered. "Although she did not know the correct medical term. She says I must hit it hard with the family Bible and then it will pop but I am greatly afraid of the pain."
"As well you should be," Giles said, shaking his head. "That is an old wives' tale and it will absolutely not work. Come back when I have eaten and bring a bottle of brandy and a jug of the hottest water you can find. I will deal with it."
"Thank you, sir," Maggie said and curtseyed, which Giles this time definitely
did
notice, taking pleasure from her deep cleavage on display under her bodice. He felt his mouth water for a taste of the woman's pert pink nipples.
Left alone for the moment, Giles poured himself a glass of wine and sniffed it. The aroma was delightful, the first sip like liquid heaven. He had not realized how hungry he was until he reached for his dinner and consumed it with almost indecent haste. Then he sat back, letting his robe fall open as he reached once more into his saddle bag for a small book, the title of which was 'Harris's List', a directory of the ladies of pleasure in London and of married women whose appetites were not sufficiently satisfied by their husbands and lovers so they sought additional sexual opportunities, often without requiring payment.
Giles reached down and opened his robe so he could masturbate as he read the entry for Betsy Miles who resided in Old Street, Clerkenwell. He resolved to look her up when he returned to town, the description of her perfectly fitting his sexual preferences: