"Did you hear me, dearie?" Mother calls.
"I heard you," Wendelle says, her voice cracking. She clears her throat and presses a hand to the bump that has appeared on her neck. Her voice has deepened over the last few weeks; she wonders if she should ask Mother to have a doctor examine her throat. It's only a cold, she thinks. It will go away in time. "I'll be only a minute longer."
She goes to the window to close the curtains. Outside, a fog has rolled in to cover the grounds of the manor. Isabelle hurries along the driveway to return home to her parents. The moonlight gives her black hair and tan skin a blue glow, like a spirit. The way she glides on her thin legs it's almost as if some divine wind is blowing her along. Wendelle leans against the window, imagining what it would be like to dance with the beautiful Spanish maid.
"Are you going to the St. Valentine's Ball?" Wendelle had asked her this morning while Isabelle made up her bed.
"I'm afraid not, Senorita Palmer," Isabelle said. "It is not allowed for servants."
"That's nonsense. You can come with me. No one would dare throw you out then."
"You are very kind, Senorita Palmer, but I cannot. I do not wish to cause you such trouble." Isabelle finished with the bed and then hurried downstairs.
She pauses now to look up towards Wendelle's window. Despite the distance, Wendelle can feel Isabelle's eyes on her. She imagines rushing downstairs, meeting Isabelle at the gate. She reaches out to pull Isabelle close and kiss her raspberry-colored lips.
Instead, Isabelle turns away and disappears into the fog. Wendelle closes the curtains. She puts a hand to her head, feeling faint. The organ between her legs-the "peehole" as Mother calls it-has turned hard and begins to pulsate with a life of its own.
Wendelle stumbles over to her bed, lifting up the hem of her dress to study the purple organ standing rigid between her legs. She strokes it with one hand, a ripple of pleasure running through her body. She repeats this until a white fluid explodes from the peehole, accompanied by a rush of electricity that brings a contented sigh from her throat.
Mother's scream shatters her elation. "You vile creature!" Mother shouts. "How could you?"
Wendelle hurries to cover the deflating peehole with her nightgown. "I'm sorry, Mother. I don't know what happened to me. I was standing by the window-" Mother slaps her before she can finish her explanation. Wendelle cries out as Mother hits her a second and then a third time. "I'm sorry!"