BEXHILL SCHOOL

If there was one thing the Headmistress really detested, it was a girl who tried to wriggle out of her punishment by putting the blame on someone else. 'One for all and all for one' was a central ethic at Bexhill School, and tale-telling was completely unacceptable.

Elaine had been caught red-handed smoking behind the sports pavilion. She was going to get the standard tariff for such an offence: twelve strokes with the Senior cane. But as soon as her eyes fell on the cane, hanging on the Head's desk, she panicked, pleading pale and wide-eyed to be let off. When that showed no signs of working, she gave the Headmistress a shifty look and asked if she'd be spared the rod if she named the girl who had given her the cigarettes.

Mrs Winchester had just looked at Elaine coldly for a few moments. Then she got up from behind her desk, grabbed Elaine's wrist, and dragged her over to the sofa. Despite Elaine's protests, Mrs Winchester had thrust the girl across her knees, pinioned her hands, and dragged down her knickers. Now she was going to give Elaine a long, hard spanking: an unofficial spanking, because it was purely personal and would not be entered into the Punishment Book. The Head intended to teach Elaine just exactly what loyalty means, it's importance in life, and the consequences of disloyalty.

After that, Elaine would get her dozen with the cane, a dozen which Mrs Winchester would relish handing out, and which Elaine would remember for a very long time. Those strokes would be recorded in the Punishment Book.