Arrayed as best I am able, I follow the warden¹ who puts me into the keeping of two strange tall fellows whose savage² aspect doubles my fright; not a word do they utter; the carriage rolls off and we halt before an immense mansion⁴ I soon recognize as Saint-Florent's. Silence enshrouds everything; it augments⁵ my dread⁶, however, my guides grasp my arms, hustle⁷ me along, and we climb to the fourth floor; there we discover a number of small decorated apartments; they seem to me very mysterious indeed. As we progress through them every door closes shut behind us, and thus we advance till we reach a remote room in which, I notice, there are no windows; Saint-Florent awaits me, and also the man I am told is Monsieur de Cardoville, in whose hands my case rests; this heavy-set, fleshy personage, provided with a somber⁸ and feral countenance⁹, could have been about fifty years of age; although he was in lounging costume, 'twas readily to be seen he was a gentleman of the bar. An air of severity seemed to distinguish his entire aspect; it made a deep impression upon me. O cruel injustice¹⁰ of Providence¹¹! 'tis then possible Virtue¹² may be overawed by Crime. The two men who had led me hither, and whom I was better able to make out by the gleam of the twenty candles which lit this room, were not above twenty-five and thirty years old. The first, referred to as La Rose, was a dark handsome chap with Hercules' own figure; he seemed to me the elder; the other had more effeminate features, the loveliest chestnut¹³ locks and large brown eyes; he was at least five feet ten inches tall, a very Adonis, had the finest skin to be seen, and was called Julien. As for Saint-Florent, you are acquainted with him; as much of coarseness in his traits as in his character, yet, nevertheless, certain splendid features.

 

"Everything is secured fast?" Saint-Florent asked Julien.

 

"We're well shut in, yes, Monsieur," the young man replied; "your servants are off for the night in accordance with your orders and the gatekeeper, who alone is on watch, will follow his instructions to admit no one under any circumstances." These few words enlightened me, I shivered, but what could I have done, confronted as I was by four men?

 

"Sit down over there, my friends," said Cardoville, kissing the two men, "we'll call for your co-operation when the need arises."

 

Whereupon Saint-Florent spoke¹⁴ up: "Therese," said he, presenting me to Cardoville, "here is your judge, this is the man upon whom your fate depends; we have discussed your problem; but it appears to me that your crimes are of such a nature we will have much to do to come to terms about them."

 

"She has exactly forty-two witnesses against her," remarks Cardoville, who takes a seat upon Julien's knees, who kisses him upon the lips, and who permits his fingers to stray over the young man's body in the most immodest fashion; "it's a perfect age since we condemned¹⁵ anyone to die for crimes more conclusively¹⁶ established."

 

"I? Conclusively established crimes?"

 

"Conclusively established or inconclusively established," quoth Cardoville, getting to his feet and coming up to shout, with much effrontery¹⁷, at my very nose, "you're going to burn pissing if you do not, with an entire resignation and the blindest obedience¹⁸, instantly lend yourself to everything we are going to require of you."

 

"Yet further horrors!" I cried; "ah indeed! 'tis then only by yielding to infamies¹⁹ innocence²⁰ can escape the snares²¹ set for it by the wicked!"

 

"That's it; 'tis ordained," Saint-Florent broke in; "you know, my dear: the weak yield to the strong's desires, or fall victims to their wickedness: that's all: that's your whole story, Therese, therefore obey."

 

And while he spoke the libertine²² nimbly pulled up my skirts. I recoiled²³, fended²⁴ him off, horrified²⁵, but, having reeled backward into Cardoville's arms, the latter grasped my hands and thereupon exposed me, defenseless, to his colleague's assaults. The ribbons holding up my skirts were cut, my bodice torn away, my kerchief, my blouse, all were removed, and in no time I found myself before those monsters' eyes as naked as the day I came into the world.

 

"Resistance..." said one. "Resistance," chimed in the other, both proceeding²⁷ to despoil²⁸ me, "the whore fancies she can resist us...." and not a garment was ripped from my body without my receiving a few blows.

 

When I was in the state they wished, they drew up their chairs, which were provided with protruding²⁹ armrests; thus a narrow space between the chairs was left and into it I was deposited; and thus they were able to study me at their leisure: while one regarded my fore³ end, the other mused³⁰ upon my behind; then they turned me round, and turned me again. In this way I was stared at, handled, kissed for thirty minutes and more; during this examination not one lubricious episode was neglected, and I thought it safe to conjecture³¹, upon the basis of those preliminaries, that each had roughly the same Idiosyncrasies.#p#分页标题#e#

 

"Well, now," Saint-Florent said to his friend, "did I not tell you she had a splendid ass²⁶!"

 

"Yes, by God! her behind is sublime," said the jurist who thereupon kissed it; "I've seen damned few buttocks molded like these: why! look ye! solid and fresh at the same time!... how d'ye suppose that fits with such a tempestuous³² career ?"

 

"Why, it's simply that she's never given herself of her own accord; I told you there's nothing as whimsical as this girl's exploits! She's never been had but by rape³³" and then he drives his five fingers simultaneously³⁴ into the peristyle of Love's temple "but she's been had... unfortunately, for it's much too capacious for me: accustomed to virgins³⁵, I could never put up with this."

 

Then, swinging me around, he repeated the same ceremony with my behind wherein he found the same flaws.

 

"Ah well, you know our secret," said Cardoville.

 

"And I'll employ it too," replied Saint-Florent; "and you who have no need of the same resource, you, who are content with a factitious activity which, although painful for the woman, nevertheless brings enjoyment³⁶ of her to perfection, you, I hope, will not have her till I'm done."

 

"Fair enough," Cardoville answered, "while watching you, I'll busy myself with those preludes³⁷ so cherished by my lechery³⁸; I'll play the girl with Julien and La Rose while you masculinize Therese, and, so I think, the one's as good as the other."

 

"Doubtless a thousand times better; for you've no idea how fed up I am with women !... do you suppose I would be capable of enjoying those whores without the help of the auxiliary³⁹ episodes we both use to add a tart⁴⁰ flavor to the business?"

 

With these words, having afforded me clear evidence their state called for more substantial pleasures, the impudicious creatures rose and made me mount upon a large chair, my forearms leaning upon its back, my knees propped⁴¹ upon its arms, and my behind arched so that it was prominently thrust toward them. I was no sooner placed in this attitude than they stepped out of their breeches, tucked up their shirts, and save for their shoes, they thus discovered themselves completely naked from the waist down; they exhibited themselves to me, passed several times to and fro before my eyes, making boastful display of their behinds of which they were overweeningly proud, for, they declared, they had parts far superior to anything I could offer; indeed, each was womanishly made in this region: 'twas especially Cardoville who was possessed⁴² of elegant lines and majestic⁴³ form, snowy white color and enviable plumpness; they whiled away a minute or two polluting themselves in full view of me, but did not ejaculate: about Cardoville, nothing that was not of the most ordinary; as for Saint-Florent, 'twas monstrous⁴⁴: I shuddered⁴⁵ to think that such was the dart⁴⁶ which had immolated⁴⁷ me. Oh Just Heaven! what need of maidenheads had a man of those dimensions? Could it be anything other than ferocity which governed such caprices? But what, alas⁴⁸ I were the other weapons I was going to be confronted by! Julien and La Rose, plainly aroused by these exhibitions, also ridded themselves of their clothes and advanced pike in hand.... Oh, Madame! never had anything similar soiled my gaze, and whatever may have been my previous representations, what now I beheld⁴⁹ surpassed everything I have been able to describe until the present: 'tis like unto the ascendancy⁵⁰ the imperious eagle enjoys over the dove. Our two debauchees soon laid hands upon those menacing spears: they caressed⁵¹ them, polluted them, drew them to their mouths, and the combat straightway became more in earnest. Saint-Florent crouches⁵² upon the armchair supporting me; he is so adjusted my widespread buttocks are on an exact level with his mouth; he kisses them, his tongue penetrates⁵³ into first one then the other temple. Saint-Florent provided Cardoville with amusement, the latter offers himself to the pleasures of La Rose whose terrific member instantly vanishes into the redoubt dressed before him, and Julien, situated⁵⁴ beneath Saint-Florent, excites him with his mouth the while grasping his haunches and modulating⁵⁵ them before the resolute⁵⁶ blows of Cardoville who, treating his friend with intransigent rudeness, does not quit him before having wetted the sanctuary⁵⁷ with his incense⁵⁸. Nothing could equal Cardoville's transports when the crisis deprives him of his senses; softly abandoning himself to the man who is serving as husband to him, but pressing hard after him of whom he is making a wife, this dastardly libertine, with hoarse⁵⁹ gasps⁶⁰ like unto those of a dying man, thereupon pronounces indescribable blasphemies⁶¹; as for Saint-Florent, measure governs his evolutions, he restrains himself, and the tableau⁶² is dissolved without his having performed his beau geste.#p#分页标题#e#

 

"Truly," Cardoville says to his comrade, "you still give me as much pleasure as you did when you were fifteen.... Indeed," he continues, turning and kissing La Rose, " 'tis true this fine lad knows how to arouse me too.... Have you not found me rather gulfy this evening, angelic boy?... would you believe it, Saint-Florent? 'tis the thirty-sixth time I've had it today... only natural that the thing be somewhat dilated⁶³; I'm all yours, dear friend," the abominable⁶⁴ man pursues, fitting himself into Julien's mouth, his nose glued to my behind, and his own offered to Saint-Florent, "I'm yours for the thirty-seventh." Saint-Florent takes his pleasure with Cardoville, La Rose his with Saint-Florent, and after a quick skirmish the latter burns in his friend the same offering his friend had burned in him. If Saint-Florent's ecstasy⁶⁵ was of briefer duration, it was no less intense, less noisy, less criminal than Cardoville's; the one shouted, roared out everything that came to his mouth, the other restricted his transports' scope without their being the less energetic for that; Saint-Florent chose his words with care, but they were simply yet filthier⁶⁶ and more impure⁶⁷: distraction⁶⁸ and rage, to select precise terms, seemed to characterize the delirium⁶⁹ of the one, wickedness and ferocity were the eminent⁷⁰ qualities announced in the other's.

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