The First Book of the Merciful Nun

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Chapter 9 Caught

It was close to midnight when Mother Superior was passing the dormitories and saw a figure walking along the corridor ahead of her. Fascinated, she watched as the woman went in to Sister Lucia's cell and shut the door.

'I wonder where Sister Lucia has been at this hour?' she mused, 'The facilities are the other way, so it musty have been to a dormitory.'

She went back to her own cell, but continued to worry about the movement she had seen. Eventually she gave up trying to think of a good reason for Sister Lucia to have visited the dormitories, or the Novice Mistress so late; it was well after Vespers. She decided to inquire immediately and retraced her steps to Sister Lucia's door. There she paused to check to be certain that she was at the right door. As she did so, she heard noises coming from within the nun's cell, moaning noises. Mother Superior opened the door, wondering if Sister Lucia might be ill.

The candle in the cell was lit, and the sight presented to Mother Superior's eyes took her breath away. Sister Lucia was lying back on the bed, entirely naked, with a Novice, still half dressed, sucking on her private parts. It took a moment for Mother Superior to recover from the shock and recognise that the Novice was Marie Donovan, the rebellious daughter of a rich benefactor of the Church in general, and the Convent in particular.

The two young women were so engrossed in what they were doing that neither of them heard the Mother Superior enter the cell. The first intimation of her arrival was a loud SLAP! landing on the upraised rump of the novice. Her scream alerted Sister Lucia, who seemed to in the middle of some sort of fit, and the two sprang to their feet. Mother Superior realised that Sister Lucia had been in the throes of an orgasm.

"Marie," snapped the Mother Superior to the young Novice, "Go to my study, now!"

Seeing Marie reach for her drawers she added, "Don't bother with those. Go now and wait for me."

After the Novice had left, the angry older woman turned to the sobbing nun on the bed and demanded, "What did you think you were doing, seducing a Novice?"

Sister Lucia merely sobbed the louder, knowing that the Mother Superior would never believe that it had been the younger girl who had been the aggressor in the love-making session.

"Hmm," snorted the outraged Mother Superior, "Come with me. Don't bother to dress."

Scared, Sister Lucia dragged herself up from the pallet and followed the Mother Superior along the corridor, acutely aware of her nudity. She knew well where they were going; the punishment cells were at the end of this passage. They were small, windowless, unheated rooms which every Sister had seen at one time or another, usually when on cleaning duties. Sister Lucia could not remember the last time one had been occupied, but sure enough she was pushed into the first one and the door slammed behind her. Then there was a thud as a bar was dropped across it, effectively making it impossible for her to get out.

As she strode back along the corridor, the Mother Superior compared the two miscreants' positions. Sister Lucia was from a background of poverty, and while a hard working young nun, had brought nothing to the convent beyond her intelligence and her body's capacity for work, and keeping her and feeding her made that as expensive as hiring a local family's daughter to do the same work. Marie, or more accurately the Donovan family, brought a great deal of money into the Convent each year in the form of gifts and work done by the Donovan family building firm at no charge.

'Yes,' she thought, without conscious cupidity, 'Sister Lucia must be at fault here; she must have led the well-brought-up young Novice into the wicked ways of her terrible background.'

Back in her study, the Mother Superior started to talk to Marie in a 'more in sorrow than in anger' voice, "Marie, do you truly want to take your final vows soon, and become a Bride of Christ?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother," said the young girl, very quietly.

Marie was really frightened this time. She had been in trouble before, but only for minor infractions, never for anything like this. For a lesbian sex act such as this, she imagined she would be expelled from the Convent and she knew that being nineteen years old would not stop her father taking a strap to her behind. He might even disown her; at best she would be married off to someone even less appealing than the original elderly widower customer, and that well within the year.

"Have you been to me for punishment before?" asked the older woman, though both of them knew the answer.

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

"For what offence?"

"Talking during meals, Reverend Mother."

"And how did I punish you?"

Again both knew the answer.

"By banning me from speaking a word for four days, Reverend Mother, except if it were necessary to save someone else's life."

Then the Mother Superior asked a question which worried the young Novice. Until now this had been a familiar catechism, where old questions and answers were repeated to reinforce a well-understood position or idea.

"Why do you think I chose that punishment?" asked the old lady.

"Well, Reverend Mother, er ..." Marie was floundering.

"It was appropriate, was it not, that you should be punished in a way directly relevant to your sin? A glutton might be put on bread and water, one who speaks out of turn, denied the use of words, and so on. Is that not appropriate, my child?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

"And your sin today? Into what category would it fall?"

This was easier, and Marie answered with confidence, "Reverend Mother it was a sin of the flesh."

"Correct, and so the mortification of the flesh seems an appropriate punishment, does it not?"

"Yes, Reverend Mother."

Then Marie's heart sank as the Mother Superior continued, "Of course, we would only punish you if you were to stay with us, here in the convent. If you prefer to avoid all punishment here, you may return to your dormitory now and remain there until the morning, when I shall have suitable clothes brought to you, and you may walk out of the front door to pass the rest of your life wherever you wish. If you choose that course, I shall not punish you."

"Please, Reverend Mother, I do so want to stay here. I will truly try to be better in future," she lied, or half lied anyway; what she meant was she would try to be better at not getting caught.

"And you will accept whatever punishment I see fit?" asked the old martinet, thinking gloatingly of the cane in her cupboard.

"Yes, Reverend Mother," replied the girl, not having the slightest idea what might be in store for her, but certain it would be less painful in the long run than facing her father.

"Very well, we shall see in a moment," said the Mother Superior, opening the cupboard and taking the cane out.

Turning to face the young girl, she asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Marie smiled, "Yes, Reverend Mother. It's a cane like they used in schools in the old days."

The smile vanished as the older woman swished it through the air and then said, "We still use them in the Convent, though not with the school girls."

"But ... but ... but that's terrible, Reverend Mother," Marie stammered.

"It is only used in the courts for the worst kind of criminals, certainly, but you are nineteen and I am ... well let us say older than you. If I choose to cane you, and you accept the punishment, that is not contrary to Church or State law. Indeed the Holy Bible itself says, 'He that spareth the rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him, correcteth him betimes,' does it not ... my child? And here you are my 'son' as it were, for you call me Mother."

"Yes, Reverend Mother," came the reply and the automatic addition of a reference, "Proverbs 13:24. But Revered Mother, you don't mean ..."

"As I said, my child, you may go to your dormitory now and leave us in the morning, with no other punishment. If you want to stay here, stand on the floor at this end of my desk and then lean forward until your body is lying on it. Remember, you do this because you feel the Good Lord is calling you to be a nun."

Almost holding her breath, the Mother Superior waited to see whether she had misjudged the Novice's fear of disgrace. It was all she could do to breathe evenly as the young woman moved to the desk and lay forwards on it. The curves of her arse cheeks could be seen clearly through the thick flannel of her night-dress, but that was not what the elderly sadist wanted to see.

"Lift your night clothes to your waist," she ordered.

Marie did as she was bidden, believing that the Mother Superior's cane would be less painful than her father's belt. She was about to discover that this belief was wrong.

The Reverend Mother gloated over the two perfect buttocks presented in their pink and white glory, twitching in fearful anticipation of the first stroke, and with just a few wisps of dampened red hairs escaping through the crack between the girl's thighs. She leant forward and touched the folds of the night-dress, watching with a frisson of pleasure as the girl flinched. Gently she rolled the material a little higher, revealing the very top of the quivering bottom before her. Her hand hovered for a moment only inches from the curves she would dearly like to stroke, then it moved to press in the small of the victim's back and hold the girl firmly in place.

'Later,' she thought, 'Later they will be mine.'

Raising her other hand she slashed the cane viciously down across the pale target, ignoring the howl of pain from the unfortunate recipient and watching as the colour along the line of impact changed rapidly to dark red, through purple to a blue that was almost black. This took some moments and the howling continued unabated.

"Cry all you like," said the Mother Superior, "No one will hear you. There are thick walls in this convent and as you know, the dormitories are at the far end of the building."

After a while the howls subsided to heart-wrenching sobs, so the Reverend Mother raised her arm again. As Marie sensed the movement, her buttocks clenched involuntarily, sending another sting of pain through the bruised skin and causing another howl to start. The arm fell and Marie's cry suddenly went up an octave as the searing pain of the second stroke was added to the first.

Blow after blow fell, each a measured time after the previous one to allow the victim's fear to grow; each was preceded by a slow raising of the cane to allow that fear to clench the buttocks.

After six strokes the pain was such that Marie could no longer control her bladder, and her piss splashed down on to the stone floor.

"Get up; get a mop and clean that up now," snapped the Mother Superior.

Marie dragged her agonised body out to the toilet to collect the mop and bucket. Soon she was cleaning the mess she had left, while doing her best to avoid her night-dress touching her smarting skin.

"That will do," said the Mother Superior, "Now dry the floor."

"R-Reverend Mother, what with?" stammered Marie, anxious not to offend any further.

"With your night-dress. Take it off and use that."

Marie was too frightened to object, and in too much pain to care about her nudity. The body revealed to the gaze of the older woman was everything she could have hoped for, tender young skin, freckled as many red-headed people are. She was a little on the plump side, with beautiful breasts large enough to bounce as she moved, tipped with palest pink nipples and areolae. A generous bush of red hair, slightly lighter than that on her head, covered her lower belly.

When the floor was dry, and the bucket, mop and soiled clothing had been put outside the study, the Mother Superior instructed Marie to bend over the desk again.

"Please, no. Please, Reverend Mother, no," pleaded the girl.

"Obedience is the foremost of the vows you claim to want to take," was the stern reply.

Slowly Marie took up the position again, her breasts swaying enticingly just before they were flattened to the surface of the desk. As the Mother Superior approached her, the girl started to sob and her buttocks clenched as tightly as possible. When the hand carrying the cream touched one cheek she screamed again, in shock at the cold unguent, rather than actual pain.

"Calm down, child. This will ease the pain," said the older woman spreading it evenly over the damaged areas.

Marie relaxed with total relief and this allowed the older woman's hand to press cream into the girl's arse crack and to stroke all the wounded areas gently. Almost imperceptibly the movements were lengthened until the fingers of the stroking hand were reaching the tender labia of the victim on the desk. Marie was confused by the feelings of lust this gentle caressing aroused, and her legs opened automatically to allow the questing hands easier access to her waiting cunt. Soon the Mother Superior had two fingers in the girl's cunt and a thumb deep in her darker passage, while the girl first moaned and then screamed her climax.

Abruptly the hands were gone and Marie felt bereft. Looking up she saw the Mother Superior washing her hands in the small hand basin in the corner.

"You may get up now," Marie was told, "There is a spare night-gown in the cupboard; put it on."

As the young woman obeyed, the older woman watched with undisguised interest.

"Now, do you want to go back to your home, or to stay here?"

"To stay here, Reverend Mother," Marie said, wondering whether to say anything about the wonderful climax she had just experienced.

"Very well. You may be called here from time to time for more punishment, but let me make one thing clear. If you are ever caught indulging yourself with another member of the Convent without my permission, you will be expelled. I shall not allow you to pleasure me, that is a privilege you have to earn, though I shall call for you from time to time. Remember, obedience is the first rule, and nothing you are ordered to do by me can ever be a sin on your soul. Any sin is on the soul of the person giving the order."

As Marie returned to her dormitory, she reflected that the Mother Superior was no better than she. It would be interesting to see how far the old woman wanted to go.

'Well,' she thought, 'I don't want her caning me again, even for a climax as good as that.'

When she reached her dormitory the Novice Mistress was still fast asleep and snoring quietly.

***

Chapter 10 Sister Lucia

Sister Lucia stayed in the punishment cell for what seemed an interminable period. It was cold and dank, and smelled faintly musty. With no clothes and no heating, she passed a sleepless night. At some point a tray was pushed under the door with a plate of porridge and a mug of tea on it; neither had been sugared, but both were very welcome for their warmth alone.

Later still a plate of meat and potatoes was pushed under the door, though not a word was spoken.

After some considerable time, the door opened and the Mother Superior came into the cell.

"Well," demanded the old woman peremptorily, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Reverend Mother, it wasn't what you think ..."

"Sister," interrupted the Mother Superior, "Do you think I am stupid? Or is it ignorance of which I you suppose I am guilty? When I entered your cell you were naked. A novice was suckling at ... You each had your hands in a disgusting ..." the Mother Superior broke off, evidently unable to continue her description of the scene, "This is so serious a breach of discipline that you could be expelled from the convent and excommunicated. If that happens you would be simply put outside the Convent door, on the street, in a simple shift with no other clothing, no shoes, no money, no provisions, and no hope of help from the Church. I have spoken to the Bishop about this matter, and he agrees that you cannot stay here."

"But Reverend Mother, where shall I go? What could I do?"

"I have no doubt that if we put you out on the street someone would soon find you and put you to work, probably in a house of ill-repute, or perhaps working in a factory where you would be used by the men in charge as well as toiling fourteen hours a day, until you eventually end up, as do all excommunicates, in Hell for all eternity."

"Reverend Mother, I know I have broken my vows, and I know I have not been a good nun, but surely I don't deserve Hell's fire for eternity?"

"I made that very point to His Reverence myself. We felt that you should be given a chance to redeem yourself. There is a College which takes on cases such as yours, called the College of Correction and Redemption, though where you might go afterwards, neither I nor the Bishop could imagine. However, I spoke to Monsignor Flavin, the Principal of the College, and he seemed to think that somewhere could be found for you. You are not, of course, released from your vows of life-long obedience and poverty, they are irrevocable. It remains to be seen whether you will again break your vow of chastity as a Bride of Christ."

Sister Lucia was again left alone with her thoughts for a long time. Then the Mother Superior came to the cell again, this time carrying a pair of sandals and a calico shift.

"Put those on. Monsignor Flavin is here to collect you."

Led again through the passage, Sister Lucia was surprised to see that all was in darkness. She surmised, correctly, that it was very late at night. In the reception area, where nuns were never normally allowed to go, there was a short dark priest wearing the purple which signified his rank.

"This is Monsignor Flavin. I commend you to his care. He is your Superior from this moment forth," said the Mother Superior.

"Come my child," said the Monsignor, "our carriage awaits."

Outside, a closed carriage bore them away from the Convent; it was the first time in her life that Sister Lucia had travelled anywhere except on foot. The windows were covered with curtains, so Sister Lucia had no idea where they went. Monsignor Flavin said not a word during the journey.

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Chapter 11 College

Inside the college, the still silent Monsignor led Sister Lucia along a corridor, carpeted she noticed, and opened a door, indicating that she should enter.

The room was small and dark, lit only by a small window high in one wall, through which a shaft of moonlight came to strike the wall opposite. A candle was on a small side stand and Monsignor Flavin lit it before bidding her a gruff, "Good night," and withdrawing.

As she looked round she saw that although the room was dark, it was luxurious compared with her cell in the Convent. There was a thin carpet on the floor, instead of bare stones; a bed with a thin mattress on it was there, rather than the pallet on the hard floor, and a small prie-dieu against the wall beside the window. She even had a pillow, and two blankets.

She was curious about the other door in the room, and opened it to find a small toilet with a hand basin. This was a far cry from crossing the quadrangle to the privy in all weathers at the Convent. She wondered why she had such splendid accommodations, since she was there as a punishment. Returning to the other room, she was just going to say her nightly prayers before lying down for the night when there was a tap on the door. Sister Lucia opened it and a very young girl stood there.

"The Master says I am to fetch the smock and the sandals, Sister," she said, curtseying.

Sister Lucia was taken aback at this, but reasoned that amid such luxury she had no need of the smock or sandals until the morning, so draping a blanket round her for modesty, she contrived to remove the smock and handed it to the girl. It took only a moment and then she kicked the sandals off. The girl bent and took them, left and closed the door behind herself.