Amanda Part Two
 
 

Arnold had just left Arkworth Hall after his two very well-fed, if hard-working, days as Amanda’s guest. He had returned home and to his work in London which was starting to pile up alarmingly. Several people had applied for the vacant posts in the Hall and Benson was interviewing one of them in the servant’s quarters. Amanda had spent the morning walking around the grounds. She had finished her tour of inspection by having a swim in the natural pool where her infant love of water had caused her mother to complain humorously that she had given birth to a fish and not a little girl at all!

She was a very much more than somewhat chilled young lady after her long and very energetic swim. It might be mid- June, but the temperature did not even begin to compare to that in the sub tropical island she had so recently left. A hot shower was very definitely indicated in order to restore some much needed body heat! A terrible thing to die from hypothermia so soon after inheriting all this!

She walked quickly and shivering, a towel draped around her nudity, into the Hall and up to the bathroom - a very modern suite in this very old house. The hot water felt so very, very good as it coursed down her statuesque and perfectly toned and tanned form. After drying herself, she walked out of the shower and into the corridor.

She was still naked but very much warmer now and quite comfortable. The sun had shone through the bathroom window onto her body, its beams dancing with subtle brilliance off her skin’s smooth lustre with its delicately fine covering of tiny red-gold hairs, each one a minute and coruscating jewel, gleaming in the summer light. She had seen herself in the mirror and the sin of Vanity had immediately seized her in its grip! She looked good! Oh, my word, but DID she EVER look good!

If the obsessed and traumatised Deirdre’s obsession with her own body had taught Amanda anything, it was that the human form, especially in youth, in its unclothed state is not a shameful thing - anything but! Those hours lying on the private beach and swimming naked in the sea, alone at first, but with, after time, an increasing selection of companions of both sexes who would drop by to chat, had removed all shame at her nudity, and replaced it at first with pride and finally with a serene and grateful acceptance.

It was wonderful to have learnt how to stand and walk in an unclothed state. Without any of the constraints imposed by apparel, she had become accustomed to hold and bear herself naturally and without self consciousness. And she was blessed with breasts which were firm, well-shaped and very feminine, but not too big - not big enough to strike her a cruel slap under the chin if she broke into a run, which was very likely what would happen - say - to some of the silicone-enhanced bimbos from Baywatch when dashing hell for leather to some distressed swimmer‘s aid!

She would often reflect, now that she had “seen the light”, that a girl like her was born to be always naked. Fat chance of that, though! She had a position in society to keep up and Benson would have a fit if he saw her the way she nowadays liked to be!

Taking advantage of the emptiness of the house, now that Arnold had gone and Benson was engaged all day in interviewing applicants, she started to wander in and out of various rooms, feeling the cool linoleum under her feet in the corridor and being caressed by the pile of the carpets in the various rooms. Her idle wandering finally brought her to a flight of stairs leading up to a landing. At the top was a room she had never been in, even when she had lived here in her happy childhood days.

She tried to open the door, but it was obviously locked. Annoyed at being denied entry and determined to see what was was in the room, she went downstairs and looked closely at the key rack which was situated in the rear of the hallway. There was one very large and antiquated key which appeared to be for the room in question! She took it down and went back upstairs.
 
 
 

She did not realise it, but Benson and the latest applicant had just walked up the stairs from the cellar, where he had been showing the successful lady around the scene of her future duties. As Amanda went upstairs to the locked room, they both saw her. She was right about Benson's reaction! The poor guy pretty nearly did throw a fit when he caught sight of her rear view as she lightly skipped up the stairway on those perfectly formed little feet of hers!

Arriving slightly panting and sweating at the door, she inserted the key in the lock. No joy! It seemed to fit OK, but would only turn a short way before all her efforts to encourage it to go further were utterly vain. Deirdre, of course, would have had no trouble! Deciding that the lock might benefit from the application of some lubricant she went back downstairs and outside. In the garage cum* workshop was what she was looking for - a small can of oil, of sufficiently fine grade to do the job. She had developed some practical skills in the course of her short life, even if she did choose never to let people know she was not quite as totally helpless as she sometimes seemed!

As she went in the front door, oblivious by now to her continuing nakedness, Benson came out of one of the rooms. He displayed no surprise. If this was how the mistress wished to behave in her own house, then so be it!

Amanda blushed and apologised, lifting the oilcan to cover her breasts before realising the absurdity and futility of this attempt to camouflage herself. She put her arms back where they belonged. Benson coughed.

“No need to apologise Miss Amanda, this is your house, after all.”

“Yes, but it’s your home too Benson and I’ve no right to upset you. It won’t happen again!”

A brief conversation ensued in the course of which Benson convinced his employer that he really did not mind how she dressed or undressed. She accepted with relief that her freedom was to continue! She asked him if he had a first name.

“Oswald, Miss Amanda”

“OK, Oswald. Mind if I call you that in future?”

He did not mind. Amanda, pleased that a degree of informality was being established between them, went upstairs to see if she could loosen the workings of the ancient lock. The not unskilled application of oil was successful and Amanda pushed open the creaking door, expecting to see a room knee deep in dust and cobwebs. The door shut behind her with surprising smoothness and she looked about her. What she saw amazed her!

She blinked a few times, but the room looked no different each time she opened her eyes.
 
 

The chamber was spotlessly clean and beautifully furnished with what even the untutored eye of the new mistress could see were the most priceless pieces of antique Jacobean furniture, all in amazing condition and lovingly polished. By the window was a very comfortable-looking couch, which did look slightly out of keeping with the rest of the furnishings in its simplicity. She walked over to it and looked out of the window. Then she had yet another shock!

She simply could not recognise the view at all. The gardens, landscaped by Capability Brown in the eighteenth century, were unrecognisable - a geometric and formal vista which was like no garden she had ever seen, save one. And the distant view was similarly transformed. The general configuration of the land was familiar enough, but there seemed far more of an abundance of woodland than she remembered and in the far distance, the large modern town of Breadstoke was gone, being replaced by a small collection of thatched dwellings grouped around a village green.

“How odd! And I haven’t had a drop of gin yet!” she muttered, the feeble joke failing to remove the feeling of sheer terror she was experiencing. She sat upon the couch, feeling giddy and faint. Perhaps she’d better go back to her room and lie down until she felt better, she told herself. The distraught Amanda was about to put this resolution into effect when the door opened and a boisterous spaniel bounded in, coming up to her and licking her bronzed thigh in a friendly way, leaving a shiny wet mark where its tongue had been. She patted the animal delightedly and let it lick her all over - she had fallen instantly in love with this creature! Where had it come from? Then the dog’s presumed owner came in and she knew who HE was right away! And he knew her!
 
 
 
 

“Darling Amanda!  Congrats on coming into  your lovely inheritance! What a splendid house you’ve got here and all these lovely grounds.  Lovely to see you again - lovely!!”

“Dearest Deirdre! I see you’ve brought some heavy gear, as if those muscles aren‘t grossly overdeveloped enough already!  And where did you get that awful black eye? You can and will carry all that heavy  stuff in by yourselves!  My dear old Oswald is much to feeble to manage all that heavy metal!  Me too!”

“Don’t worry about that, poor feeble Amanda!  We love the exercise - the more the merrier.  I’ll tell you about my shiner later.  You’ll not be pleased!”

The two former flat mates embraced for a very long time and the watching Peter was getting to be not a little jealous until Amanda remembered her duties as hostess and  went over and kissed him perfunctorily on the cheek, completely forgetting that she had once so devotedly  worshipped him!  Amnesia can be such a blessing sometimes!

She allowed them to bring all their luggage into the house, marvelling how they lifted up their heavy packages as if they were so many bits of balsa wood.  Then she showed them both up to their shared room.

Although they were still technically single, these two besotted people were already behaving as if they were an old married couple, much to Amanda’s puritanical disgust.  She, herself,  was resolutely and inflexibly determined that she would remain a virgin until her wedding night, although no longer, of course!  Her future husband could either be patient and wait until the proper time or else find someone else to marry - she would not behave like a tart to please anybody!   People told her she was old fashioned and she was very happy to agree - and  a good job too, she would add!
 
As soon as her guests had settled themselves in to their room, they came down and joined Amanda in the lounge.  She indicated that this was now a clothing optional house, thanks to the tolerance of the good Mr. Benson and all three disrobed accordingly.  Then Amanda looked at the very well endowed Peter and felt a frisson of doubt. What would the new parlour-maid make of that! Whatever - she was not going to find out! The resentful Peter was ordered to cover up and the two nude girls settled back into their chairs and exchanged all the latest gossip. Being women it took them most of the evening - and then some!  They were still not even half way finished when the time came to retire for the night!

After saying goodnight, Amanda stayed behind and took advantage of the temporary solitude to go over again the events of that incredible day.  The summer‘s day when she had first  gone into that locked room.

The man who followed the spaniel into the room was none other than he who had swum ashore to her and handed her the beautiful shell - Lord Arkworth, dead these three hundred years!  They had stared in open-mouthed amazement for many long seconds until the man spoke.

“Odds fish! ‘tis the wondrous lady - the fair vision on the shore!  The fairest creature that mine eyes did ever see!  She to whom I gave the shell!  What heavenly alchemy brings thee here?  I see Harry likes thee well! Thou art flesh and blood indeed - and I heartily rejoice to see it! But by what devilry or witchcraft came ye here?”

“I own this house. I wished to look inside this room, which was locked and which I have never entered before.” she replied in a very weak voice. She could scarcely stand and put her hand behind her onto the bench to steady herself.  “You really did swim ashore from your ship and give me that lovely shell?  It was not a dream?”

“’Twas I who dreamt, methought.  I sailed my vessel by that self same shore a dozen times and never saw thee more.   Word came of my father’s death and so back I  came to this fair spot. ‘Tis indeed a blessed place, this manor - what say ye my lovely girl. Ye are not from these parts - that is plain.  Thy speech is odd and more than passing strange! “

“Yours too, mate!” thought Amanda, although she was far too overawed by this impressive man to say anything out of turn! He spoke in no accent she had ever encountered. A kind of rustic dialect akin but not the same as was spoken in these parts now.  At the back of her mind a terrifying thought was taking form.  What if he was no longer in her own time, but his!

Amanda was basically a down-to-earth kind of girl. She had  a tendency to romanticise a little when it came to the matter of love and marriage and the ideal man she would one day marry and live with happily ever after, but in most matters she was prosaic to the extent of being slightly dull.

 She had never been interested in science fiction and fantasy or in some of her friends’ preoccupation with the paranormal, believing such things to be quite beyond belief.  So it came as an unwelcome surprise in some ways to find herself in such an incredible situation. Unwelcome only in some ways, though! Here she was, face to face with the man whose image she had so longingly gazed on as a child and who had kissed her so passionately only weeks earlier. That could not be bad! No way!

She walked towards him and the dog temporarily ceased its affectionate attentions to her, sitting itself demurely and obediently beside the couple.  They embraced again, far more passionately this time.  Amanda felt herself slipping into unconsciousness as she plunged into a maelstrom of wild and conflicting emotions. All went black.

When she came round, the room was empty.  Obviously, Lord Arkworth and his faithful Harry had gone to find some reviving drink for her. She got up a little shakily and went over to the door.  Once back on the staircase, she saw Benson below. The amazing adventure was over!  Only a few dog-hairs on her naked skin bore testimony to what had just happened.

Back in the present and after going over this in her mind again, she followed Deirdre and Peter.  As she passed  the flight of steps leading to the room, she walked up and went inside.  She had done this many times since seeing her lover that day and always had been disappointed.  The room had indeed been thick with cobwebs and a few centuries’ deposit of dust on the second occasion.  She had spent the better part of a day making it look as it had on her first visit.

The furnishing of the room had not altered at all in the three hundred years since Lord Arkworth had died in that very room.  Now that Amanda had carefully restored it, it would very hard indeed to tell what century one was in on entering the room.  Amanda knew, though. The ravages of time could not be totally healed. The fine carpet had suffered some wear over the years and there was a deep scratch on the table that had not been there on that first memorable occasion.

It was not here this time!  That was the first thing she saw. The second sensation was that of having Harry lick her thigh.  The third was the sight of Lord Arkworth stretched out on the couch by the window.  He leapt to his feet as she came in to the room and hastened to embrace her.
 
 

"Thank Heaven that ghastly black eye has faded a bit! It looked so awful, Deirdre. I almost threw up when I first saw it! Utterly dreadful. You never did get around to saying how you got it, except to say that I would not be pleased."

Deirdre and Amanda were sitting on the lawn relaxing in the sun. Deirdre was a little less frenetic in her working out by now, to Amanda’s immense relief. She had been dreading her best friend’s visit in some ways and it was a delightful surprise to have had so much of her company these last few days and for the exercise equipment to be so comparatively under utilised.

The Summer was glorious by this time. It was the kind of weather that makes England such a Paradise for a very few all too brief periods. A soft breeze played over their semi-recumbent bodies and the odd fleecy cloud moved across the sun from time to time in order to allow a little welcome cooling to take place. The air smelt of newly cut grass, late spring flowers - and Ambre Solaire!

The two girls had triumphantly restored their suntans to that wondrous former Tenerife richness. Both lay back on their loungers and contemplated proudly the expanse of softly nut brown nudity spread so lusciously out under the sky. They wriggled their toes with serene and complacent satisfaction. Amanda affectionately and lazily brushed one of her tanned little feet against one of Deirdre’s slightly larger and equally tanned feet. Life could certainly be pretty OK sometimes!. Amanda was still a bit preoccupied, though.

"Well, darling Amanda, I'll tell you now!" said Deirdre, looking a little uneasy as she stole a sidelong glance at her friend and hostess.

"You know I was combining self-defence classes with my body culture? Well, I got into a circle of girls who are into boxing in a big way - and I mean BIG. Quite serious stuff - I can tell you! When you were off playing tennis and swimming and doing all those nice feminine things, I quite often was at this gym I discovered. It was just a bit of practice at first - punch bag training and shadow boxing. But then one of the girls got me to get in the ring with her a few times and try it out for real.

"It would be the understatement of the Millennium to say that I quite took to it. When I got back to England I went around there again and was very readily persuaded to take part in an evening's entertainment."

Deirdre paused and looked closely to see how Amanda was taking this. Not very well, obviously! She ploughed on regardless.

“I was half of the third item on the programme, after two bouts had ended pretty quickly! I found myself up against a pretty experienced girl - tough as nails and more sneaky tricks than a bag full of monkeys! She gave me this black eye! It was all very proper, Amanda - referee and seconds and two-minute rounds and all that! No one got hurt, well not too badly, anyway. I mean to say, Amanda! Stop looking at me like that! Women aren’t made of fine porcelain you know! We’re not Dresden Shepherdesses any longer! We‘re every damned bit as tough as men. And some of us like to prove it to ourselves - like me! I‘m not apologizing to you, so don‘t think I am!”

“What did the other girl look like at the close of this heroic contest, Deirdre?” Amanda’s face was set like stone. Her soft voice was void of expression. She was giving nothing away just yet!

“Pretty cut up actually, her nose was pouring blood and both eyes were a real mess - much blacker than mine and one was almost shut. The bout lasted nine rounds and I was really laying into that pretty face of hers, I can tell you! Then she knocked me out! Took me a full five minutes to come round - my God but she knew what she was doing! I was getting overconfident and she was pretty experienced - just waiting for her chance and when it came she bloody well took it and no mistake! Canny bitch! I loved it, though, and Tracy and I are the best of friends now!

“She says I had her quite worried for a while! I’m so strong, she had to let me wear myself out a bit first, before she could finally get me lined up for the big one. We work out a lot now, getting ready for next week. I‘m taking part in an afternoon tournament then. Small invited audience of aficionados of the noble and womanly art! You can come along if you like!”

The listening girl lay back and sighed resignedly. Then she smiled her lovely, friendly, and warm smile. Deirdre breathed a sigh of relief. Amanda’s foot resumed its interrupted massaging of Deirdre’s, much to that girl‘s delight!

“Just don’t even THINK about trying out your new-found pugilistic skills on me Deirdre! If you lay a finger on me you’re on your way back to Londinium and never staying here again!” she laughed gently. “And, who knows? I might even take you up on your offer and come and watch you in action!”

“As if I ever would lay a finger on my best friend! Oh! I know I hit you that one and only time, (for which I'm eternally ashamed) but I was pretty shaken up and still not my self again after the mugging. I’m OK now, though - thanks to you being such a great buddy during those awful weeks! I‘d never have got through it all without you, Amanda: I truly wouldn’t! You’re my friend until Hell freezes over for what you did for me night after night during those horrible weeks. Nothing, but nothing will ever be too good for you as far as I’m concerned! And do you mean you really will come along? Gosh! Thanks, darling. Not that I ever doubted you! I‘m so glad you’ll be there to cheer me on! You’ve no idea what that will mean for me! I‘m absolutely shit scared, to be honest with you - I don‘t want to end up horizontal a second time - so terribly embarrassing!”

Try as she might in the weeks that followed, Amanda could never work out how a half promise could come to be so instantly translated into a firm commitment, but she offered no resistance, being still totally wrapt up in her own amazing and hopeless love for a long dead man! She gave a glance at Deirdre, every bit as apprehensive and uncertain as the one her friend had darted at her minutes ago!

“Deirdre” quavered a nervous Amanda. “This seems to be confession time, now Peter’s away for the day! I’ve got something pretty incredible to tell you. You’ll think I’m stark raving bonkers, but I must talk to someone. I really don‘t know which way to turn.”

“What have you been up to, Amanda? My sweet innocent Amanda!”

“I’ve been having some kind of hallucinations. It started off in Tenerife a week or two before I came home. You remember that lovely shell I was holding that day. You know! When you brought the 'phone out for me, when that guy from the tennis club 'phoned.”

Deirdre did indeed remember that amazing sea shell! She had never seen its like before.

And Amanda told her about the man who had swum ashore from a three master and presented the shell to her before embracing her and swimming back to the ship.

Deirdre looked a little concerned.

“You were hitting the old cocktails pretty hard at the time, darling. Not wise at your far from advanced age, if you don’t mind an old twenty-one year old lecturing you! And it was hot! Funny thing, though!” she paused a while and then resumed.

“We usually - Peter and I - had you in view when you were there on your own, just in case. We felt very responsible and protective! That day, though, we weren’t in that usual room with all the exercise equipment. I’d a bloody awful headache and Pete was a bit woozy with some tummy bug. We went to lie down for a couple of hours. So! I really can’t say if you swam out and dived for that shell or not! But no sailing ship could have approached and gone out of sight in that time. I‘m sure enough of that! You know there was nothing anywhere in sight when I woke you up.”

Deirdre continued. “And what else have you experienced? You said that was the start?”

Amanda hesitated. Then she seemed to pluck up courage.

“I’ve seen him twice since. Both times have been here at this house. Once in my first week here and the second time the day you and Peter came - in the evening on the way up to bed.

"It was in a room that’s been locked for years. I got the key and when I was inside, he came in a few minutes later. He had a lovely dog - such a darling spaniel with those sweet adoring brown eyes! I‘m almost as much in love with that dog as I am with Richard!”

Deirdre seemed more preoccupied with her own forthcoming duel with some fearsome Amazon. Her eyes showed her loss of interest and Amanda decided to put of further discussion of her experiences for the time being.

Deirdre’s revelation about her entry into the sport of boxing, traditionally a male preserve, had excited her in a way she would never have imagined possible. She could not wait to see her friend in action, even though a part of her cried out in horror at a woman behaving in such a way! Deirdre was a dear friend, after all said and done. If she would be valued as a spectator of next week’s butchery, then she would be there, come Hell or high water!