With that he was gone, closing the door noisily behind him. Alice went to her room and washed herself, then lay on her bed face down as the pain slowly eased. It was her first really bad experience. She hoped Mrs Parker would be grateful for what she had done, but she didn’t want such experiences repeated. For the first time she began to see the realities of being a w***e, that what Dottie said was true. It wasn’t about her pleasure; it was a job of work, and not always a pleasant one. It reinforced her determination to make the most of the opportunity that Sir Willoughby was offering her.
Mrs Parker saw her that evening, walking a little stiffly. “Was he hard on you, my dear?” she enquired with some concern.
“A little,” Alice confessed.
Mrs Parker took her to her parlour and told her t
