Chapter 1

Lady Bishop paused again as she reviewed the household accounts. By all appearances the new butler was doing an excellent job. No, it was more than that. Everyone was eating better but the expenses over the last five months had continued to go down to an astonishing 27% reduction since the old butler had left. The new one was entirely too young for the position of responsibility he held but he had been highly recommended by Lord Munson, an old friend of her late husband,. He had said that James, the new, too-young butler knew household management as well as land management forwards and backwards. She wasn't sure what that meant as she didn't have any farm lands. But, because she trusted Lord Munson, she had taken his advise and hired him. She had always left everything up to the staff. James, the new butler, as she had found out in the last few months was more than he had at first seemed.

She still felt a little uneasy about the situation of having so young a butler.

She had even heard a little loose talk in the village. Nothing specific, mind you, but a few remarks by people wondering why she had allowed so young a man in the house. She was also noticing how happy the maids, cooks and other casual staff were since James arrived. The situation certainly needed watching. But there was no visual evidence of slacking off. Just the opposite in fact, the house had never been cleaner or the service and food better. Yet she knew something had to be wrong.

Strangely, she had even felt a change in her own personal attitude towards life. The frustration she had felt building up since her husband had gotten sick years ago seemed to have receded. Her personal maid had not been replaced when she left three months ago. Since her coiffure had been simplified, and the staff was getting so efficient, she didn't believe another one would be needed. The butler unobtrusively collected the clothes and things that needed cleaning from her room and made sure that her bath was drawn nightly. Breakfast was always ready when she arrived in the morning and the least hint by her about what she wanted served or the number of guests she wanted to entertain on a given date just seemed to be taken care of without her having to follow-up with the staff. Once, the butler had even had to remind her to get dressed for one of her own parties that she had set up the week before and forgotten. That was certainly a lot different from the old butler who required continuous prodding to get any job done.

Glancing again at the incredible savings in the accounts, she thought maybe she would have her favorite niece over to stay with her for awhile.

At 50, she was just beginning to feel her age. Being around someone younger may just make her feel younger too.

James really was my name but what the hell. Honestly, everyone thought that's what a butler's name ought to be. I really didn't mind, it was easier this way. Household management had always been easy for me.

Probably because I had learned every trick in the book from my butler father. I had been left a lot of money by my father, Carl, when he had died unexpectedly last year. Fortunately, my father had insisted that we insure our lives in a sufficient amount as to pay off our mortgages on the farm lands and manor. The wages of both of us plus the rents and shares from the farm lands we had acquired had been needed to make the mortgage payments. If either had died without the insurance policy the property would have been foreclosed simply because only one could not have kept up the payments. Over the years the mortgage had been paid down to the point where the difference between the amount owed on the lands and the policy amount was considerable. Despite the terrible loss of my father, I was grateful for my father's wise choice. Now I owned considerable farm lands which were in the hands of good tenants and best of all, was fully paid for. The rents, my own wages and extras and the amount left by my father via the insurance made me a wealthy man.

In themselves, a butler's wages are quite small. Every butler or household manager handled it the same way. There was no retirement funds for any household workers. You either took care of yourself during your working life or it wasn't there when you quit or retired. I had laughed my head off the first time I had seen this household's accounts. The last butler was far too greedy and let half the merchants in the village cheat both him and the household. I had simply stripped out most of the fat. And, incidentally, increased the quality of the food served to both the owner and staff.

My biggest personal problem was that I was a very sexually oriented person. I seemed to be able to handle any amount of sexual activity with ease. I had just been born that way. Well-hung and insatiable was what my father had laughingly called me. My father used to say, 'If the staff is well fucked, then the morale will stay high.' That didn't necessarily mean that my father and I had screwed the whole female staff. It just meant that you hired people who were happy with the sex in their lives and competent in the work they were hired to do. If they weren't getting enough they wouldn't be happy workers. However, I had never had any problem finding sex among the staff. I didn't seek it out. But they seemed to know that I would provide it if needed. Consequently, I had spent a lot of time with Dad increasing the morale of the staff where he had been employed.

During my first week in the new job I had allowed myself to be seduced by one of the prettier maids. A quick but thoroughly conducted fuck in the butler's pantry converted her into a happier worker. Once the word was out that I took this job seriously and was concerned about their happiness, morale went up. I was young and good-looking in a rugged sort of way and every thing had quickly fallen into place except one. When I had first seen the Ladys' personal maid I had figured her for a lesbian or at least a latent one. I was able to get rid of her in less than two months.

So why was I a butler when I had the resources to literally retire?

Not that I really planned to retire in the strictest sense. I still would manage his own investments when I quit.

I was hoping to set himself up on my farm after I had attracted a woman with a decent dowry. By then, of course, I would conveniently forget to mention I had ever been a butler. Unfortunately, most of the common women didn't have 10 pounds for a dowry. And, the really rich wouldn't be interested in someone in trade or business. Farming was definitely considered beneath the titled classes. So I was still undecided but always looking for the right prospect.

With everything in place I was relatively content with my life. It was still hard work though. I had to pick up the slack left by the loss of the personal maid. While this wasn't much extra in a work sense it had caused some unexpected personal problems for me. Lady Bishop was a leaker. The first morning after the personal maid had left, I had picked up the Lady's under clothing to take to the laundry room. The whole crotch area of her panties had still been damp from the previous day. My first thought was incontinence but when I sniffed them I knew better. To do this much wetting in her panties she must be in a continual state of arousal. Since I had been the butler here, not one man had been around. She seemed totally disinterested in men in general.

The worst part for me was the light, delicate and seductive aroma that gave me an instant raging hard-on with the smallest sniff. I had never been affected like that before by any other woman. And this was a much older woman at that. The upstairs maid hadn't seemed to notice the smell in her bedroom so I thought it must be just me. Of course, my picking up the panties every morning put me a lot closer to the source of that delicious smell.

I started to be more observant whenever I was in the same room with Lady Bishop. It didn't take long to notice that she moved around a lot on whatever chair or settee she was sitting on. Once I had come into the parlor without her being aware of it and had watched her closely. Her eyes had been closed and I heard the delicate little puffs of breath as she gently moved on the chair seat. Suddenly, she had gasped, shuddered, and sagged into the chair. The woman must have had masturbation down to a science to get off so easy. No wonder she was always wet.

This afternoon I had been surprised by the Ladys' request for another drink before dinner. I brought an extra strong one in as usual then left.

After dinner she had her usual sherry but again surprised me when she rang for another. And, then a third. The rest of the staff had all retired for the evening leaving only me to take care of the Lady's requirements.

I waited in the butler's pantry to see if she needed anything else. Whenever she went to bed, then I could retire and maybe drop by and see one of the older maids who had been hinting all day about being lonely at night. I finally decided I had better ask the Lady if she needed anything else. Sometimes subtle hints were required to let them know that some staff member was forced to stay up with them.

I found Lady Bishop rolled over on the couch snoring softly. She had apparently had one extra sherry too many. My immediately thought of waking one of the female staff to assist her in going to bed seemed uncalled for. I was probably the only one still awake in the house. I picked her up in his arms gently and carried her up the stairs to her room. All the way up I could smell her.