The Governess- 6

‘My you are in a mood today, if you are a good girl I might call you in at the
appropriate moment, and if you are a bad girl I might just smack your bare
bottom. Now what do you think I should wear?’
‘Well, there is Lady Todd-Berresforsd heading the committee, Maggie Forbes and a
woman from Immigration. I haven’t met the woman from Immigration yet.’
‘OK I think I will wear a plain white blouse and navy skirt. That should look
efficient enough. Ask Jane and Francis to start while I get ready will you?’ The
doctor’s secretary took her hand away from the erect nipple and picked up her
clip board.
‘Will you remember your promise?’ she said shyly as she went through the door.

Richard stood facing the glass cabinet, he had been looking at the various
instruments without understanding any of their uses.
He heard the door open as the doctor’s secretary came back into the room.
She walked toward the girl, standing near the scales behind Richard.
The nurse’s will be through in a minute, so just be patient. She spoke to them
both as she passed them, walking through the door into her office. The girl
looked around as the secretary left the room. She had been through so many
formalities during her immigration. She had thought she would never get to
England. It had been the Church Army who eventually arranged her final visa, a
few weeks before the first troubles. Since that time she had travelled
continuously until a post as servant to an English Lady had been arranged. She
was determined that nothing should go wrong at this stage. Her name was Neijiet,
which most people had had difficulty in pronouncing. She had agreed to have it
changed to Annette, which was the nearest sound to her own name. She had been
nervous and embarrassed when the woman and taken her to be shaved, but she had
decided that what ever she was asked to do, she would obey without question. She
did not want to return to Vietnam, having no family or friends she would have
been destined for shipment to the hills, where girls laboured throughout the
day, sleeping in crude huts at night. She had heard that people grew old very
quickly there. The woman who had shaved her had said that Lady Rawlings was a
kind woman, and that she would be very happy there.