When Isabelle arrived she was introduced to her maid. Joe curtsied – which he had become suitably expert at. Isabelle smiled kindly. Not surprisingly she was wearing a pretty pink dress just as elaborately frilled as any of Joe’s former wardrobe. She came with two further trunks of clothes!
It was one of Joe’s chores to help her dress every morning. It was awkward seeing her in her frilly undies before he had to help her on with her petticoats and dress. He kept his eyes on the floor which was appropriate for a submissive maid anyway. Once she was dressed he had to help her untie her ringlets and primp them for the day ahead. At night he had to help her undress and tie up her ringlets in ribbons before going to bed.
There wasn’t too much else for him to do except make her bed, keep her room clean, take her clothes for washing and iron them afterwards. Otherwise he just needed to be ready to answer a tinkling bell when she wanted something.
Isabelle grew bored quickly. She had no friends in New York and there wasn’t much for her to do except read and play with her dolls and other toys. Joe was pressed into playing with her or reading to her occasionally but her mother didn’t approve of too much of that. She felt strongly that a maid should know her station. Isabelle was very nice to him though and they grew quite friendly.
Soon a governess was appointed for Isabelle. Joe presumed she would be as strict as his stern grey lady but was pleasantly surprised when a beautiful young woman arrived and smiled pleasantly at everyone. She looked like she could be in her teens. Joe blushed when she smiled at him and nearly forgot to curtsey. She giggled at his panicky effort. He could feel something stirring beneath his dress, petticoats and bloomers.
Isabelle loved her governess and they got on very well. She treated Isabelle’s maid well too with not a hint of superiority in her manner. She even approved of Maid Emily joining them occasionally for a game or lesson. Joe thought she was wonderful and definitely had a crush on her. But what could he do about it dressed as a maid?
As the days passed and Joe dressed Isabelle in a bewildering array of dresses he began to feel shabby in his black maid’s uniform. His former aunt insisted on pulling his corset tighter all the time to give him a more feminine figure. One morning as Isabelle twirled in her dress and her petticoats fluttered revealing the frills on her bloomers Joe realized that he really hated the plainness of his maid’s dress.
A few days later Isabelle received an invitation to a party as she was playing with Maid Emily. “Can Emily come to the party with me Mummy?” Joe was taken aback but liked the idea of a party. Life as a maid was pretty dull. “What? No of course not!” “Please! Mum!” “But she wouldn’t have anything appropriate to wear.” “But mother there is the whole trunk of clothes that came over with you. I haven’t even opened it yet. There may be something there that would fit her.” Her mother and Joe exchanged knowing looks.
When her governess weighed into the debate with her approval Isabelle’s mother conceded. The trunk of clothes was moved into the room next to Isabelle’s. Joe looked on with nervous excitement as Isabelle and her governess went through the dresses to decide which was best for him to wear to the party. He tried not to be excited at the prospect of wearing a frilly dress again but couldn’t help it.
They found the apricot dress his ‘aunt’ had bought on arrival in New York. “Oh this will be perfect!” Isabelle cried. The governess held up the dress and tugged the layers of lace straight. She came over to Joe smiling. She had such a lovely smile. His heart went pitter patter whenever she spoke to him or looked at him. “Oh you’ll look so pretty in this!” She held the dress up in front of him. Joe gave a rueful smile. It wasn’t the kind of attention he really wanted from her but any attention was nice.
They laid out the five layers of petticoats and found the matching bloomers and bonnet for his apricot dress. They left him to get changed. He was undoubtedly relieved at the chance to wear something other than his drab black maid’s dress and he was certainly physically relieved as he loosened his corset. But it was only to get dressed up in the flounciest, laciest, prettiest dress, petticoats, bloomers and bonnet. He sighed and reached for his bloomers.
Isabelle squealed with delight when she saw Joe dressed. He was more than a little mortified as her governess reached under his dress and straightened out some awkward folds in his petticoats. He felt guilty about how comfortable he felt in his pretty girl’s dress and undies compared to the nasty corset. “Now! Ringlets!” his governess announced. “Oh yes!” Isabelle agreed, jumping up and down and making her own ringlets dance. Joe smiled awkwardly – somewhat less excited at the prospect but resigned to it.
Isabelle’s mother inspected their party dresses before leaving. She couldn’t help but smile at Joe’s clear embarrassment at being back in a frilly frock. As he stood beside Isabelle he realized that he was a few inches taller than her and that this explained why he revealed so many inches of lacy bloomer in her dresses. Then the thought occurred to him that the dress he was wearing was bought for him by her mother. So she must have deliberately bought him a dress that would keep him revealing embarrassing frills. He cringed as they walked towards the door.
“We shall have to pretend that Emily is your cousin”, her mother told her in the hallway, once again giving Joe a knowing look. “We couldn’t have people thinking that she is a mere maid.” “Oh yes mummy! Come along Cousin Emily”, she giggled excitedly as she rushed towards the door. Joe gathered his petticoats and followed trying to look as enthusiastic about appearing in front of New York’s finest in a pretty dress and petticoats.
As soon as he was out the door and saw the starving boys in rags on the street he once again realized that he should feel grateful to be well fed and clothed. He actually felt a little guilty about hating his dress as he settled his petticoats in the coach and retied the ribbon on his bonnet which had slipped loose.
On arrival at the party they were led towards the garden. As they stood on the raised terrace Joe saw little boys running around on the grass. These boys were dressed in their finest which included frilly collars and white stockings. Joe remembered seeing posh boys like that in Liverpool and how he and his friends teased them for being sissies.
The boys all looked up to the terrace at the new arrivals. Their eyes went immediately to Joe’s bloomers which from their low view point must have been extensive and he could see them smirk. It reminded him who was the real sissy here and he tried to discretely push his petticoats down. He would now give anything to be dressed like those boys. They may have had the odd frill but at least they were able to wear trousers.
Joe and Isabelle were told to sit either side of her mother. It became clear that their job was to sit demurely and look pretty. When anyone came over to address them Joe and Isabelle had to stand and curtsey and blush at the comments on their pretty dresses. Then Joe would have to sit again and rearrange his bulging petticoats suitably daintily.
He got bored with this after a while and asked permission to stroll in the garden. His aunt did not seem so pleased but granted permission and he curtsied gratefully. He tried to keep his petticoats down as he descended the steps to the garden. The boys watched him with unhealthy interest from below.
He tried to avoid them but one little blighter, who he assumed was probably the host’s son, wouldn’t leave him alone. “That’s a very pretty dress.” Joe could see that it wasn’ t the dress he was looking at but had to curtsey and say thank you. “And those are pretty ringlets.” Joe sighed, curtsied again and accepted the complement but tried to move away.
The boy reached up and yanked a bunch of Joe’s ringlets. “Ow!” Joe turned around and was about to punch the little blighter when he realized that would not be appropriate for a pretty girl in petticoats. The annoying little kid was laughing in his face. Joe could see his aunt looking over. “Aunt! He pulled my ringlets!” he protested in a spoiled little girl voice. She smirked. “Now don’t be a tittle-tattle. Boys will be boys.” She was clearly pleased with this subtle teasing of Joe in his cross-dressing predicament. Joe glared at her but decided that the best approach was to gather his petticoats, ascend the steps and return to looking pretty alongside Isabelle.
He was determined on revenge though and when cream cakes were distributed later he managed to bump into the little kid just as he was about to stuff one in his mouth and it ended up wedged on his nose. Joe tried not to laugh but curtsied and apologized. Isabelle on the other hand laughed heartily at the little brat’s creamy nose.
“That was deliberate”, the boy insisted. Despite Joe’s best innocent girly face he was hauled into a side room by his aunt and the boy was accompanied by his mother. It was clear that his aunt didn’t believe Joe’s innocence and insisted that he apologise. Joe cringed but curtsied to the little boy “My apologies.” “So you admit that it was deliberate!” the boy’s mother insisted. Joe couldn’t deny it now. “I think she deserves a good spanking.” Joe looked to his aunt but she clearly agreed.
“Go over to that table.” Joe minced across. “Now bend over.” He couldn’t believe this was happening. “Now pull up your petticoats.” Joe wanted to cry as he reached back and hauled up the weight of his five layers of petticoats. His aunt helped him to ensure that the petticoats were pulled up right up over his bottom.
He knew that they would all see now that the apricot hearts on his bloomers went all the way up the sides to a large lace-trimmed heart right on his bottom. He could hear the boy’s sniggers. “Where is the paddle?” the boy’s mother asked. “Upstairs”, he answered. “Well get a servant to fetch it.”
So Joe had to stay there bent over the table, his ringlets dangling upside down holding his petticoats up showing off the pretty heart on his bloomers while the paddle was fetched. As he received his six strokes, for the first time he was grateful for all the frills on his bottom as they somewhat cushioned the blows.
When he finally got to lower his petticoats and straighten his bonnet he was forced to thank the little brat. Joe wanted to cry but gathered his petticoats, curtsied and said “Thank you.”
On returning home Isabelle pleaded with her mother to allow Joe to continue to be her ‘cousin’. As the discussion continued Joe tried to figure out did he really want to wear these flouncy dresses every day? Did he really want his hair in ringlets that had to be carefully tied up every night and untied and refreshed every morning? He thought of his maid’s corset though and his frilly dress and petticoats didn’t seem so bad. “She can have that trunk of clothes mother. I don’t need so many.” Joe remembered all his pretty dresses and bloomers from the voyage over and imagined those being his only wardrobe again. He winced but couldn’t complain.
Once again her governess agreed with Isabelle that it would be good for her to have a friend. She smiled as she looked Joe up and down in his apricot dress. He cringed inwardly desperately wishing he could appear before her as a boy as things began to stir. He realized anyway that nothing was going to show beneath all those layers of petticoats.
Isabelle and Joe were sent to play with the doll’s house while her mother continued discussing it with her governess. Eventually they were called back into the drawing room. Isabelle’s mother was sitting at her writing desk, her governess standing beside her with a lovely smile on her face.
“It has been agreed”, her mother announced. “Miss Fairley will be governess to both of you for the next two years.” Isabelle jumped for joy. Joe’s jaw dropped open. Two years in these pretty dresses! His new governess smiled her sweet smile. His heart leaped. He loved being in her company but it meant spending every day in frilly dresses, petticoats and bloomers acting like a perfectly behaved girl with his typical boy’s response to her beauty hidden deep within those petticoats.
“Come along now”, she ordered them. “We may as well get started right away with your first dress making lesson. You’ll soon be able to make your own pretty dresses!” Isabelle and Joe gave deep curtsies.
“What do you say?” her mother interrupted. “Oh thank you mother!” Isabelle curtsied again excitedly. Her mother looked towards Joe expectantly. He clutched his petticoats and gave a deep curtsey. “Thank you aunt.” “Run along now”, she ordered.
Joe caught a glimpse of his apricot dress in the mirror as they left the room. He tried to steady his rocking petticoats to minimize the frilly bloomers as much as possible and saw his own face looking back through his lacey bonnet and ringlets. He tried to appreciate that he had once again been saved from starving on the streets as he flounced off to his first dressing making class of the next two years.
� Betty Pearl's Sissy Stories 20.1
Topic: Stowaway (Read 22126 times)
