Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 15:56:21 +0000
From: Jeffrey Fletcher <jeffyrks@hotmail.com>
Subject: A meeting of the Twain Part 1

A Meeting of the Twain

Part One.   Fourteen years old.

Ah happy hills!  Ah pleasing shade!
Ah fields beloved in vain!
Where once my careless childhood stray'd,
A stranger yet to pain.

T. Gray  Ode on a Distant prospect of Eton College.

Lex would always remember his fourteenth birthday.  The present from his
father was a horse, his first horse.  He called her Artemis, after the
Greek goddess of hunting, about whom he had learnt at school.

On the evening of that fourteenth birthday he rode her across the fields.
She was already to him the most wonderful horse in the world.  The fact
that his father had given her to him meant that another mile stone on the
journey from childhood to adulthood had been passed.  He knew that having
such a horse meant that he could join the hunt.  Though he would have to
wait for some months before the hunting season began.

Another milestone in that journey had been passed at school a few months
before.  It had been one of the pleasurable experiences of school.  He had
started tossing himself off.  He never did it during that first year with
another boy at school, but he knew several who did things in bed together
during the dark hours of the night.  He slept alone in bed, his father
paying the small amount extra in fees for that privilege.

Strangely enough another pleasurable school experience had been learning
Greek.  His tutor at home had taught him some Latin, but now he had started
learning Greek, and he was good at it, and therefore enjoyed it.

The least pleasurable experience of school was being bullied.  The masters
at schools like his only saw their jobs as teaching the boys.  The
curiculum was mainly Latin and Greek, some English and a little
mathematics.  They did not see their job as acting in loco parentis.  As a
result the boys were almost bereft of adult supervision out of teaching
hours.  This meant the older boys, the bullies, the sadists, the depraved,
and the sexually predatory largely ruled the roost.  New boys, `new bugs'
as they were called, were also called upon to fag.  This meant acting as a
servant to a senior boy.  If that senior boy was vicious or depraved then
the younger boy just suffered.  Lex was fortunate that the older boy who
picked him as his fag was Hugh North, a distant cousin of the Prime
Minister, Lord North.  Hugh North saved Lex from some of the worst excesses
of physical violence and made no sexual approaches at all.

But thoughts of school were far from Lex's mind as he cantered across the
fields in the warm sunlight of that July evening of 1774.  He was full of
the joys of life.  Born into a privileged family, moderately wealthy, the
world was now opening up before him.

Lex was not his real name, but the name he was called by his friends.  God,
presumably knew him as `Alexander' as that was the name given to him when
he was baptised in the church of All Saints, Whitgest in the County of
Hertfordshire.  `Alexander' had proved too much of a mouthful for his
family, especially for his brothers, so it was abbreviated to Alec.  His
friends had abbreviated his name still further; to them he was Lex.  But at
school he was called Penbarton - his surname.  Though this too was often
shortened to Penny or Pen.

His father was Sir Edward Penbarton.  The third baronet of that name and
title.  He had an older sister who was seventeen years older than him.  He
did not see much of her as she was married and lived in Norfolk.  Then
there had been a son, called Charles, but he had died when he was just over
a year old, and well before the birth of Lex.  Then came his elder
surviving brother, Edward, ten years older than Lex.  Then another brother
Thomas, who was five years older.  Lex was the youngest of the family.

On that hot July evening in the summer of 1774 he cantered Artie across a
couple of fields, feeling the warmth of the declining sun, and a slight
breeze in his hair.  Lex at fourteen was nearly five feet tall, and
reckoned tall for his age.  He had fair flaxen hair, and bright blue eyes,
which possibly showed the Saxon roots of his family.  His body was in that
stage of transition, the boy was passing and the man still promised.  There
were muscles beginning to develop, and his voice was beginning to break.

He brought Artie to a stop, and sat listening and looking around.  The
village of Whitgest with its timber framed houses; though some of the more
modern ones were now being built of brick, lay in the valley of the small
stream, the Marran.  Lex's home, Whitgest Hall, stood on a hill above the
village.  Some three or four hundred yards up stream from the village stood
the mill.  The mill had been sited there since Norman times and was powered
by water.  The Marran had been diverted to provide a head of water to turn
the big wooden mill wheel.  Lex heard shouts and laughter coming from a
group of willow trees and bushes a hundred yards above the mill.  He
decided to investigate.

He brought Artie down closer to where the noise was coming from.  Through a
gap in the trees he saw a number of boys, certainly no more than ten,
playing in the water.  The water was deep enough for some to swim.  Some
were swinging out from the bank on a rope that had been fastened to one of
the branches of a willow tree, and when they were over the water letting
go, and falling down in the water.  This was the cause of much of the
noise.  All the boys were totally naked, but the sight of naked bodies was
nothing new to Lex. He slept in a dormitory at school where boys dressed
and undressed.  During the summer term just past they had swum naked in the
local river The wearing clothes of any sort for swimming were at least
fifty years into the future.

He watched for several minutes, slightly envious of the fun that the
village lads were having.  Eventually he turned Artie round, and with one
final look, made his way back to Whitgest Hall.

Lex was up early the next morning.  He made his way down to the stables to
see how Artie was.  As he entered the stable yard he met Ralph Tooley. He
was nearly five years older than Lex, a tall strong lad.  His father was in
charge of Sir Edward's stables, looking after the dozen or so horses there.
Ralph worked as a stable lad, and groom.  It was fully expected that in the
fullness of time Ralph would take over from his father.

"Morning, Master Lex.  You're up early!  Come to see that mare of your'n?"

"Yes, Ralph.  Isn't she a beauty?"

"You be looking forrard to `unting with her?"

"Can't wait, Ralph."

Lex and Ralph had an easy relationship.  Years before Ralph had spent time
teaching Lex to ride.  When their fathers were away there were times when
Ralph had played various games with the younger boy.

"Do you want to ride `er now, Master Lex."

"Not until after I've eaten."

"Shall I saddle `er up for you, Master Lex?"

"For God's sake drop the Master and just call me `Lex', you usually do.
Unless my brother Edward is around.  He disapproves of familiarity with the
servants."

Ralph made no comment.

"No.  I'll saddle her up when I'm ready.  I want to do it myself.  She's my
horse."

"Yes, Sir Lex."

They grinned at each other.

"And I'm not Sir Lex, - - yet.!"

"Did `e enjoy watching us in the water yester eve?"

"You saw me?  Were you there?"

"Yes, I were there.  Nothing better than getting into the old Marran after
a hot sticky day at work."

"It sounded as though you were all having fun, lot of shouts and laughter."

"Why don't `e join us then?"

"You won't tell Edward then?"

"Course not.  He rarely speaks to the likes of me, unless he `as to."

"I know.  He's different since he went up to Oxford and got involved with
those Methodists."

"Not like your father."

Lex's father, the third Sir Edward Penbarton, was then in his early
seventies, and so was reckoned to be an old man in those final decades of
the seventeenth century.  He had been a colourful character.  In his
earlier days, and these had gone on until he was in his early sixties, he
had more than just an eye for the young ladies.  In fact he was well known
for his activities.  Though it was never defined as such, he practised
droit du seigneur.  He seduced any reasonably attractive girl on his
estate.  As he owned almost the whole of the village of Whitgest, and
several surrounding hamlets, Lex had a number of half-brothers and sisters.
The third Sir Edward liked to make sure that the lass could bear children
before she went up the aisle on her wedding day!  There were occasions when
the bridegroom beat him to her.  Usually the father of the first child was
obvious, as the Penbarton genes were strong.  Sir Edward was always good to
his girls, giving them a generous wedding gift, and if the subsequent child
appeared to be his, he would always reduce the rent.  `I don't want my
bastards to go hungry' was his comment.  His wife, Lex's mother, had viewed
it all with a tolerant eye, because she knew at the end of the day Sir
Edward really loved her.  In many ways she was like Caroline of Ansbach,
the late Queen of George II, who liked to receive detailed descriptions
from her husband of his infidelities.

"Why don't `e come down and join us," said Ralph.

"I'll think about it."

"I don't think there'll be any larkin' about this evening, though."

"Why's that?"

"It's going to thunder I reckon, later today."

A maid came running into the yard.  "Your breakfast's ready, Sir."

"Must go, Ralph.  See you later."

Ralph's forecast proved correct and by the middle of the afternoon distant
rumbles of thunder were heard.  The storm broke at 5.00 and for three
quarters of an hour there thunder and lightening with heavy rain, and then
the storm rumbled its way northward, leaving Whitgest wet and much cooler.

The weather remained cooler for the next four days.  Ralph told Lex that
the village lads only went swimming in the Marran on very hot evenings.
Then, as so often happens with an English summer, the temperature began to
rise.

"Are you going to join us this evening, Lex?" asked Ralph.

"If I can."

It must have been early evening when Lex slipped away from the Hall, and
made his way to the place where the local village lads went for their
summer swim and splashing in the river.  The Marran is no mighty river, for
most of its length through the parish of Whitgest it is a shallow stream
not many feet wide, and barely two foot deep at its deepest.  But there
were was just this one place where the goyt [See footnote 1] leading to the
mill was wide and deep enough for a few strokes to be swum.

Ralph was already in the water.  "Come on.  Get your kit off, and come and
join us."

Lex pulled off his shirt and breeches, kicked off his shoes and waded into
the water.  It felt refreshingly cool.  He plunged in and swam the few
stokes that were required to take him across to the other side.

The other lads were for a little while slightly overawed by the presence of
the squire's youngest son.  This soon passed, especially when Lex swung out
on the rope and landed in the water with a great splash.  Some of the small
group of lads were considerably younger then Lex, others like Ralph were
four or five years older.  There were squeals and screams, as the boys
pushed and ducked each other.  Great fun was had by all.

Lex had not been there very among before he noticed two things.  First, he
noticed that a couple of the boys were rather like himself.  They had the
same fair hair, the same pale blue eyes, and a similar build to their
bodies.  In fact they were more like him than Edward and Thomas his
brothers back at the hall, who took more after their mother, the late Lady
Penbarton being darker and their eyes a different blue.  Lex knew about the
activities of his father's younger days, and he presumed that these two
lads were half brothers of his.  He noticed them eyeing him, and he looked
them over.  Perhaps there would be a chance to talk sometime.

The second thing that Lex noticed was that the number of lads present seem
to fluctuate.  Sometimes there seem to be as many as a dozen, then several
minutes later the number would almost be down by half.  Then the numbers
would increase again.  Then he noticed a couple of boys appear out of some
bushes, with blushing faces and broad grins on their faces.  A few minutes
later another couple went off into the bushes, to some jeers and shouts
from some of the older lads the water.  He wondered what was going on.

Eventually the shadows lengthened and the pool went into the shade. It all
felt a lot cooler.  As if an order had been given the lads stopped swinging
out on the rope, and splashing around in the water.  They climbed out onto
the bank, shook themselves to get rid of most of the water, and shivering
now with the cold, got dressed.  The boys went off towards the village,
with shouts of, "See you next time, Lex."  He made his solitary way back
towards the hall.  He looked in at the stable to say good night to Artie,
and then made his way quietly into the Hall, and the resumption of normal
family life.

"Where have you been, Alec?"  asked his father.

"Down by the mill dam, having a swim."

"You look like it, and smell like it," said Edward, his older brother.

"Enjoy yourself?" asked his father.

"Yes, Great fun."

"Good."

"I don't how you can allow Alec to mix with the village lads. Cavorting in
the river with nothing on."

"Nothing wrong with that, Edward," said their father.

The next day was cooler and cloudy.  In the morning Lex decided to go for a
ride on Artie.  He went out to the stable to saddle her up.  He rode her
for about an hour along some of the tracks and paths that criss-crossed the
countryside.  When he rode back into the stable yard, Ralph was busy
cleaning out the stables.  He came up and took hold of Artie's bridle.

"Have a good ride?"

"Yes.  She's a great horse."

"Did `e enjoy yester even in the river?"

"Great fun."

"Will `e come down again?"

"Oh yes.  It was fun.  I enjoyed it."

"Unless it warms up there'll be none this evening."

Lex looked up at the sky and there was no hint that it was going to get
warmer.  "Ralph, can you tell me why did couples of the lads disappear and
reappear from the bushes.  They can't have been going for a piss, not going
together.  Anyway why not do that in the river."

"Yea.  Most of us do it the river when we're there."

There was a short silence.  "But you've not answered my question."

Ralph blushed, and mover round closer to Lex, so that he could lower his
voice.  Lex was looking down at him.  "They go into the bushes for a bit of
fun."

"Fun?  What fun?"

Ralph looked down in embarrassment.  Then he looked up at Lex.  "Do you
toss yourself off, Lex?"

"Yes.  Been doing it for about a year?"

"Like it?"

"Of course, wouldn't do it otherwise."

"Ever done it with another lad doing it to you?"

"No, never."

"Well, if it's good by yourself it's ten times better when another lad does
it to you, and you do it to him."

"Some boys at school do things together at night."

"But you don't."

"No.  I am one of those who sleeps alone."

"I see."

"Do you go into the bushes, ever?"

"Sometimes."  Ralph grinned.

"You like it?"

"Of course.  Sometimes we go further."  This was almost whispered.

Lex lent down so that his head was closer to Ralph.  "What do you do?"

Ralph reached up and put a hand on Lex's knee.  "We suck each other off."

A look of surprise appeared on Lex's face.  "And that's good?"

"If being tossed off is ten times better, being sucked off is a thousand
times better."

Lex felt Ralph's thumb rub his thigh a couple of times.  He did not know
whether it was the conversation, or the presence of Ralph's hand, but he
felt a familiar movement and hardening in his crotch.  He moved slightly in
the saddle to give room for expansion and Ralph realised what was
happening.  His eyes were level with Lex crotch, and he could see the
swelling that was taking place.  He moved his hand an inch up Lex thigh and
again rubbed his thumb up and down a few times.

"How do the lads know who to go with into the bushes?"

"There's quite a lot that goes on under the water.  Pizzles are grabbed,
and briefly held.  One lad will wink or nod towards the bushes to a lad who
he has just fondled.  If the other lad wants to go with him, he nods and
they both go off into the bushes."

"No one touched my pizzle yesterday."

"Course, not.  They didn't know whether you'd want to have fun."

"Did you go off into the bushes yesterday?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You was there.  I wondered what you'd think, and I was keeping an eye on
you that you were all right there."

"Would you've gone into the bushes if I'd not been there?"

"I expect so."

"Sorry to spoil your fun."

All through this conversation Ralph's hand had moved slightly further up
Lex's thigh, and his prick had got harder.  Ralph too was hard, but Lex
could not see that as he sat on his horse.

"You've got a horn hard, Lex." [See footnote 2]

It was now Lex's turn to go red with embarrassment.

"What are you going to do about it?" asked Ralph.

"I can't toss myself off here, sitting on Artie.  I'll get off her, and
take her into her stable and take the saddle and harness off, rub her down.
That should make my pizzle go down."

"What a waste.  Nice hard pizzle, and just letting it go limp."

"Don't you ever go hard at an inconvenient moment?"

"I'm hard now, Lex."

For several moments they looked into each other's eyes.

Lex bent over so his face was very close to Ralph's.  "Do you want to toss
me off, Ralph Tooley?"

Ralph grinned broadly.  "Yes, I do, Master Alexander Penbarton."

"Well we can't do it here, too many people around.  And I don't think we
can do it now."

"Have to be later then?"

"'Fraid so."

"Any ideas?"

Lex thought for a moment.  "You know the linhay up in the top field?"

Ralph nodded.

"This evening, just after 7.00?"

"I'll be there."  Ralph gave Lex a lecherous smile, and went off to resume
cleaning out the stable.

In the evening Lex waited until he heard the grandfather clock strike
seven, and then made his way out of the hall and up towards the top field.
Ralph lived in a cottage not too far from the stables and he waited until
he heard the outdoor clock in the stable yard strike seven before he too
began to make his way up to the top field.

The linhay was a wooden structure, walled on three sides, but open to the
elements on the fourth.  It was used for storing hay, and sometimes for
giving shelter to cattle.  In the summer it was usually full of hay, and
the cattle were kept out.  Ralph arrived first, only a few minutes before
Lex.

They stood looking at each other with a sudden silent shyness.  Ralph
taller, more strongly built, now a young man.  He was dressed in the smock
and britches of a worker on the land.  Lex shorter, still with the fading
marks of boyhood, but with developing muscles in his arms and legs.  He was
dressed in a shirt and britches.  Both knew exactly why they had met in
that remote field, but neither was sure how to start.

Ralph made the first move.  He took a step forward and put one hand at the
base of Lex's neck, and moved them both closer together: with his other
hand he reached out and felt for Lex's prick still inside the fastness of
his britches.

This had an immediate effect on Lex.  He felt his prick begin to harden, a
familiar feeling, but never before at the touch of another. He moved closer
to Ralph and instinctively put his arms round him to give him a hug.  Ralph
bent his head and placed a gentle kiss on Lex's forehead.  Lex looked up
quickly into the eyes of Ralph in surprise.  He smiled, and gave the older
lad a kiss.

"Well, Master Lex.  You all right?"

"Well, Ralph Tooley.  That was good."

Ralph reached down and caught hold of Lex's hand and placed on his own
prick.

"That's a big one?"

"Yours will be as big when you're my age."

"Think so?"

"Sure so.  Your'n a good size already."

Ralph began to work his hand through Lex's britches so that his hand could
hold the prick within.  Ralph's hand was rough and callused by his daily
work, but his touch was gentle.

"That's good, Ralph.  Never felt anything as good as that before."

"There's much better still to come."

They kissed again.

Lex lifted the hem of Ralph's smock, and worked his hand into the breeches,
so that he could touch and hold, what seemed to him, a huge, hot and hard
prick.  He felt a hot liquid lubricating his fingers.  "You ooze like me."

"All men do, before they shoot their spunk.  Don't know why.  We just do.
It tastes good too."

Lex moved in surprise, and look up at Ralph.

"If you suck a lad's cock you taste it all.  I bet your'n tastes good.  My
mouth is watering at the thought.  And your prick's dribbling too," added
Ralph with a slight laugh.

"Shall us take these clothes off?"

Lex just nodded.

Ralph undid the buttons on Lex's shirt, and removed it.  Dropping it on to
the hay that was being stored in the linhay.  He then undid the britches,
and lowered them.  He knelt in front of Lex gazing at his prick.

"Is it all right?" asked Lex, with a slight note of anxiety in his voice.

Ralph looked up.  "Sometimes when I sit down to a good meal, a special
meal, I look at it for a moment, enjoying it with my eyes, before tucking
in to eat it.  I'm just looking at your lovely prick first."  He lent
forward and licked the glittering drop that was hanging from the tip.

Lex shivered slightly at this new sensation.

"Your'n tastes good.  I'll want a lot of that."  Ralph placed the whole of
Lex's prick in his mouth, and swirled his tongue over it.

Lex found the feelings in his prick, and all over his body, almost too
intense to bear.  "Careful, Ralph, I don't want to make spunk too soon."

Ralph again looked up from his sucking.

"Stand up and let me take your clothes off you."

Ralph stood, and Lex eased the smock over his head, and undid the britches.
When he lowered them to the ground, he stood looking down at Ralph's prick.
He had seen it first a few days before Ralph had been in the cold waters of
the Marran.  Then it had been both limp, and shrivelled to its smallest.
Now it stood out proud and boldly in all its glory.  The tip shining in the
light from the moisture of the exposed head.  Lex had never seen an adult
male prick so closely before.  He looked in silence, almost in awe.

"It's so big."  He reached out and held it in his hand.  He felt the
bollocks hanging below.  They seemed so full and heavy.  Then he knelt and,
after a moment's hesitation, did to Ralph what had been done to him.

"That's good for a first time.  You know's to keep your teeth out o' the
way."  After a while Ralph pushed Lex's face away.  "Not too quickly.  If
we lie down on this hay we can do it to each other at the same time."  He
fell into the hay, pulling Lex on top of him.  He held Lex in his arms.
Who'd `ave thought I'd have the squire's son with nothing on in my arms,
and `ave sucked `is pizzle."

"We Penbartons like doing things with our pizzles.  My father certainly has
done a lot of it, though not to my knowledge with a man or lad."

"So you know about your Dad?"

"Of course.  It's no secret.  My elder brother disapproves completely."

Ralph laughed.  "He don't seem to find much fun in life, do `e?"

"Last night in the river, were there a couple of my half brothers there?"

Ralph thought for a moment.  "Yes, Why?"

"Do they go into the bushes?"

"The older one, Billy Blackstone does.  Likes it a lot.  He's great fun.
Got a thick prick. Georgie who's the younger one won't.  Touch him and
he'll tell you to get lost."

"Some like it, and some don't." mused Lex almost to himself.

"Not all those at the river will go into the bushes.  Some like to, but
there are a few who won't.  But I want to suck your prick again.  I want to
taste your spunk."

"Really?"

"You don't have to take mine in your mouth if you don't want to.  I'll tell
you when its coming and you can pull your mouth away, though you may get a
face full," laughed Ralph.

The adjusted their positions so that they lay side by side and able to suck
each other's prick.  Lex felt Ralph's hand stroking his bum, and a finger
rubbed across his arsehole.  This produced a fresh feeling of pleasure.  He
groaned, so Ralph continued doing it the more, and slowly adding more
pressure, so his finger began to make an entrance.  Ralph had barely got to
the first knuckle of his first finger when he felt Lex's body stiffen, and
the prick in his mouth pulsed shooting a load of spunk into his mouth.  He
was so busy taking it all, that he was not able to warn Lex that he was
about to deliver a similar load in a similar place.

For Lex the load was an unexpected delivery.  He immediately realised what
was happening, and took it all.  He swallowed, and then licked Ralph's
prick.

"I liked that, Master Lex."

"And so did I, Ralph Tooley."

Ralph repositioned himself so they were lying face to face and able to kiss
and talk.

"Well, Lex?  How was that for your first time?"

A broad grin spread across the younger lad's face.  "Hope it was not the
last, because I am already looking forward to doing it again."

"I see a great future in front of you. I think you'll suck many pizzles,
and in turn get sucked off many times."

Lex laughed.

They stood up, and put their clothes back on.  By this time the sun had
just set, and dusk was spreading across the countryside.  They stood side
by side looking out of the linhay, not wanting to go off in their different
directions.

"Tomorrow, Ralph."

He looked at the sky before answering.  "I don't think it'll be warm enough
for the river.  So same time tomorrow."  He pulled Lex to himself, and they
gave each other a long hug.  Then they parted Ralph full of thoughts of
amazement at what he had just done with the squire's son; and Lex full of
anticipation for the morrow.

***

The next evening at seven o'clock they met at the same place. This time
there was no initial hesitancy.  They stood hugging while their hand
explored each other's body.  Then, with no words spoken they undressed each
other, and when fully naked lay down on the sweet smelling hay.  Their love
making was longer and the sun had come out late in the evening and had set
in a blaze red glory, and it was getting dark when they finally pulled
apart, and dressed themselves.

"Tomorrow is the fifteen of July," said Lex.

"So what?"

"You know the old rhyme, `St Swithin's Day, if it does rain Full forty
days, it will remain, St Swithin's Day, if it be fair, For forty days,
t'will rain nae muir'."

"'And red sky at night shepherd's delight; Red sky in the morning shepherds
warning,' responded Ralph.  "So we may be getting some swimming in."

"Maybe I'll get started on sucking some of those countless pricks you
promised me!"

Ralph laughed.  "Yea, and getting your'n sucked too."

They gave each other a hug and went their separate ways.

***

St Swithin's Day was fair, there was no rain at all, and for once the old
rhyme was proved correct.  There was almost no rain for the until the end
of August, and very little in the early part of September.  The corn
ripened early, and so the harvest was safely gathered in.

In the afternoon of St Swithin's Day Lex and Ralph met in the stables as
Alex went to saddle up Artie, and go for a ride.

"There'll be swimming tonight, master Lex."

"Will you take me into the bushes?"

"Sure will.  I'm thirsty for some more o'your spunk."  Ralph winked at Lex
and went off whistling to carry on with his work.

There were about half a dozen of the village boys swimming and larking
about in the water when Lex arrived.  He soon stripped off is clothes,
grabbed the rope, swung out over the water, and fell in with a splash.  He
emerged laughing and spluttering, only to be swamped by another lad landing
in the water beside him.  They both laughed, and scrambled up the bank to
do it again.

A few minutes later Ralph arrived and he joined in the fun.  There must
have been a dozen boys there that evening.  Billy, Lex's half brother
arrived later, but was only in the water a few minutes before he
disappeared into the bushes with one of the younger lads.

"Our Billy never misses a chance for some action in the bushes," whispered
Ralph in Lex's ear.

They emerged from the bushes some fifteen minutes later, and started
joining in the larking about in the water.  Soon Ralph sidled across to
Lex, "Want some fun now?"

Lex nodded.

"Follow me then."  Ralph led the way up the bank into the bushes.

Lex felt himself go red, as all in the river would know why the two of them
were going off into the bushes.  Just before they disappeared Lex turned
and saw that every pair of eyes was on the to of them.  He wondered how
soon there would be consequences.

The bushes by the river were not as good as the linhay up in the top field.
There was no soft sweet-smelling hay on which to lie.  The earth was damp;
there was even the odd stinging nettle that seemed to reach out to touch
the vulnerable less often exposed parts of their anatomies.

Ralph quickly knelt in from of Lex.  "I want another taste of that spunk of
your'n."  He placed Lex soft cold wet prick in his mouth.  The warmth, and
the movement soon brought Lex's prick to life.  It quickly hardened.

Again Ralph's hand and fingers reached round between Lex's buttocks.  All
too soon he was groaning, and shooting a good load into Ralph's mouth.

Ralph sucked him dry, and then looked up at Lex with a broad grin on his
face.

"I think you like doing that, Ralph Tooley."

"Your spunk has the best taste in Whitgest."

"Better than my brother Edward's?"

"You ain't sucked him, `ave you?"

Lex laughed.  "No way!  I doubt whether he knows what to do with it, beyond
peeing into a chamber pot."

Ralph laughed.  He stood up, and it was now Lex's turn to kneel and suck.
It took only a few minutes to bring Ralph to a climax.  All too soon they
were making their way back through the bushes to join the rest.

Lex thought the consequences would start the next evening.  He was wrong
they were to start before then.

***

The next day was a Saturday.  It was the day for the annual cricket match
between Whitgest and the neighbouring village of Bunting.  Now cricket in
the last half of the eighteenth century was not as we know it today.  There
was no Marylebone Cricket Club setting the rules of the game for the rest
of the world.  It was to be nearly another fifty years before Mr Lord
obtained the playing field to which he gave his name as the most famous
cricket ground in the world, Lord's.  In 1774 each locality had its own
rules.  Even when two neighbouring villages played against each other it
was necessary for some of the fundamental rules to be discussed and settled
between the two teams.

This cricket match was a great social occasion.

Sir Edward Penbarton was always present.  Ralph's job that morning had been
seeing to the transportation of chairs from the Hall to the cricket ground
so Sir Edward, his family and guests could sit in comfort and watch the
match.  Among the guests would be William Kitstone of Bunting Manor.  Sir
Edward hoped that Mr Kitstone would bring his only daughter Georgina.  The
two men were planning for Georgina to marry Sir Edward's eldest son.  Sir
Edward was pushing hard for this, as Georgina was an only child, as this
was a way of adding the Bunting estate to that of the Penbartons of
Whitgest.

Lex's older brothers considered it beneath them to turn out for the village
cricket team.  It could be a fairly rough game, as bats and a hard ball,
were used, and there was no such thing as shin guards or helmets such as
players in the twenty-first century wear.  The brothers Edward and Thomas
sat on the ground to watch the game.  There was a table laden with food and
wine near where the party from the hall were seated.

Sir Edward as was his custom had given a barrel of beer to be drunk by the
players.  He had also followed his custom of giving further beer and an ox
for roasting for the celebrations in the evening.  Young Edward disapproved
of this largess, as the after-match festivities were always rowdy, and
often violent and licentious.

Lex did not wish to remain sitting around with the party from the hall.  He
continued to watch the match, but wandered off round the ground.  He
watched Ralph go into bat, but after a few minutes he was clean bowled.

It is not part of this story to go into details of the particular game that
was played between Whitgest and Bunting on that sunny summer day in 1774.

Lex had wandered about half way round the ground when he was conscious of
someone coming up and standing just behind him.  He turned, it was Billy,
his half brother.

"Do you enjoy the swimming, Master Lex?" asked Billy with a grin.

"Yes, I do.  But why don't you just call me Lex, most people do."

Billy thought for a moment.  "Don't seem quite right, you the squire's
son."

"I want you to call me Lex.  Drop that `master' nonsense."

Billy nodded.  He stood shuffling from foot to foot, as though he was
wanting to say something, and not sure how to say it.  Eventually he spoke
again.  "Er Lex, would you like to come into the bushes?"

"I though I'd have to wait until I was next down in the river swimming.
Yes.  Where?  Have you anywhere in mind?"

"Everybody's watching the cricket.  I know somewhere, not too far."  Billy
led the way, through a gate into another field, and then along to a corner
of the field.  In this corner there were a couple of tall trees and the
hedge was thick and rather overgrown.  Billy pushed his way in to where
there was an open space.  "This do?"

Lex nodded.

Billy lost no time in getting down to things.  He pulled Lex close to him
and planted a smacking kiss on his mouth, and with his other hand felt at
Lex's crotch.  "What do you like doing then?  Just touching, tossing off?
Sucking, fucking?  What do you get up to with that lucky bugger Ralph?"

Lex quickly returned the kisses, and felt for Billy's prick.  It was
already fairly hard.  "Haven't done any fucking yet."

"How long `ave you been having fun with Ralph?"

"Just a few days, less than a week."

Billy's eyes opened wide. "That all?  `Ave you done it with any other lads,
-- at school?"

"No.  You're number two."

Billy grinned.  "I bet you get up to a big number before you're done!"

"That's what Ralph says."

While this conversation was going on they were feeling each other's ramrod
hard pricks.

"Let's get these clothes off.  I want'a see you."

They stripped off, watching each other closely all the time.

"Our pizzles are almost the same, mine is just a bit bigger."

"I'm not surprised they're the same.  After all we are half brothers.  I
expect our Dad's pizzle is the same as ours, if it hasn't got worn away,"
said Lex with a laugh.

"You know then?"

"Course I know.  We like two peas from a pod.  Seeing you is almost like
seeing my own body in a mirror."

"You don't mind then?"

"No.  Do you?"

"No.  We can play together whether we're half brothers or not.  Don't make
no difference for that."  Billy knelt on the ground and took Lex's fully
erect prick into his mouth.

Lex immediately knew he was in the mouth of an expert.  Lips and tongue
were used with great skill.

Lex pushed Billy's head away.  "Steady on, Billy. I don't want to shoot
that quickly.  Let me give you a suck."

They reversed positions, and Lex tried to apply the techniques that Billy
had used.

"You're good, Lex.  You're good."  Billy was more skilled in holding
himself back, so Lex was able to give him a long a satisfying suck.

Then they lay on the ground.  They enjoyed being close.  This went on for
some considerable time, punctuated by distant shouts from the game of
cricket in the neighbouring field.

"Lex, I'd like you to fuck me."  There was a note of hesitancy in Billy's
voice, as he was uncertain if Lex would be prepared to go that far.

Lex looked at Billy.  "You know I've never done it before.  You'll have to
help me."

"I didn't bring any butter to get us both slip'ry; so we'll `ave to use
spit. Can you get a lot of spit on your fingers. `cause I want your fingers
to get my arsehole nice and wet and open."

Both boys spat on Lex's finger and Billy positioned himself kneeling down
on all fours.

"We'll do it like the dogs and beasts do."

"Get you fingers up my arsehole."

Lex hesitated, not to sure about what Billy was asking him to do.

"Go on.  Get me nice and wet and open, and your pizzle'll slip in as though
it were specially made for it."  Still Lex hesitated.  "Go on; get on with
it."

Lex reached out and touched Billy's arsehole.  He pushed, and his slipped
in easily.

"Try getting a second finger in.  Push them in and out.  It is beginning to
feel good."

Lex did as he was told.

"Now try working the sides of your fingers round the sides of my hole.  So
I open up a bit.

"Now get that pizzle of your'n nice and wet, and it'll slip in."

Lex applied a good load of spit to his prick, and positioned himself.  The
first two of three attempts were not successful, his prick slipped either
up or down, but not in.  Then he held it firmly on the target and pushed.
For a moment nothing happened, and then it slipped in.

"That feels great," said Billy, "but hold it there.  Don't go to fast or
you'll shoot your spunk into me, and I want to enjoy this.  We've got
plenty of time."

Lex ran his hands over Billy's naked back.  Then he reached round to play
with his nipples.  There were noises of pleasure from Billy.  Then slowly
Lex pulled his prick back until it was almost out, then equally slowly he
pressed it back in.

"And you ain't done this before?"

"No.  This is my first time."

"You're good at it.  Feels though you've been doing this to loads of lads
for years."

Lex giggled, and increased his pace.  Both of them enjoyed it, and when Lex
shot his spunk deep into Billy, it triggered the same emitting response.

They pulled apart and lay side by side, just looking at each other.

"Can I do the same to you, Lex?"

Lex looked doubtful.

"I'll be gentle with you.  I'll stop if you want me to."

Lex thought for a moment.  "Yes.  If you're careful.  I never had anything
stuck up me bum."

"Now's the first time."

Their roles were reversed.  Billy was very gentle and took a long time and
used a lot of spit in preparing Lex, but eventually the older boy's prick
was pressed against Lex's virgin arsehole.  He had prepared the younger boy
well.  His prick slid in.  Lex tightened a couple of times before the full
length was stuck into him.  As he relaxed he enjoyed more and more what was
happening to him.  Billy knew how to take it slowly, but soon his spunk was
deposited in a series of copious shots deep into the bowels of Lex.

Again they took their time relaxing.

"Thanks, Billy.  Can we do it again sometime?"

Billy grinned with pleasure.  "Any time, Master Lex, I enjoyed fucking, and
being fucked by the Squire's son."

"One of these days, when I have won my fortune, I shall reward you properly
for today, Billy Blackstone."

"Your prick up my bum again and again will be reward enough," laughed
Billy.

Reluctantly they started putting their clothes back on.  When they got back
to the cricket match it was to find it in its closing stages, and Whitgest
had won.  There would be great celebrations that evening, and more sexual
escapades for Billy, but not for Lex.

***

When Lex eventually arrived back at Whitgest Hall it was to find his father
sitting comfortably, with his two elder sons.

"Now young Alec, I won't enquire where you've been all the afternoon, or
what you've been up to.  I noticed you didn't see much of the cricket
match."

"No good, I'll be bound," muttered brother Edward.

"Now, You're all here, let me remind you we are all going over to Bunting
next Friday.  We dine with the Kitstones."

Sir Edward was in a good mood, his plans for his eldest son to marry
Georgina Kitstone had moved several steps closer to fulfilment.  It was
little more than formalities that needed to be dealt with.

"Do I have to go, Pater?" protested Lex.

"Yes, Alec, you do have to.  It is important that even you make a good
impression of your future sister-in-law and her family."

"Are you look forward to entering the state of matrimony, Edward?"  asked
Thomas, the middle son, looking up from his book.

"I believe that God's is calling me to that holy estate.  Ever since
Georgina heard Mr Wesley in Hitchin she has been viewing her life with the
seriousness it deserves."

"Good Lord!  I don't know how I managed to father a son like you.  Still
you may change when you've experienced the pleasure of having a good fuck."
Sir Edward burst out laughing, and gave Lex a wink.

Edward gave his father a look of marked disgust.

Sir Edward found his elder son's religiosity hard to bear.  He was
certainly no chip off the old block.  But neither was Thomas, he was
serious in another way.  He always had his head in a book.  Old Sir Edward
sensed that in his youngest son there was more of a kindred spirit, a
readiness to enjoy life to the full, in whatever way pleased him.

The first Sir Edward Penbarton had been a page boy to King Charles II.  The
King had been dancing attendance on his latest mistress, with the young
Edward Penbarton in attendance waiting in an outer room.  Barbara Villiers,
the formidable Duchess of Cleveland, who was the most powerful of all the
King's mistresses, was heard approaching, and young Edward knew that if she
discovered the King with his latest love, then the fur would fly.  Edward
slipped into the latest mistress's bedroom, and before the King could
protest at such an insolent and unforgivable intrusion, announced that the
Duchess of Cleveland was approaching.  The King grabbed his clothes and hid
behind an arras, while Edward with great presence of mind, stripped himself
naked and buried himself under the bed clothes alongside the mistress.
Barbara Villiers stormed into the room, shouting, "He's here, I know!"  She
strode up to the bed and pulled off the covers believing that there the
King was hiding.  But instead of discovering the King under the bedclothes,
there was the naked body of the fifteen year old page boy.  The mistress
screamed, which brought the guards running.  Edward tried to hide his
genitals from the Villiers' scrutiny.  "I prefer real men to school boys,"
said Barbara Villiers, and stormed back out of the room.

When the King came out of the closet they all had a good laugh.  "Edward
you showed great presence of mind.  I'll not forget your quick thinking."

Edward continued for several years to work in royal service.  Often he was
in attendance on the King. When he was 22 Edward met Mary Burke, the only
daughter of William Burke, an extremely wealthy London merchant.  William
was often at court, as the King discovered he could frequently be touched
for a loan.  Charles II was always in need to some ready cash.  William
Burke brought his much loved daughter to court.  She was not a great
beauty, but had an attractive personality.  Edward fell in love with her at
first sight, and she with him.  But Edward had neither rank or wealth that
might lead to William Burke consenting to their marriage.

"You are not your usual self, Ed," said King Charles one day.

"I know, your majesty."

"You in love?"

"Yes, Sir."

"With whom?"

"Mary Burke, the daughter of William Burke."

"She love you?

"Yes, Sir."

"But you have no money, and no rank?"

"Yes, Sir.  That's it exactly."

The King looked thoughtful.  "The course of true love never runs smoothly."

Three days later Edward was in attendance on the King on a more formal
occasion; also present was William Burke, but not his daughter.  The King
was sitting on his throne, watching proceedings, and listening to those who
had come wanting to catch his ear.  The King stood, and everyone fell
silent.

"Bring me a sword."  A sword was handed to the King.  The King looked round
for Edward.  "Edward come and kneel before me."

Edward totally unprepared came and knelt before the King.  Charles lightly
tapped Edward's shoulders with the sword.  "Arise, Sir Edward."  Edward got
to his feet.  The King handed him a package, and whispered in his ear,
"This is for you, for your quick thinking in saving me from the wrath of a
certain woman."  Inside were the title deeds to an estate in the parish of
Whitgest in the county of Hertfordshire.

The King had promptly gone over to talk with William Burke, with the
statement that he hoped that the merchant would allow his daughter to marry
Sir Edward Penbarton, and if he did there would be a knighthood in it for
him.

So it worked out Sir Edward Penbarton married his Mary Burke in the
presence of the King.  William Burke was knighted, but unlike Sir Edward's
it was an ordinary knighthood, not a baronetcy, which was a hereditary
title.

Whitgest Hall was in a dilapidated state, but Sir William paid for
extensive renovations, alterations and extensions to make it so that his
daughter could continue live in the manner to which she was accustomed.
The young Sir Edward Penbarton proved to have a good financial brain.  He
co-operated well with his father-in-law in making money.  In those days
there was not the despising of those engaged in `trade'; that was to come
later in the next century.  He purchased more land near Whitgest.  When his
father-in-law died he inherited all the merchant's wealth.

Sir Edward and Lady Mary Penbarton had several children, including the
necessary son for the title to be passed on.  The second Sir Edward was
born in 1676 and died in 1730.  He left a son another Edward born in 1705,
this third Sir Edward Penbarton was Lex's father.  His mind was not totally
taken up with his seductions and illegitimate offspring.  It was his long
term plan that had negotiated the betrothal of his eldest son to the
heiress of the Bunting estate.  So were the fortunes of the Penbarton
family enlarged.

The visit to Bunting plays no real significant part in this story, so no
details need to be given.  It was agreed that Lex's brother would marry
Caroline Kitstone the following summer.  Caroline was no beauty, and after
her hearing of Mr Wesley had become a prim and proper maid.  She may have
held little or no physical attraction for old Sir Edward, but she was the
heiress to an adjacent estate, and as long as she could conceive and bear
children all would be well.

Old Sir Edward had plans for his other two sons.  The family tradition of
that time was to be followed.  The elder son inherits, the second son goes
into the army, and the third son into the church.  As he was patron of the
living of Whitgest it was expected that in due time Lex would end up Rector
of the parish.  With three sons old Sir Edward felt confident that a male
heir would come somewhere along the line.  But as Robbie Burns was writing
somewhere about this time, "The best laid schemes o'mice an' men Gang aft
a-gley."

***

Footnote:-

1.  Goyt.  When a part of a stream or river is diverted to a mill, this can
be called a goyt.  This is a Yorkshire word, as far as I know, and I
apologise for introducing it in a southern context; but I only recently
came across the word, and wanted to use it.

2.  The meaning is obvious; but what is of interest is that the first use
of the word `horny' in a sexual sense was not until about a century later.
Surprising!