The following is an excerpt from The Romance of Lust, an anonymously-authored pornographic flagellant novel dating from the 1870s. The narrator Charles, a boy of 15, has already spied upon and developed sexual feelings for his governess, Miss Evelyn – feelings which are only amplified when Miss Evelyn birches his sister Mary, two years his junior.
Some six weeks had now elapsed since the arrival of Miss Evelyn. The passion that had seized me for her had so far kept me most obedient to her slightest command, or even wish, and, from the same cause, attentive to my lessons, when not distracted by the circumstances already detailed. My example had also had the effect of keeping my sisters much in the same groove, but it was impossible this could last—it was not nature. As long as all went smoothly, Miss Evelyn seemed to be all amiability. We fancied we could do as we liked, and we grew more careless.