This is another one that came from a hastily brainstormed premise, one that turned into one of my favorite stories in this collection. I love how Leigh reveals herself and the tender way Ulysses treats her.
Of course, I also had to go down some rabbit holes on secret societies. The remark about frigging into collection plates came straight from one of the rumoured initiation rituals.
I reference in passing, but didn’t fully spotlight the pamphlet with the delightfully lengthy title of Onania: Or, the Heinous Sin of Self-pollution, and All Its Frightful Consequences, in Both Sexes, Considered, with Spiritual and Physical Advice to Those who Have Already Injur’d Themselves by this Abominable Practice. To which is Subjoin’d, A Letter from a Lady to the Author, (very Curious) Concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage-Bed, with the Author’s Answer.
When you get to Love Letters with a Governess, you’ll see that I lifted this style of having an alternate title with an excess of meta data. The more things change, the more they stay the same.