His fathers taxicab slowly disappeared out of the school gates on its way to Southapmpton where his ship would set sail for Indai the next day. He had left the 10 year old in my care. Philip and Peter waved politely goodbye to Captain Sayers. Neother of them saw me watching them carefully from my upstairs bedroom window.
That evening during prep I would personally supervise Philip's wardrobe, removing any unsuitable attire and replace all his new underpants with the used but well laundered white underpants which had been worn by Peter until he had outgrown them. The underpants were so well-washed that the colour of the new boys bottom would be clearly visible through the thin material. I had often been surprised during the previous year that the force of my thinnest and most pliant cane applied upon Peters bottom had not caused the thin cotton to rip apart but it had not and so the underpants, though worn and quite tightly fitting would be quite satisfactory for thisd new boy. The same principle applied to the grey unlined long trousers whose seat had worn shiny and thin from a combination of whackings and fidgetting on the wooden school chair.
Peter had been required to show Philip the ropes on day one. No detail would be left undone of that I was confident. I had reminded young Peter of the consequences of inattention during a session in my study the previous evening. His yelps and squeals as stick met buttock had been interspersed with promises that he would remenber all the details and instructions about my routine which he was responsible for telling Philip.
So it was that on that warm summer's evening ther came a polite knock at my study door. ''Come'' I called and in he walked. My new young charge, looking fresh and clean from his bath and dressed in his blue cotton pjamas and slippers. He glanced at the thin junior cane which was the only item lying on my desk.
He stood to attention with his hands behind his back. It amused me to see the way the hands were resting on the pert young bottom sticking provocatively out from his thin waist. This would shortly be the focus of my attention and I decided that I would conclude the evening with a hand spanking. But first there was the not minor matter of the house rules. I knew that Peter would be in his dorm hoping that Philip would be able to recite the rules without muddle..