Connie's Dream Home

by Arthur Saxon
meganeura@hotmail.com

Connie Strauss (nee Travers) could not have been happier. She smiled happily as the breath-taking Swiss countryside rolled by, and turned to look at her new husband, Jack, who was whistling cheerfully as he drove them up into the Alpine foothills towards what was to be their marital home.

This was a dream come true for Connie. Stuck in a dead-end P.R. job of mind-numbing tedium in Leeds, England, she had longed to leave her desk, find the man of her dreams, and live in a beautiful house away from the city in some exotic location. Well, she had done it. She had met corporate mogul Jack Strauss on a business conference in London, and it had practically been love at first meeting for both of them. After chatting the night away in a bar, they had arranged to see more of each other and it was only two months later when Jack proposed. Knowing of her dreams of a remote country home, he had bought a derelict farmhouse near Lucerne in Switzerland (he had been raised in that region and knew it well), and Connie was very much looking forward to renovating it.

Finally, in May 2001, Connie had quit her job and they had tied the knot in London in a quiet ceremony (at Connie's request) which was followed by a lavish reception (at Jack's mother's insistence). They had spent a blissful honeymoon in the Seychelles, and now, as they drove towards what she imagined to be the home of her dreams, Connie considered herself the luckiest woman alive. She sighed happily.

"Penny for your thoughts?" said Jack.

"I was just thinking how lucky I am," she said with another smile.

"I'm the lucky one," Jack replied. "I've finally found a beautiful woman who is charming and funny, who isn't interested in the trappings of wealth and social position, who loves the solitude and quiet of the countryside, as I do, and, most importantly, who loves me." He smiled.

"I do," Connie confirmed. "I love you very much. I never thought I'd meet someone so high up on the corporate ladder who cared so much about the little things in life. Sometimes I wonder how you became so successful - you're far too nice!"

Jack chuckled. "Well you can't go far wrong with a rich father, but thank you. Ah, look, there it is." He pointed up ahead to where an enormous (to Connie's mind) wooden chalet-style house nestled into the hillside, resting on massive stone foundations that rose ten feet above ground-level at the front. A long wooden flight of steps rose from the end of a path that led through a delightful garden filled with a dazzling variety of Alpine flowers. It looked perfect.

"That's quite a long haul up to the front door!" she observed cheerfully. "I hope it won't be too bad in the winter."

"There are other doors on the side of the house and at the back," said Jack, "that open straight on to the ground. We'll have people to clear the front steps, but if the worst comes to the worst you can take a safer route outside."

He pulled the car into the driveway and parked it in front of the house. Connie got out and ran up the steps to the front door. Impatient to see inside, she peered through a window while Jack made his more leisurely way up the steps behind her, chuckling at her obvious excitement. He unlocked the front door, then gallantly picked her up and carried her across the threshold.

Inside it was beautiful. Furnished with wooden beams and panels, with a broad staircase right in the middle of a spacious reception area, it was all she could have hoped for. To the left doors led off to further reception rooms and to the right Connie spied, through a partially-open door, a huge dining table.

"Twenty-seven rooms in total," said Jack, putting her down and closing the door behind him. "Eleven downstairs, sixteen upstairs. Enough to get your teeth into?"

"Perfect," replied Connie with a grin. "I have plans for them all."

And she did. She knew that she would be alone a lot in this house, and without a job she would be able to devote all her energies to imposing her vision on it, turning it into her dream home. She and Jack had discussed children, and decided on three, but they would wait a couple of years before they embarked on that journey. In the meantime Connie would create something unique and inspirational, indulging her passion for interior decorating that she had been unable to properly satisfy during her years of office drudgery. She was twenty-six now, but felt older, and she hoped that the mountain air and ability to follow her dream would rejuvenate her.

"It's surprisingly warm here," she remarked. "How high up are we?"

"Not as high as you might think," said Jack. "About four and a half thousand feet."

"Is that all?" asked Connie, disappointed. "We climbed a fair way - I thought we'd have been higher."

"The base of the valley's only fourteen hundred feet above sea level," said Jack with a shrug. "Anyway, have a look around. I'll fetch the bags in."

Connie climbed the stairs and found the upper floor much to her liking. The master bedroom contained a beautiful four-poster bed hung with gauzy drapes; its walls were wood-panelled and a deep carpet covered the floor. The en-suite bathroom was as big as Connie's living room had been in her flat in Leeds.

"Perfect," she said to herself, and sighed again. She felt as if she were in a delightful dream, but did not dare to pinch herself for fear she would wake up.

A large wardrobe stood against one wall, and she walked over to it. Opening it, she was startled to see that it contained only summer dresses. Moreover, all of these garments were, she judged, extremely short. Her brow furrowed in a frown. At the moment she was wearing a minidress at Jack's request - he liked to see her legs on display. But was she to wear nothing else but short dresses? Where were her own clothes?

The other wardrobe in the room contained Jack's clothes. There were also a couple of chests of drawers; presumably one for each of them. Connie opened one drawer and was startled to find it full of thongs. Another drawer contained bras - a mixture of her own and some others that she did not recognise.

At that moment Jack entered the room, carrying a couple of suitcases. He smiled at her.

Connie smiled back half-heartedly. "Jack..." she said.

Jack's eyebrow popped up. "Yes?" he inquired. "Something wrong?"

"No ... not exactly." Connie paused for a moment, wondering how best to phrase her question. "Um, my wardrobe seems a little ... limited in variety."

Jack flashed his best charming grin at her. "Well, you said you were happy to wear minidresses and thongs for me," he said, "so there you go."

"Well yes, but ... am I to wear nothing else, ever?"

"Oh, don't worry," said Jack. "When the winter comes, we'll get you some warm clothes. But in the summer I'd really like it if you could wear only minidresses like those. Is that okay?"

Connie was perplexed. She was really not an exhibitionist, not a miniskirt-wearing kind of girl, so the thought of wearing nothing else until the weather turned cold was rather scary. And why the hell could she not wear whatever she wanted to wear? On the other hand, she thought to herself, she really did want to make Jack happy, and was this really such a big deal? She would be alone in or around the house for most of the time, and if she ventured out it would mostly be to go for walks on the mountainside where people would be scarce. The towns in the valley below scared her - too many people, and she did not speak French or German. Her minidresses would not be seen by many.

"Okay," she said with a smile. "I'm sorry - it was just a bit of a surprise. I don't mind wearing minidresses all the time, if that's what you'd like."

"It is," he confirmed. "And thongs beneath."

"And thongs beneath," she agreed with a sinking heart. She did not care for thongs much, but wore them because it made him happy. She had hoped to abandon this practice when Jack went back to work in London - now it seemed that this was not to be. But never mind - it was a small price to pay for the wonderful life she was embarking on.

"If you'd like to start unpacking," said Jack, "I'll pop down to the village and pick up some fresh groceries. I'll be back in half an hour."

"Okay," said Connie.

Once Jack had left, Connie began to explore the house in earnest. In addition to the eleven downstairs rooms and the sixteen upstairs rooms, she found there was an attic which she could access through a small square hole in the ceiling above the landing. There was also a basement, but she could not find a light switch so she did not descend the stone steps to investigate that.

She unpacked what they had brought with them, and began to rearrange the furniture in the living room, which was not quite the way she wanted it. She was in the middle of this task when she heard a dull thud which stopped her in her tracks. She frowned and strained her ears to listen. The sound had come from within the house - she was sure of that. But from where?

Walking cautiously out into the hall, she paused for a moment. No further sounds occurred, and she had almost made up her mind to return to her reorganisation of the living room when she heard something else - not a thud but a faint, brief scraping sound, which seemed to come from the door leading into the basement.

"There must be a torch around here somewhere," she murmured aloud. She investigated the utility closet and was pleased to discover a small flashlight sitting on a shelf next to Jack's box of fishing tackle. Testing it to make sure it worked, she closed the closet door and walked over to the door leading into the basement. Opening it, she peered into the gloom below and switched on the torch. It did not illuminate much, but it was better than nothing. She began to descend.

The basement was big. Very big. Connie could not see the outer walls, just a series of pillars supporting the weight of the house above. The floor looked wet. A pile of heavy duty coal sacks was barely visible through the gloom ahead, but nothing else could be seen aside from rows and rows of empty shelves circling each pillar (and, in some cases, bridging the gap between one pillar and another).

Connie's ears pricked up at the sound of a muffled, wet thud. It came from her right, so she swung her torch to point in that direction. She could see nothing, so she continued to descend. Soon she reached the bottom. Peering down, she saw that the floor was not only wet, but muddy - if there was concrete beneath, she could not see it, for the layer of mud covered the entire floor area.

Gingerly Connie stepped down on to the mud. Her shoe began to sink, and she hesitated. How deep was this mud? After thinking for a moment, she withdrew her foot and took off her shoes, placing them on one of the steps. She was keen to investigate the noise, but did not want to mess up her shoes. Her feet would be easier to clean.

Stepping down into the mud again, Connie's foot sank almost immediately. Putting her full weight on it, she continued to sink until she came to rest with the mud reaching one third of the way up her calf. She judged it was approximately six inches in depth.

As she set off in the direction of the noise, Connie heard a faint squeak off to her left, which was immediately followed by another, coming from slightly ahead of her and to the right. "Oh great," she muttered, "we have mice." She did not enjoy the thought of having to get an exterminator in, for she loved animals - but she really could not bear the thought of pests overrunning her house.

The going was difficult. The mud sucked at her feet, each of which refused to come free without a struggle. Still, progress was made, and Connie soon found herself some twenty feet distant from the steps. When she shone her torch back in that direction, she could not even see them.

What she did see, however, when she turned around and shone her torch on the shelving two feet away from her left shoulder, were the unblinking eyes of a large rat which was staring at her. She screamed in shock and attempted to take a step backwards, which merely resulted in her overbalancing and falling back on to her bottom. Her buttocks, naked save for the thong concealed between them, sank into the mud as the hem of her minidress gathered about her waist.

Two dozen rats now swarmed from the shelves on to the mud, their bodies light enough for them to scamper on the surface instead of sinking in. Connie screamed anew as they clambered up on to her body and began nipping at her flesh. She struggled to free her feet and thrashed at the rats with her arms, but undeterred they persisted with their attack. Several of them burrowed under her dress and she could feel them moving against her bra. Down below, a couple of rats had gripped the thin gusset of her thong between their teeth and were now pulling it away from her pussy.

Connie writhed about, flinging rats here, there and everywhere, but as each one landed a few feet away, it darted back towards her to renew its attack. Finally Connie managed to wrestle her feet free of the mud, and she rolled over on to her front in an attempt to squash the rats. Most of them, however, nimbly jumped clear and instead leaped up on to her back. The rats inside her dress remained where they were, squirming against her breasts; one of them managed to get its head inside her bra and started nibbling on her nipple.

The rats that were pulling on her thong had now managed to pull it down to mid-thigh, while others started to chew on her shaven labia (Jack liked her to be smooth at all times). One adventurous rodent even pushed its nose between her pussy lips and into her vaginal opening.

Connie rolled over and over, getting covered from head to toe in thick, glutinous mud, while she tried desperately to retrieve the rats from inside her dress. The garment had become little more than a wadded up, mud-soaked rag now, and she pulled it up to her neck and tried to get it over her head. For a while this pinned her arms, and the rats did not waste the opportunity to swarm all over her, unmolested. Both bra cups now contained a rat, and both her nipples were being chewed by rodent incisors. Her thrashing legs had failed to dislodge the rat which was nosing its way inside her, and now it had got half of its body into her cunt. Connie could feel its front legs pushing at the inner walls of her vagina as it struggled to insert itself more completely.

With a final tug, she managed to free herself from her dress. She pulled her arms loose and began scooping rats from her body with great sweeps of her arms. She grabbed the tail of one of the rats in her bra and pulled it hard. With her other hand she grabbed the tail of the rat in her other bra cup. Yanking them both in different directions, they popped out of their respective bra cups, but they clung on tightly to the material with their teeth. A final tug caused her bra to break open at the front. She shrugged her shoulders out of the loosely-hanging bra and pulled her arms out, then threw the bra and its unwelcome passengers to one side.

Connie's thong by now had been dragged down to her ankles by a couple of the rats. But she barely noticed this as she realised that the rat between her legs was now fully inside her. In desperation she fumbled around her pussy, and to her relief found part of the rat's tail still sticking out. She pulled hard on it, and the rat inside her slid out with a wet, sucking sound. She flung it aside.

Escape was now at the forefront of Connie's mind. Flinging handfuls of rats to one side, she rolled over on to her front once more and pushed herself up on to her hands and knees, then on to her feet. At that moment, she heard what at that moment seemed to be the most beautiful sound in the world - her husband's voice.

"Connie, are you all right? What's going on down here?"

"I'm over here?" Connie sobbed, struggling through the mud towards Jack. "I'm being attacked by rats!"

"What?" Jack, astonished, plunged into the mud with no thought for his footwear. He rushed towards Connie and soon they met in the middle. Connie, in floods of tears, clung to her husband and covered him with mud. Quickly he led her to the foot of the steps, and they made their way up to the doorway.

Once in the front hall, Jack held her at arm's length and looked anxiously at her. "What happened?" he asked.

It was another minute or so before Connie had calmed down enough to speak, but when she finally was able to vocalise her distress, she said, "I went down to investigate a noise … but there were hundreds of rats down there and they attacked me! It was horrible - they were biting me all over and they got into my bra and pulled off my thong and one of them … one of them…" She dissolved into sobs again.

"Calm down, sweetie," said Jack. "Let's get you upstairs to the bathroom and clean you up."

They made a fair old mess of the floor on the way up, but soon Connie was standing in the bath, turning around and around while Jack rinsed mud from her body by playing the shower head over her. When the last of the mud had disappeared down the plughole, Jack insisted on running a nice hot bath for her to relax in. This helped her a lot to calm her down, and soon she was feeling a little better.

"I've never heard of rats doing anything like what you're describing," said Jack. "I'm going to go back down there and take a look around. I'll go out and buy some rat poison later as well. In the meantime, I don't want you going back down there."

Connie shuddered. "No fear!" she said. Then she appraised her arms and legs with a puzzled air. "It's funny, though - I could have sworn the rats were biting me all over, but I don't seem to have a mark on me."

"Yes, that is strange," agreed Jack. He frowned, and appeared to be about to say something, but then he thought better of it. "Enjoy your bath," he said, and he left the room.

That evening Connie felt much revived and almost as though the horrible incident in the basement was just some kind of nightmare which was already fading and blurring in her memory. She cooked dinner for them both, and as they ate they did not mention the rats. Instead, they talked over their plans for the coming months, and Connie began to regain her sense of excitement and enthusiasm for her 'project'.

"In between all the things I have to do on the house," she said, "I'd like to do some painting. The landscapes around here are beautiful - they'll be good to practise on."

"Good idea," said Jack. "You have real talent - I'd like to see you paint more."

A tinny, electronic rendition of The Blue Danube struck up, and Jack pulled out his mobile phone with an apologetic expression on his face, for Connie's benefit. "Strauss!" he said.

A sense of foreboding began to creep upon Connie as she watched Jack's face and listened to his half of the conversation. The call sounded important.

"The hell you say!" Jack was saying in an annoyed tone. "We don't hear a peep out of Lambert and Shearing for months, and now this? Did they say why?" He paused for a few seconds, listening, then continued, "Well Daniella's a fool then. She should have checked her facts before shooting her mouth off. Better still, she should have called me." He sighed. "All right, damage limitation time now. Get Walter Lambert on the blower and arrange a meeting for Thursday morning. No, I'll go there. Get me a room at the Caledonia Hotel for tomorrow night. And tell Daniella she's fired. Yes, I'm kidding. Tell her I'll teleconference with her, yourself and Robert on Friday. Goodbye!"

Jack sighed as he put away his phone.

"You're leaving?" asked Connie quietly.

"I'm sorry," said Jack. "Bloody business politics. Daniella doesn't yet play the game very well, and now she's upset one of my biggest customers. If I don't go and see them to smooth things over, we may lose them."

"When?" asked Connie.

"I'll leave tomorrow morning and catch a flight to Edinburgh. I'll see the customer on Thursday, then I'll have to travel to London and stay there for a couple of nights, I'm afraid. Hopefully I'll be back on Saturday morning."

"You're going to leave me here all alone, in a strange house full of rats?" inquired Connie, pouting.

Jack's expression grew troubled. "I'm sorry," he said. "Look, I've got the poison - I'll lay it down tonight and hopefully we won't have any rats in the house by this time tomorrow."

Connie grinned. "I was only teasing, sweetie. Of course you must go. I'm sure I'll manage."

"There are plenty of groceries to last you until I get back," said Jack. "But if you need anything else, you can get it from the village which is just three miles down the road. That is, if you're still happy to cycle."

"I am," said Connie. She intended to take full advantage of the pristine mountain air.

"You sure you don't want a car, though? It might rain. The forecast says it's going to pour tonight and much of tomorrow."

"I'm sure," said Connie. "I came here to get away from pollution, not make more of it."

That night Connie searched in vain for her pyjamas. When Jack entered their bedroom, she inquired of him where they were.

"Ah," he said. "Well I had in mind some alternative nocturnal attire for you."

Her suspicion immediately aroused, Connie said "Oh yes?"

Jack went to a bag he had not yet unpacked, and pulled out a pale blue nightie and matching panties. He tossed them to her and said "Try those on for size."

Somewhat dubiously, Connie undressed and put on the nightie. It was of the baby-doll variety, and came down barely lower than her waist. The material was thin and gauzy, and her breasts were clearly visible through it. She put on the panties and turned to face Jack. His eyes widened.

"Perfect!" he said. "You look fabulous."

She smiled, then, and twirled for him, which made him laugh and clap his hands.

Later, after Jack had brushed his teeth and was getting undressed, he said, "I put that poison down for the rats. But I couldn't see any, though I searched the whole basement."

Connie did not like the implication. "Well I didn't imagine them," she said with some annoyance. "The place was crawling with them when I went down there."

Jack shrugged. "I believe you, sweetie," he said, though he did not sound terribly convinced. "At any rate, we'll have to do something about all that mud down there. Goodness knows how it got there. Oh, and by the way I found your dress, thong and bra. I've rinsed the mud out of them and put them in the laundry hamper."

"Thanks," said Connie.

Jack climbed into bed with her and took her into his arms. She expected him to make love to her, but all he said was "Well, early start tomorrow - better get some sleep." He released her and rolled over on to his side, facing away from her. A few minutes later Connie heard him begin to snore.

Frustrated, Connie lay awake, trying and failing to get to sleep. She had always had trouble getting to sleep, but when she had troubles on her mind she found it especially difficult to achieve oblivion. An hour dragged by. Connie got up, deciding she would go and find a book to read until she became sleepy.

All the boxes with her books were in the library, as yet unopened. She wandered through, barefoot, and switched the library light on. Scanning the scattered boxes, her eyes lit on one that bore heavy black letters saying "Fiction - 1". She ripped off the tape sealing the box and opened it.

Then she felt something on the back of her neck. Putting up her hand to investigate, she found it was a drop of water. Surprised, she looked up to the ceiling and noticed another droplet of water growing there. A second later, this too dripped down, and another drop began to grow. Connie frowned. Her dream home, apparently, had a leaky roof!

She thought of waking Jack, but decided against it. He needed his sleep tonight, and would not thank her for bothering him about a little thing like this. She would have to check it out on her own. The thought scared her, for she was worried about meeting rats again, but this time at least, she told herself, there would be no mud to impede her escape.

She pulled down the loft ladder and ascended cautiously. As she climbed, she could hear the sound of heavy rain drumming on the roof above. At the top of the ladder, she found a light switch, and flicked it. Immediately the loft was bathed in a rather poor light that came from a low-wattage bulb hung in a far corner. Another project for her to tackle, she said to herself.

Climbing up into the loft space, she looked around and found it capacious but badly in need of work. There were no floorboards, just rafters with a few planks laid across them here and there, and fibreglass insulation between. She would have to be careful not to put her foot through a ceiling below. In places there were stacks of boxes; whether full or empty Connie had no idea. There were also, in places, hardboard partitions sectioning off bits of the loft. Connie did not know why this was, but she suspected that the drip was coming from behind one of the partitions. She estimated how far it was from the bottom of the loft ladder to the library, and began to crawl in that direction across the rafters, utilising the planks wherever possible but sometimes stepping from one rafter to another. Going on all fours increased her stability and therefore decreased her likelihood of putting a foot wrong.

When she ran into the first partition, she knew she had not yet reached the site of the leak. But how was she to get in? There did not appear to be a door, at least not on this side.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, as a cockroach ran over her hand. She withdrew the hand hastily, and watched in disgust as the roach disappeared under the bottom of the partition. She looked around, but could see no other roaches. Unnerved, but still minded to press on, she skirted around the outside of the boxed-off section, and found it enclosed an area approximately twelve feet by fifteen. At the back, which the light from the dim bulb only barely managed to illuminate, Connie discovered that there was a square hole cut into the partition wall - not a door, just a small window about one foot square, three feet above the level of the rafters. Connie looked inside, but it was dark and she could see nothing. Yet she was certain that the leak was coming from in there.

And sure enough, when she put her ear to the hole and listened, she heard the sound of a steady but slow drip … drip … drip. She also heard something else - a scuttling sound, but this was brief and not repeated.

Looking across the loft to where the light bulb hung forlornly on a hook, Connie wondered whether the wire leading to it was fixed in place. If it was loose, as it appeared at first glance to be, perhaps she could bring it across to shed some light on the situation.

Carefully making her way over to the bulb, she found it was indeed loose. There were no tacks fixing the wire to the rafters, and only the wire's gravity held the bulb in its position, draped over the hook which was screwed into one of the vertical wooden beams. Connie took hold of the wire just behind the neck of the bulb, unhooked it, and crawled with it back over to the partition wall. It only just reached. Holding the bulb up to the hole, Connie peered inside and saw a room with a proper floor. She guessed, from the inconvenience of the entrance and the bewildering adventure playground inside, that this had been a child's retreat, a place of fun that a father had once built for his young child. She guessed that the maze of wooden bars, ramps and tunnels that filled the room would be impossible to negotiate without a good light source, and she looked around for a switch.

She found it almost immediately - it was fixed to the inside wall within reach of the entrance. She reached inside and flicked it, but it did not work. She cursed under her breath.

She still could not see the source of the leak, but she was determined to get in there and investigate. This, however, proved trickier than she had thought. First she put one arm through, and then her head. With a bit of wriggling, she managed to get her other shoulder through. Bending over, she squeezed through up to her waist, and managed to get her hands on the floor of the playroom. The next part was the difficult bit. Her hips were too wide to fit through the gap head-on - she had to angle herself to align her hips at forty-five degrees to the hole, thereby passing her hips diagonally through the widest possible space. Even so, it was a tight squeeze, helped not at all by the weight of her legs which constantly threatened to pull her back.

Eventually, with a great deal of wriggling back and forth, she inched her hips through the gap and finally collapsed in a heap in the darkness of the playroom. She then got up and reached through the window to pick up the light bulb, which she had left on the rafters outside. Grabbing hold of the wire, she pulled it as far through the window as she could. It did not come far - in fact she could barely get the whole bulb through, let alone any of the wire. Wedging the very end of the wire, where it attached to the neck of the bulb, into the corner of the window, Connie managed to get the bulb to stay in place, precariously perched though it was.

The playroom was now bathed in a rather dim light. Connie looked around and tried to figure out how to get to the other side of the maze. It looked simple enough, but it was obviously designed for someone rather smaller than herself. Deciding upon her route, she set off.

First she crawled into a tunnel, which almost immediately turned left. She had to turn on to her side and squeeze around the corner, which proved almost as tricky as getting into the room in the first place. She managed it, though, and found herself lying on her side between two walls of slender horizontal wooden bars. Fortunately she was not in the least bit claustrophobic, and could keep a cool head in a tight spot. Using the bars to pull herself up, she found she had to climb them to get to the next part - a wooden tube located about six feet above the floor. This was not such a squeeze for her, and at its end she found a ramp which ran down to another tunnel. She turned herself around and slid down the ramp into the tunnel, which curved around and deposited her in the heart of the maze - a little den with no entrance or exit other than the one she had just come in by.

Here she found the reason for the leak. Above her, an ill-fitting roof tile was letting in occasional drips from the heavy rain outside. These were landing in a bucket which was straddling a gap between two floorboards and had been set here, no doubt, for exactly this purpose. Unfortunately the bucket was now full, and sitting in a puddle of water it had spilled. No doubt, thought Connie, the water was filtering down through the gap in the floor and dripping through the library ceiling.

The bucket was not the only item in the den. There were also a lot of sweet wrappers, a few plates and bowls with remnants of food encrusted on them, and a couple of toy cars. Connie carefully moved the bucket out of the way, then placed a bowl underneath the drip. This would last for a while; hopefully until she got around to fixing the roof properly.

Suddenly Connie was plunged into darkness, and the faint sound of tinkling glass reached her ears. Her heart yammered in her chest. She knew exactly what had happened - the bulb had fallen from its perch and shattered on the rafters outside the playroom. Thinking quickly, she pictured in her mind the route back through the maze, and then turned around to feel for the entrance to this room.

Something crawled over her bare foot, and she yelped. Then she heard scuttling sounds coming from all around her, and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled nervously. She felt something running up her leg, and swiped at it with her hand. By good fortune she caught it, and she shuddered as she realised from its feel that it was a cockroach. She tried to squish it between her fingers, but it was tough and by this time she could feel the patter of tiny feet all over her legs.

In a blind panic, she got up and felt for the entrance. She found it quickly, but paused to try to scrape off some of the insects which were even now climbing under her nightie and up her bare back and stomach. She took a step forward and her foot landed on a carpet of roaches. Her legs were now covered in them, hundreds of them, all of which were scuttling upwards…

"Jack!" she screamed. But she had little hope that he would hear her - he was too far away and there were too many walls between them.

She climbed into the tunnel and began to inch her way up. It was smooth and her feet kept threatening to slide backwards, but dogged determination got her around the bend and up to the ramp in a matter of seconds. Hurrying through the tunnel at the top, she hauled herself head-first down between the two walls of bars until she tumbled down and landed on her head, dazed, at the bottom. Her legs fell sideways and one got caught on a crossbar while the heel of other became tangled in the bars lower down.

The floor here was covered with roaches. They climbed over her face, filled her hair, and raced down her neck over and into her nightie. Connie spluttered as one entered her mouth, and she wiped them off with her right hand. Her left hand, she discovered, was twisted behind her back and caught between two of the wooden bars. In the cramped space, with her legs suspended above her by the crossbar, she found herself wedged and unable to free her arm.

Helpless, she struggled feebly as roaches swarmed all over her breasts, which she could not reach, since her right arm was bent and pinned between her head and the floor. Her panties had been pulled down a little in the fall, exposing an inch of buttock cleavage. Into this many roaches dashed, filling her panties with a scuttling, writhing mass of insects. One of them soon found her cunt, and wormed its way inside. Connie screamed again and wriggled helplessly, but she found it impossible to close her legs, and pretty soon another cockroach was crawling inside her, followed by another, and another.

With a mighty effort Connie managed to free her right leg. Flexing her left leg, she managed to fall all the way to the floor, which enabled her to free her trapped arm. Now it was simply a matter of backing out through the entrance tunnel to the outside of the maze. Trying to ignore all the roaches - her panties were bulging with them and her torso beneath her nightie was covered in them - she pushed her way back along the tunnel, and around the corner towards the exit.

It took over a minute, but she finally made it. As she stood up outside the maze, she pulled down her panties and scooped handfuls of roaches out and threw them on to the floor. She then reached inside her cunt and fished a couple more out, but no amount of probing produced any others. She pulled her panties back up, then lifted her nightie up over her head and brushed as many cockroaches as she could from her naked upper body. But her efforts were rather futile, as the floor beneath her feet was still seething with them and her legs bore a constant traffic of roaches all climbing up to her panties and beyond. By the time she had put her nightie back on, she was as covered as ever. Even her panties still contained a great many - when she had pulled them up, they had scooped up several on her legs and trapped a few that were running over her bottom and pussy at the time.

But now all Connie could think about was getting back downstairs to Jack. She hurried towards the entrance and put one arm and her head through, followed by her other arm. Struggling to get the rest of her body through, she somehow contrived to wedge her hips in the gap, and for a while she dangled helplessly, desperately trying to get the rest of her body out through the hole. Her panties became pulled down a little by her movements, and dozens of roaches once more poured in via her buttock cleavage.

With a final twist and a jerk, Connie freed herself from the hole, and landed in a heap on the rafters. Fortunately she did not land on any shards of the broken light bulb, and she got up on to her hands and knees in order to make her way across the rafters. She knew that her panties were still full of roaches, and that even now some of them were forcing their way into her cunt, but, as disgusted as she was, she wanted to prove to Jack that she was not imagining it all. For some reason the vermin of this house seemed to find her irresistible, but she knew that without any evidence it would be hard to convince Jack of this.

She reached the top of the ladder and began to descend. Immediately the roaches, under the glare of the landing light, began to drop off her body, landing on the floor below and scuttling out of sight under pieces of furniture or into cracks in the skirting board. By the time she got to the bottom of the ladder, the only cockroaches left were inside her panties, and even these were struggling to get out. Some escaped via the leg-holes, while others left by way of her bottom cleavage. She ran to the bedroom and shook Jack awake.

"Jack, Jack!" she exclaimed urgently. "Wake up!" She switched on her bedside light so that he would be able to see the cockroaches.

Two more roaches crawled out by the side of her gusset and dropped on to the edge of the bed. They dashed off as quick as they could, fell on to the floor, and disappeared under the bed.

"Huh? Wha…?" Jack rolled over and pulled himself up on to his elbows. His eyes were still closed.

Connie pulled open her panties to see if there were any more cockroaches in there. There were two that she could see, but these took this opportunity to scurry out and drop on to the floor, whence they vanished beneath the bed.

"I've just been attacked again!" said Connie. "By cockroaches!" She reached two fingers into her cunt and pulled out a particularly large specimen. "Look!"

But as Jack blinked and tried to focus, the slippery roach popped out of Connie's grasp and scuttled away out of sight. "What's the matter?" Jack muttered after rubbing his eyes.

Connie felt around inside her cunt for a moment, but could find nothing else. She sighed and her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Never mind," she said, "they're all gone now."

Jack patted her on the shoulder. "You've just had a bad dream sweetie," he said. "Lie down and close your eyes - you'll soon get to sleep again." Then he rolled over on to his side again, and went straight back to sleep.

Connie felt completely dejected, and utterly traumatised by her horrible experience in the maze. It was another two hours before she managed to get to sleep.

The following morning, Connie awoke to find Jack had already gone. He had left her a note, which read, "I didn't want to wake you, my darling, but I'm just off now. I'm a little worried about leaving you alone in the house - you don't seem to be having a very good time so far! - so I've sent for my old nanny who lives nearby. I hope you don't mind. She'll look after you well - I've offered her one of the bedrooms to sleep in - and since she knows the area and the language she can pop out for any groceries you might need. Her name is Elise, and she should be arriving this afternoon. All my love, Jack."

Connie read this through twice, and became troubled. She did not want to share her new home with a total stranger, even if that stranger was her husband's former nanny. However, she had to admit that with the attacks by the rats and the cockroaches, it might be useful to have somebody around who could tell her that she was not going mad.

For this was preying on Connie's mind. Already she was unsure whether the cockroach incident had really happened. What if she had simply dreamed it? The memory seemed rather fuzzy and indistinct now. As for the rats - it seemed such a long time ago, and so unreal, not to mention unlikely … had that really happened the way she seemed to remember?

She got up and put on a fresh minidress from her wardrobe. She was about to put on a thong, when she said to herself, "Hang it, Jack's not here and won't know if I don't wear a thong." So she kept on her night-time panties, which were much more conservatively cut, before going downstairs and making herself some breakfast. Afterwards, since it was still raining hard outside, she stayed in and started to unpack her books. Soon she had put them all on shelves, and still there was plenty of room in the library. She was very pleased about the amount of storage space she had for books in this house. In addition to the shelves in the library, there was a bookcase in the living room, there were bookshelves in several of the bedrooms, and two walls of the study were filled from floor to ceiling with bookshelves. And there were more besides. It would take her a long time to fill them all up … or perhaps not so long, for money of course was practically no object now, and Jack certainly would not mind her spending his money on books.

She made herself a sandwich for lunch, and ate it in her bedroom, from where she looked out of the window and watched the low cloud layer swirling about the trees on the slopes of the mountains across the valley. Then she noticed a car coming up the road towards the house. It swung into the driveway and parked, and a dark-haired woman got out.

Connie got up and trotted downstairs to answer the door. As soon as it rang, she answered it, and was met by a kindly-looking woman in her mid-forties. Connie was surprised at how young the woman was - she must have been a young nanny for Jack, who had just had his thirty-third birthday.

"Hello," said Connie. "You must be Elise?"

"Yes, I am," said Elise. "And you are Connie? It's very nice to meet you. I am glad to see my Jacques married such a beautiful wife." Her English was excellent; her accent rather French-sounding.

"Thank you," said Connie, blushing. "Well it's very kind of you to come, though I'm not sure why Jack asked you to…"

"It's no problem at all," said Elise, walking in through the door with a couple of bags. "And Jacques is paying me quite well, you know. He says he does not want you to be alone in the house, because it is new to you."

Connie closed the front door and led Elise up to one of the spare bedrooms. The nanny briskly unpacked and settled herself in, then she offered to vacuum the house.

"What, the whole house?" asked Connie, nonplussed. "I don't understand - did Jack hire you as a housekeeper?"

"Yes, yes, he told me to look after all the mundane things while you get busy with painting and with designing the interior. You just leave the cooking and cleaning to me."

This was quite a surprise to Connie, who had been quite prepared to do all of the housework herself. Yet it was something of a relief to think that she could now afford to focus all her energies on doing the things she really wanted to do. So for the rest of the afternoon, she pottered about the house, making a list for each room of all the improvements she wished to make.

When she came to the master bedroom, she found Elise looking through her wardrobe. She blushed as she realised how it must look.

"Jack chose the contents of my wardrobe," she said by way of explanation. "It's a little lacking in variety, I'm afraid."

"I think it is perfect," replied Elise. "As soon as I saw you I thought to myself how very attractive you look in a short dress. You have very nice legs, you know."

Connie blushed still harder. "Thank you," she said quietly, turning suddenly shy. "It's nice to know that someone else besides Jack thinks so."

"They are none of them as short as they might be, however," continued Elise. "I am a professional seamstress, you know - would you let me alter some of them? I think I can make them look better on you."

"What, make them shorter than they are already?" Connie was rather alarmed at the concept. The dress she was currently wearing came down almost to mid-thigh, and that was quite short enough as far as she was concerned.

"Of course, yes," said Elise matter-of-factly. "With those legs of yours, you could easily carry off a shorter dress. Please permit me to do what I do best … at no extra charge!"

"Well, that's very kind of you…" began Connie.

"Excellent," said Elise, pleased. She reached into the wardrobe and pulled a couple of dresses out. "I will go now and work on them in the upstairs drawing room." With that, she walked out, leaving a rather worried Connie in her wake.

Continuing with her list-making, Connie found the afternoon flew by. She had not finished when Elise entered the smallest bedroom, where she was at the time, and invited her to come downstairs for some afternoon tea. Putting her lists aside, she followed Elise down to the main living room. There they sat and chatted for some minutes, drinking coffee and eating croissants, before Elise produced a newly-shortened dress and suggested Connie try it on.

"What, now?" asked Connie.

"Yes, yes, now," said Elise. "I have finished it, you know, and I would like to see how it looks on you. This will give me a good idea of how much to shorten the others."

"Um," said Connie, getting to her feet slowly and uncertainly. She looked about for somewhere private to go and change.

"Just slip out of that dress, and put this one on," said Elise, kindly but firmly. "Don't be shy."

Connie was well aware that Europeans had a more relaxed attitude to being naked and seeing other people naked than the British, but even though she knew she would only be revealing her underwear to Elise, she still felt terribly self-conscious. However, she did not want to offend the woman who was being so kind to her, so she reluctantly unzipped her dress behind her neck and pulled it up over her head. Setting it aside on the chair and feeling very exposed, she took the dress Elise was holding out, and put it on.

As she zipped it up and looked down to see where the hem was, she gasped in shock. It barely covered her panties! She judged that at the back it would cover her buttocks with no more than an inch or so to spare - she would not be able to bend over in it at all!

Elise, however, misinterpreted the gasp as a positive reaction. "Nice, yes?" she said. "Oh yes - that looks very attractive. Your pretty legs should not be covered up."

"But … it's so short!" exclaimed Connie. "I can't…"

"You can't believe how good you look?" said Elise. "I know - the effect is very striking." She reached over and took the dress which Connie had just removed. "I am very happy with the result," she said. "I shall fix this one and the others to look equally as good."

"But..." Connie struggled for words. The thought of Elise butchering all her dresses and making them this short ... well, it did not bear thinking about. She could not possibly allow the woman to go ahead with this plan. "Elise," she said.

"Yes?" Elise smiled up at her.

"I can't possibly allow you to shorten all my dresses," said Connie carefully. "I really don't want you to do it."

"Oh, but I really don't mind," Elise assured her. "It's no trouble at all."

"But," interrupted Connie in desperation, "I don't want them this short!" She stopped short, then, worried she had gone too far. She certainly did not want to antagonise this kind lady.

"Don't you like what I've done with that one?" asked Elise, looking a little hurt. "Don't you think I did a good job?"

"Oh no, it's a beautiful job," Connie said hastily, trying to repair the damage. "It's lovely, really, and I do like it - it's just that I feel naked ... I'm not used to wearing something this short."

"Oh, is that all? Well, don't worry about that - you'll soon get used to it. Why don't you take a look at yourself in the mirror?" Elise suggested. "There's a full-length one in the hall."

With a sigh, Connie walked through to the hall and checked out her reflection. She turned from one side to the other. The dress looked positively indecent.

"Now," said Elise, coming through to join her. "Don't look at how short the dress is - just look at how your legs look. Do they not look beautiful?"

"Well, it's hard for me to be objective about that," said Connie.

"Then take it from me - I know about these things. Women's legs come in all shapes and sizes and proportions. Some legs need to be covered up. Others look best in a dress that comes down to mid-calf. Even a woman of large proportions may have a slim ankle, you know. Some women look best in a skirt that comes down to the knee, or slightly below, or slightly above. You, my dear, have perfectly-proportioned legs. Not the slimmest, perhaps, but I am not a fan of the stick-insect look. The best look for you, I assure you, is to reveal the entire leg. You look fantastic. Trust me."

Connie opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to think of a counter argument. But words failed her, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay then," she said.

"Excellent," said Elise, pleased. "So I have your permission to adjust your dresses according to my judgment?"

Connie nodded morosely, and Elise beamed. "Wonderful," she said, and, turning on her heel, she walked back into the living room.

The issue, Connie soon decided, was not worth dwelling on. Certainly she was worried about this new turn of events, but she had more important things to think about. Tackling the first room on her list, which was the little bedroom in the north-east corner of the house, she moved the furniture into the next room and began to remove the wallpaper from one wall. Behind it, she discovered the reason the paper had been put up in the first place - there was some fire damage to the wooden panelling. She pondered the problem for a moment, then decided that a nice deep shade of green paint was the answer. The room did not get a lot of light, so it would end up looking rather gloomy, but this would fit into Connie's plan quite well - she wanted to have some 'mood rooms', and she would decorate this one accordingly. Perhaps she would even paint a mural.

Elise cooked an Italian dish for supper, which rather amused Connie - she had been expecting some authentic Swiss cuisine. The food was very nice, however, and Elise was most gratified by Connie's compliments.

"I thought we might have a picnic tomorrow," said the nanny. "It is not good for you to be indoors all the time - you should get some fresh air and sun."

Connie liked this idea. "Sounds good to me," she said. "If it's fine."

"According to the weatherman, it will be fine, and hot," said Elise. "You will need sunscreen."

Connie nodded. "I have some," she said.

The phone rang. "Ooh, I wonder if that's Jack," said Connie excitedly. She was about to get up, but Elise beat her to it.

"Let me get it," she said. "You stay there." She swept past Connie and into the hall to answer the phone.

Connie waited for a minute, finishing off her risotto, until Elise returned. "It is Jacques," she said. She handed the phone to Connie.

"Jack!" Connie exclaimed into the mouthpiece. "How are you, my love? Yes, I'm fine thanks. Elise has been taking good care of me - we just had a wonderful risotto. Yes, I'm wearing a minidress ... only it's now a microdress - Elise has been shortening some of them... Yes, well I'm surprised too. She tells me I look very nice in them." Then she laughed. "Yes I'm sure you'll get a big kick out of seeing me in them, too. Urm..." And here Connie blushed. "Well, no, not exactly... Well, you weren't here to see it, so I didn't think you'd mind. I'm actually still wearing my panties from last night... All right. All right, I'm sorry - I just didn't think you'd mind. Okay ... yes, I promise. Okay. I love you too. Bye sweetie." She pressed a button on the phone, then put it down on the table.

"What was that all about?" asked Elise. "If you'll forgive my curiosity."

Connie blushed again. "Well, Jack wants me to wear thongs all the time. I kind of cheated this morning, because he wasn't around, but I couldn't bring myself to lie to him. So he's made me promise to wear thongs every day in future, even when he's not around."

"That is sweet," said Elise with a smile. "You two sound very much in love."

"We are," replied Connie, smiling shyly in response. "I feel very lucky."

They finished the rest of the meal - Elise had made a fruit salad - and then Elise set to work on the dishes while Connie retired upstairs to the drawing room to read a book. The rain had stopped, and the clouds broke in the west to reveal the setting sun which beautifully lit up the low-lying clouds in red and gold. For the rest of the evening, Connie saw nothing of Elise, except for when the older woman brought her a cup of coffee at about ten o'clock. By this time Connie was sketching a mountain landscape based on her fast-fading view of the far side of the valley. When she could no longer see it, she spent some time filling in minor details, and then, with a yawn, decided it was time for bed. She sought out Elise, who was sitting in the living room working on a pile of dresses, and said goodnight. She did not offer to try on any of the dresses, and fortunately Elise did not ask her to. Returning upstairs, Connie got into her nightie and a fresh pair of night-time panties, then she brushed her teeth and went to bed.

Once again she had trouble getting to sleep. The night was hot, and she found she was sweating, even when she threw off her sheets. She tossed and turned as an hour dragged by, and then another hour. Finally she sat up grumpily and looked at her clock. It was a quarter to two in the morning. She got out of bed. Feeling a little hungry, she decided to pop down to the kitchen for a bowl of left-over fruit salad. As she walked down the stairs, one of the doors on the landing opened, and Elise's tousled head emerged sleepily.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing," said Connie. "I just can't sleep, that's all. And I'm a little hungry. I was thinking of having another bowl of your excellent fruit salad."

Elise smiled. "I can give you something to help you sleep," she said. "I have some pills..."

But Connie shook her head. "I never take pills if I can help it," she said. "Thanks all the same."

"Oh," said Elise. "Well, perhaps I could keep you company. I feel a little hungry too."

She came down the stairs, wearing a long nightdress made of a fairly thick, opaque material. Connie felt rather naked by comparison, acutely aware that her breasts were clearly visible through her own gauzy nightie, not to mention the fact that the garment completely failed to cover her panties. It was also damp with her sweat, and clung to her breasts in a manner which she had no doubt that her husband would find rather fetching.

The effect was not lost on Elise. "You look hot," she said, glancing at Connie's breasts.

"I am," confessed Connie. "It's a warm night."

The two of them shared the remainder of the fruit salad, and Elise put their bowls in the sink.

"How would you like to take a stroll outside with me?" suggested Elise. "It will cool you off, and there is a beautiful moon tonight."

Connie was not at all sure about going outside in her current state of undress. "Well, I'd better put something else on - I can't go out like this," she said.

"Nonsense, dear," said Elise. "It's warm, and nobody will be about but us - just come as you are."

"Okay," said Connie reluctantly, "but I'd better put some shoes on."

Elise nodded, and Connie went back upstairs to fetch her trainers. When she came back, Elise was putting on some sturdy hiking boots. Once she had laced them up, she stood up. "Right," she said. "Off we go."

They went outside, and Elise locked the door behind them. "I borrowed a set of your keys," she explained, dropping them in the pocket of her dressing gown. "I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind," said Connie. "It's not like I have anywhere to put them," she added ruefully, looking down at her skimpy nightie.

They set off along the edge of the road, and Connie had to admit this was a good idea - the moon was full and bright, and with no street lights to interfere, it bathed the landscape in an ethereal glow. Connie found it quite beautiful. Soon Elise led them away from the road, and Connie found herself stepping through tall, wet grass, which was not nearly so pleasant, as the tops of the grass blades reached her crotch and began to get her panties wet. After a short time, however, the ground began to dip downwards and the grass here was shorter. Trees appeared to left and right as they continued on, and the ground became wetter.

"It's getting a bit wet underfoot," said Connie. "Perhaps we should turn back?"

"I'm hoping to get to a scenic place," said Elise, "from where you can see the lights of Lucerne. It's a nice spot - you will like it I am sure."

"Oh," said Connie. "Is it far?"

"About half a mile from here I think. We just have to cross this boggy area, then climb up the hill on the far side for a short way."

"Okay," said Connie. She trod carefully as they skirted around the edge of a wide, muddy pond, but cursed as her foot suddenly plunged into deep mud. "Damnit!" she exclaimed. "I knew this would happen - I've got my feet covered in mud."

"Don't worry about that," said Elise. "I will clean your shoes for you."

"Thank you," said Connie. She stepped up on to a fallen branch, only to find her foot shooting out from under her as soggy bark gave way. Backwards she tumbled into the mud, landing flat on her back. Instantly her flimsy nightie was soaked through. As she sat up, cursing, her bottom began to sink, creating a depression into which muddy water flooded, soaking her panties.

"Now look at me!" she wailed. "I'm filthy!"

Elise turned to look, although in the moonlight it was impossible to see whether Connie was clean or dirty. At any rate, she walked over to where Connie was and helped the young woman to her feet. "You'd better go and wash in that pond," she said. "You'll be able to get the mud off yourself, and most of it out of your nightie and panties. Come on - I'll give you a hand."

If she had seen the pond in daylight, she would never have made this suggestion, for this watering hole was frequented by cattle and was fouled with their waste. Half of the mud surrounding the pond, and in it, was actually just mushy cow dung, but in the poor light the pond looked clean enough, and Connie walked over to it, resigning herself to the fact that her feet sank several inches into the mud with each step. As she approached the very edge of the clear water, the mud was so deep that she was sinking up to her knees, which made the going very difficult indeed. Finally, however, she reached a patch of water that was deep enough for her to clean herself effectively. The first thing she did was to pull her feet out of the mud and remove her shoes.

Meanwhile, Elise was picking her way around to the other side of the pond, where the bank was steeper and drier. "If you pass me your clothes," she said to Connie, "I'll wash the mud out of them while you get yourself clean."

Connie waded closer to Elise, and tossed her shoes across to her. Elise managed to catch them, despite the awkward light, and she proceeded to rinse them out thoroughly, lying on her front on the bank with her arms dangling in the water. Connie, not wishing to expose herself to Elise even in this poor light, squatted down until the water came up to her neck before removing her panties and nightie. She tossed the garments to Elise, then continued washing herself.

Elise, having finished rinsing Connie's shoes, now began to wash the nightie and panties. Then, as she withdrew her arms from the water, she thought she caught a glimpse of something on her wrist. Frowning, and straining to see as she brought her hand close to her face, she gasped suddenly as she saw what was unmistakably a medium-sized leech attached to her flesh. Fascinated by the creature - she was not squeamish about such things and had never seen a leech before in real life - she stared at it for a moment before Connie's voice interrupted her.

"Something wrong?" asked Connie.

"No, no, nothing," said Elise. It now occurred to her, of course, that Connie was probably covered with the creatures from neck to toe. But it would not do to tell her about this just now - the poor girl would panic and faint, most likely. No, it was better to keep Connie calm for as long as possible. Besides, there was really no harm in the little creatures. Sure, they sucked a little blood ... but they seemed to be doing so painlessly - at any rate she could not even feel the one on her wrist. Some leech species, she had heard, inject a local anaesthetic when they attach themselves to their victims - this individual apparently belonged to one such species.

With a kind of perverse fascination, Elise lowered both arms further into the water, while pretending to continue cleaning Connie's nightie and panties. She was morbidly curious to see how many she could collect.

But her delay was beginning to annoy Connie. "I'm getting cold," she said. "Could I please have my things back?"

"In a minute," said Elise. "You'd better get out first - I recommend climbing out of this side so you don't get muddy again. I'm almost done with your clothes - I'll wring them out so they'll at least be fairly dry when you put them on."

Connie hesitated. "All right," she said eventually. "But don't look - I'd rather you didn't see me naked."

Elise laughed. "You are so silly - and so English!" she said. "You should not be so shy. Besides, in this light I will not really see anything."

Connie blushed at the taunt. Yet perhaps Elise was right - perhaps she was being silly. With a sigh, she got to her feet and waded to the side, not noticing all the leeches that were clinging to her naked body. Elise noticed, however, and although she tried not to stare, she was fascinated by the sight. Connie had leeches on her arms, torso, and legs. Several were clinging to her breasts, including one that almost completely covered one nipple, and a couple were affixed to her bald pussy. No doubt there were more on her back and bottom.

Shaking herself, Elise turned back to the water, and withdrew her arms slowly, peering closely at them to see how many leeches she had attracted. Examining every inch of the flesh which she had dipped under the surface, she counted six leeches in total. She was about to pull the first one off, when a rather perverse thought occurred to her. For a moment she dismissed it as being cruel, but then she decided that there was no real harm in it, and she actually became quite excited at the prospect.

Elise stood up and wrung out Connie's nightie and panties. "Here," she said, handing the nightie back to Connie.

Connie was wiping herself with her hands to get rid of excess water droplets. For a moment, Elise wondered if she would discover the leeches this way. But whether it was because she was not paying attention, or because the leeches were so slimy that they slipped under her fingers unnoticed, Connie failed to realise that she was playing host to more than thirty blood-sucking worms. She took the nightie and pulled it over her head.

While she was doing this, Elise quickly pulled the leeches from her arms and dropped them into the gusset of the panties. These were not big tropical leeches, with suction so powerful that they could only be removed with salt or a lighted match - they were simply common European leeches, unremarkable and modest-sized denizens of ponds and bogs, with an appetite for the slow-moving legs of thirsty cows and sheep. They were removed from Elise's arms with a gentle tug, and were soon writhing in the base of Connie's panties, just where her vagina would be when she put them on.

Elise handed them to Connie, who put them on quickly, looking at them only long enough to ascertain that she was donning them the right way around. Finally Elise passed Connie her shoes, which Connie also put on.

"Can we go back now?" asked Connie. "I'm no longer hot - in fact I'm pretty cold right now - and very damp as well. I think I've had enough fresh air for the time being."

Elise had to agree. A cool breeze had sprung up, sweeping down from the mountain tops to blow away the stifling valley air. They set off back towards the house, though at a pace as leisurely as Elise could encourage. She did not know how long the leeches would take to feed, but she hoped they would finish and abandon their host before they got indoors.

It was not to be. Some of the creatures had indeed dropped off by the time they reached the house, but one or two remained, as Elise noticed when they entered the front hall. Her hopes that Connie would not realise her predicament were dashed when, halfway up the stairs, Connie suddenly screamed.

"Ugh! I'm covered in leeches!" she exclaimed. "Horrid things!" She attempted to pick one off her leg, but her touch was too dainty and the leech too slippery.

Elise rushed up to her. "Here," she said. "Allow me." She picked the remaining leeches off Connie's legs one by one, as Connie stood there trembling and biting her lip. As each worm came free, it left a little spot of blood in the place where it had been attached.

"Oh, thank you, thank you," said Connie gratefully, as she turned to allow Elise to clear the backs of her legs. "Oh no! They're under my nightie too!"

"Take it off. Quickly!" urged Elise, and for once Connie did not hesitate. She whipped it over her head and turned around so Elise could pull a leech off her breast. It was the one on her nipple, and Elise felt a tingle of excitement as her fingers grasped the nipple before yanking the leech free.

"Any more?" asked Connie, turning around.

"No," said Elise, "unless..."

"Oh God!" whispered Connie, the same thought occurring to her. "Oh, I can't bear to look!"

"Then allow me," suggested Elise.

"No!" exclaimed Connie. But the thought of seeing leeches on her pussy, and even worse, trying to pick them off, was too much to bear. "Oh all right," she said with a resigned air. She quickly pulled her panties down and let them drop to her ankles. Not daring to look, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she submitted to having her pussy inspected closely by Elise.

There were just two leeches on Connie's pussy, as Elise now discovered. One was an inch or so above her clitoris, while the other was fastened to one of Connie's labia. She then directed Connie to turn around, and as the young woman did so, she inadvertently stepped out of her panties, which Elise quickly recovered in her left hand. Bending down, she found another leech attached to one buttock, and also spotted the tip of one protruding from between her nether cheeks. She prised Connie's buttocks apart, exposing her anus, and pulled the leech off.

"That's it," she said, "unless some of them got inside…"

"Ugh!" The thought horrified Connie. "Do you really think they would have gone inside?"

Elise shrugged. "I don't know," she said. Yet she thought it likely, since she had put six leeches inside Connie's panties and had now recovered only four from that region.

Connie also thought it likely. The memories of the rats and the cockroaches revived themselves in her mind. "Let's not take any chances," she said, though her stomach churned at the thought of Elise probing inside her vagina.

"Don't worry," said Elise kindly. "I'll be very gentle. If you'd like to go into the living room and lie down on the sofa, I'll fetch some baby oil." She hurried upstairs, taking Connie's nightie from her hand as she went, leaving the young woman naked and without anything to put on.

Connie, however, was much too distressed to be concerned about this now. Clutching her heaving stomach, she walked through to the living room and lay down on the sofa. When Elise returned (with the baby oil, but without the nightie and panties), Connie spread her legs in great embarrassment and stared off to one side, trying to think of happy thoughts and to ignore what was going on down below.

Elise thoroughly lubricated her fingers with the baby oil, then, her heart pounding, she slowly slid her middle finger inside Connie's cunt. The young woman made no objection, so Elise inserted a second finger. Feeling around inside Connie's vagina, she searched for lumps in the vagina wall, and soon found one. However, with her index and middle fingers she found it impossible to get enough of a grip to pry the leech loose.

"It's no good," she said. "I can feel one, but I can't get a grip on it. I think I'm going to have to try to get my whole hand in."

Connie gasped, and bit her lip, but nodded wordlessly. Elise lubricated her whole hand, and started to insert more fingers. When she had four inserted, she tucked her thumb into her palm and began to push gently, twisting her hand back and forth to stop it catching and dragging at Connie's sensitive flesh.

Nevertheless, it did hurt Connie, and she squealed. "Ouch!" she said. "That hurts!"

"I'm sorry," said Elise, "should I stop?"

Connie's lip trembled. "No," she said. "Go on - but, be careful."

Elise continued to push, as Connie's breath began to come in pants of pain, until finally, with a sudden yielding of flesh, her hand slid in up to the wrist. Connie, whose body had been rigid for the past minute, now relaxed a little.

Elise savoured the feeling of having her hand up Connie's cunt for a moment before she proceeded with her quest. Feeling around, she located the leech she had found before, and gripped it between her finger and thumb. Twisting her hand inside Connie, Elise managed to pry the creature loose. Now she slowly began to withdraw her hand, and Connie winced anew. With some effort, and more moans of pain from Connie, Elise freed her hand, and dropped the leech on the floor.

"I think there may be more in there," said Elise. "I felt something else while I was extracting that."

"Oh God!" moaned Connie, and she whimpered. "Okay, do what you have to do."

Elise lubed up again, and this time her entrance was slightly easier, although it still hurt Connie. Feeling around, Elise discovered a second leech, but before she pulled her hand out she felt something else … something different. She pulled the leech out and dropped it next to the first. Then she returned to Connie's cunt and pushed her fingers in again.

"What, more?" asked Connie plaintively.

She looked extremely fetching, Elise thought, lying naked on the sofa with her legs spread wide. "Yes," she said softly, "I felt something else." She pushed the rest of her hand in, and searched for what she had felt before. She found it, and caught hold of it. It was hard - definitely not a leech - and Elise pulled it out carefully, curious to see what it was.

"It's a cockroach!" she exclaimed. For so it was, though it was a rather slimy and dead cockroach. Or so she thought, until it suddenly struggled out of her fingers and dropped on to the floor, scuttling out of sight under the sofa.

"Ugh," said Connie in disgust. "Yes, I got attacked by roaches in the loft. Some of them went inside me - I thought I'd got them all out though."

"Well, there may be more," said Elise. "I'd better check." She pushed her hand back inside Connie. The sensation of having her hand in this woman's cunt was quite addictive, and she wanted to prolong the experience as much as possible. This time Connie winced, but managed to keep silent.

Elise rotated her hand around inside Connie, feeling around as deep as she could, and then she almost smiled as she encountered another hard object, and then another. She could quite easily grab hold of both of them and pull them out together, she reflected … but where would be the fun in that? Instead she took one between her finger and thumb, and slowly withdrew it. As she dropped the wriggling cockroach on the floor, she said, "I felt something else, I'm afraid … I'm going to have to go back in." She slid her hand back inside Connie, and this time grabbed the other roach. She pulled it out carefully, but as she did so, she noticed a couple of small brown cylindrical objects stuck to her hand. Immediately she guessed that they were cockroach egg cases, and felt a sense of regret that they would not now be able to hatch inside Connie. And yet…

"I think that's it," said Elise. "But I'd like to make sure."

"Okay," said Connie in a monotone, still staring into space.

Elise slid her hand back into Connie's vagina, gripping the egg cases between her fingers. Planting them as deep as possible inside Connie, she conducted a thorough inspection of the young woman's interior, twisting her hand back and forth, plunging deep and pulling back, practically fist-fucking Connie as she lay there, but subtly, very subtly, so as not to arouse suspicion.

"Well dear, that seems to be all. You're clear of both leeches and roaches now." She pulled her hand out, leaving Connie's cunt gaping.

Connie closed her legs and sat up. "Thank you," she whispered, and then she began to cry.

"Oh hush, hush," said Elise soothingly, pulling Connie's head on to her shoulder and hugging her. "There, there - it's all better now." She patted Connie's back. "Off to bed you go now - try to get some sleep."

"I doubt I shall," said Connie, sniffling. "It's been so horrible." But she got to her feet and followed Elise upstairs.

"Goodnight dear," said Elise.

"Goodnight, Elise … and thank you," said Connie. "That can't have been a very pleasant job."

"Think nothing of it," Elise assured her. "I was happy to help."

Connie smiled at her, then she walked into her bedroom and climbed into bed. She did not know where Elise had put her nightie, and could not be bothered to search for them now. All she wanted was to curl up and sleep. She pulled the sheets about her, and closed her eyes … but sleep did not come for a long while, and then only fitfully.

She was, however, asleep when Elise came in to wake her the next morning. As the housekeeper opened the curtains, Connie sat up and rubbed her bleary eyes.

"Good morning!" said Elise brightly. "How did you sleep?"

"Badly," muttered Connie.

Elise cocked her head on one side with a sympathetic expression, and then said, "Well, it's a lovely day for a picnic, which should cheer you up. Here, I've picked out a dress for you to wear today - I think you'll look wonderful in it." She handed Connie a dress and said "Try it on - I'd like to see how you look in it."

"Can I put some underwear on first?" asked Connie plaintively.

"Of course! Let's see - a thong, I suppose?"

"Yeah," replied Connie reluctantly. "I'll not break my promise to Jack."

Elise handed her a thong and a bra, and then waited for Connie to put them on.

"Um," said Connie, "would you mind…"

"Oh nonsense," said Elise briskly. "After last night there's absolutely no point in being shy with me now, is there?"

Connie could see the logic in this, though she was far from happy about it. She threw off the covers and put on her thong and bra, right under Elise's gaze. Elise then handed her the dress. When she took it, Connie's first reaction was 'Oh God - how am I going to wear this?' But she could not bring herself to complain yet again about the alterations Elise had made to her clothes, especially since yesterday she had given Elise permission to use her judgment in making any alterations she deemed necessary. So instead she meekly said "Thank you", and stood up to put the dress on.

It was a sleeveless microdress, and terribly short, even compared with the one she had worn yesterday evening. It barely covered her crotch in front, so she was a little worried that her buttocks might be peeping below the hem at the back. But that was not all. The neck of the dress was cut so low that a great expanse of her chest was showing - as well as most of her bra.

"Oh dear," said Elise, frowning. "That will never do."

"No indeed!" agreed Connie fervently, much relieved that Elise shared her opinion of how indecent the dress looked.

"The bra will have to come off," said Elise firmly. "We can't have it showing like that."

Connie's heart sank as Elise helped her out of the dress. She removed her bra, and then put the dress back on. Now a large proportion of her breasts was visible, and although her nipples were just below the neckline, the upper third of her araeolae was exposed.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Elise, pleased. "Now, let's go and have some breakfast."

"I'm nearly naked," grumbled Connie.

"Nearly, but not. That's the secret," said Elise knowledgeably.

"But what if we meet people when we go out for our picnic?" asked Connie.

"What if we do?" Elise did not seem worried by this possibility. "You're not showing anything that people could not see if you were sun-bathing, as a lot of people do on the Alpine slopes in the summer. Really, you have nothing to worry about."

Despondently, Connie trooped downstairs after Elise. She expected her nipples to keep popping out with each step, but fortunately the dress was light enough and loose enough to bounce up and down in time with her unfettered breasts.

Elise had already packed their lunch things, so after breakfast they set out almost immediately. They climbed uphill, along a well-trodden mountain path, and for a while saw nobody. After an hour's walk they were both getting tired, but especially Elise, who was carrying the rucksack. She stopped and mopped her brow.

"Whew!" she said. "It's getting hot. And this pack seems to be getting heavier!"

"I'll carry it for a while if you like," said Connie. "In fact I insist. It's not fair that you should carry it all the way."

"Well, thank you very much," said Elise gratefully. "I should appreciate that. But shall we take a short break before we press on?"

Connie nodded, and they sat down for a few minutes to catch their breath and have a drink. While they were resting, they heard voices coming from the path below, and around the corner there appeared a small party of men in their mid-twenties.

"Right, let's press on," said Elise, getting up.

Connie unhappily got to her feet. She would far rather have waited until the men passed them by before continuing. But as Elise marched off up the hillside, Connie trotted to catch up before falling into a steady pace a few steps behind the older woman. The young men soon caught up, but strangely enough they did not attempt to overtake the women. Connie felt their eyes on her bottom, and hoped that her dress was covering her buttocks adequately.

In fact, though Connie did not know it, the rucksack had caused the back of her dress to ride up, completely exposing her bottom to the men behind her. Hardly believing their good luck, they stared at her thong-clad posterior with unblinking eyes, quite content to slow their pace to match that of the women. Soon, the path became a lot steeper, and there came many occasions when Connie's buttocks were mere inches from the face of the nearest male hiker. Whenever she stumbled and put her hands down to steady herself, her crotch, barely covered by the thin strip of material, came into full view. Before long, several reels of film had been used up by that party.

For a full hour they proceeded thus, until Connie gave scarcely a thought to the men staring at her bottom. Eventually they came to a grassy meadow high up on the mountainside - what Elise called an 'alp' - and Connie flopped down and removed her pack. Elise sat down beside her. Reluctantly, the men passed on - they had far to go and were now severely behind schedule.

"What a beautiful view!" exclaimed Connie, looking out across the valley, stretched out below her, to the snowy peaks beyond. Behind her more peaks rose up, much closer, and Connie was dazzled by the sun shining on high snowfields.

"Isn't it!" agreed Elise. She looked at her watch. "Ten-thirty," she said. "The sun's getting strong. We need to get some sunscreen on you." She fished a bottle out of the rucksack, and squeezed some into her hand. "Close your eyes," she said.

Connie obediently did so, and Elise covered her face with the cream, making sure not to miss any skin. She rubbed cream on Connie's nose, ears, cheeks and forehead, then moved down to her neck.

"Lean forward," she instructed. As Connie bent her head, Elise moved the young woman's hair out of the way and poured some cream on to the back of her neck.

Connie shivered. "That tickles!" she said with a giggle.

Elise smiled. "Sorry," she said. She finished off the back of Connie's neck, then moved around, doing the sides and then the front, working the cream all the way up to her chin, and then down to her chest. Pouring far more cream into her hand than she really needed, she licked her lips before tackling the next part. But with scarcely a moment's hesitation, she slapped the cream between Connie's breasts and worked it to the left and to the right, slipping her hand inside the low neckline. Connie gasped as she felt Elise's hand cup each breast in turn, but although she felt cream rubbed thoroughly into every part of her breasts, even the lower halves below her nipples, Elise's manner was so brusque and businesslike that Connie did not feel she could justifiably complain that she had just been groped.

"You'd better stand up while I do your legs," said Elise.

"I can manage to do my own legs," said Connie in a small voice as she got to her feet.

"That's okay," said Elise. "No need to get your hands messy, too. And you can't see the backs of your legs, so you won't know how thorough you are being." She started at Connie's ankles, then worked her way up, alternating between legs as her hands climbed upwards. Left calf, left shin, right shin, right calf, knees and knee-pits, right lower thigh, left lower thigh, left upper thigh, right upper thigh. Then, because Connie's dress was so short, she rubbed some cream into the lower part of Connie's buttocks, even slipping her hand in between at one point, and then along both edges of her thong in front.

This quite took Connie's breath away, but before she could protest, Elise stood up and said "Arms out", and as Connie extended her arms, Elise rubbed cream all the way down from shoulders to hands.

"All done!" she said brightly. "Now, let's have a bite to eat. I know it's not lunchtime yet, but I'm getting a little hungry."

They sat down on the grass, and Elise began to pull packages out of the rucksack. Meanwhile, Connie grimaced and tugged at her thong. "It's all very well for Jack to insist that I wear thongs," she said, "but really they're not ideal for distance walking. I'm chafing terribly."

Elise gave her a sympathetic look. "Well, I won't tell him if you want to take it off for a while."

Connie glanced about but saw nobody. "Very well," she said, and she slipped off the offending garment, while attempting to keep her pussy covered by the hem of her dress. Since it was a loose-fitting dress, and she was sitting up, this was actually quite possible despite its short length.

Elise took a bite out of the peach she had just taken from their cool-bag. It was very ripe and the juice ran down her chin. Scooping it up, she said to Connie, "Want one?"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry just yet," said Connie. She looked down thoughtfully at her arms and legs. "How strong is that sunscreen?" she asked. "Will I still get tanned at all?"

"A little, if you sunbathe long enough," replied Elise. "The air's thinner up here and so the sun has more power than in the valley." She finished her peach. "Are you ready to get moving again?"

"Can't I sunbathe for a while first?" asked Connie. "I didn't get much sleep last night, and we've been walking for two hours - I'm pretty tired."

"Of course, dear," said Elise. "How inconsiderate of me. We'll stop here just as long as you like. Why don't you lie down and close your eyes? I'll let you know when you should turn over and do the other side."

"Okay, thank you," said Connie, and she lay back in the grass, closing her eyes.

"Would you like to take off your dress?" suggested Elise. "Get an all-over tan?"

"No!" said Connie firmly. "Anybody might come by at any time. I'm quite happy to do just my arms and legs."

"Suit yourself," said Elise, "but I think you won't be able to avoid tanning more than just your arms and legs." She got out the sunscreen and poured some into her palm. "Since you've taken off your thong, I'd better put some cream on that area." With that, she placed her hand on Connie's pussy and began rubbing sunscreen into her labia.

"Hey!" exclaimed Connie, propping herself up on to her elbows and glaring at Elise.

"It had to be done," said Elise firmly, putting the cream away. "When you're lying down like that, your dress doesn't quite cover you properly."

"Whose fault is that?" asked Connie petulantly, lying back down again.

"Now now, don't be like that. And you may wish to spread your legs a bit, if you want to tan the insides of your thighs. If you keep them together like that, you'll have a white stripe down the inside of each leg."

Connie sighed, but parted her legs slightly. "How's that?" she asked.

"A little more - the inside of your left leg is slightly in shadow."

Connie spread her legs still more. "You will tell me if you see somebody coming, won't you?" she asked.

"Of course, dear. A little further apart, I think."

Connie obliged, her legs now forming an angle of almost thirty degrees.

Elise smiled as she stared at Connie's exposed pussy. "That's better," she said. She took out of the rucksack her sewing kit and one of Connie's dresses, and began to work on it while Connie sunbathed. After only a few minutes, Connie's breathing became more regular and pronounced. Elise turned to look at her. "Connie?" she said. But Connie made no reply. She had fallen asleep.

Ten minutes later, a group of hikers appeared over the crest of the hill, climbing up on to the alp towards them. They were talking and laughing amongst themselves, but Elise managed to catch the eye of one of the men in front, and she held a finger to her lips.

"Connie," she whispered, "there's someone coming."

But Connie was fast asleep and could not be awoken with a mere whisper. Meanwhile, the leader of the group had motioned to his companions to keep quiet, and stealthily they all approached. In awe at the sight before them, they stared down at Connie's naked, shaven pussy, and one or two of them produced cameras. As they snapped away, Elise reached over and gently tugged on the neckline of Connie's dress until her nipples were exposed. More photos were taken. Finally, with grins and waves and thumbs-up signs, the hikers departed, and Elise replaced Connie's dress to cover her nipples once more.

It was then that she noticed a movement in the grass between Connie's legs. Bending down to look, she saw an earthworm moving through the grass in the shadow of Connie's leg. It was heading straight for her pussy, though whether by accident or design Elise had no idea. Watching in fascination, she held her breath as the worm reached Connie's labia and recoiled as it touched her flesh. A second later, it probed forward again, and again recoiled.

Elise reached over and carefully parted Connie's pussy lips, then watched with satisfaction as the questing worm discovered Connie's moist vagina. It surged forward, elongating itself, and slid the front of its body into Connie's orifice. Intrigued and excited, Elise continued to watch while more and more of the worm disappeared into Connie's cunt. As the last of it vanished from sight, Elise noticed other worms oozing through the grass, all making a bee-line for Connie's pussy. With Elise's help, one by one they entered the young woman, and ten minutes later Elise had counted nine that had completely disappeared inside Connie. And still they were coming. Pretty soon, Elise began to worry that there would not be room in Connie's cunt for all the worms she was seeing in the grass. She counted the worms emerging from beneath Connie's legs, from the grass beneath her pussy, from out of the earth between her thighs, and crawling through the grass along the shadow of her leg, and the total was thirty-five. As she finished the count, even more were pushing their way up from the soil beneath the grass.

After another twenty minutes, Connie was still asleep, but her vagina was so full that her opening was distended, and a mass of writhing, glistening worms was visible inside. Still more worms were pushing their way in, but now, one or two were beginning to come out again. As the morning wore on, more hikers came and went, but Elise waved them onward and they caught only a glimpse of Connie's naked pussy before continuing on their way.

Three quarters of an hour after it had started, the worm traffic had reached a state of equilibrium, with as many leaving as entering. Elise had watched them closely all that time, enjoying the view but puzzling over the earthworms' behaviour. Cockroaches, leeches, and now worms seemed to have an irresistible fascination for Connie's body. What was it all about? And had she always had this problem?

Although she hated to interrupt the proceedings, Elise decided that it was time for Connie to turn over. She nudged the young woman's shoulder. "Connie?"

Connie stirred. "Mmm?" she replied, still half-asleep.

"You need to turn over and do the other side, dear," said Elise.

Connie sleepily picked herself up and turned herself over, lying back down on the grass on her front in the same spot as before. Her dress, twisted around and rucked up at the back, was now exposing almost all of her bottom.

"Connie dear, I think I'd better put some more cream on your bottom - you're showing a bit more than before."

"Mmkay," Connie mumbled, and she dozed off again.

Elise poured an unnecessarily large quantity of sunscreen into her palm, and applied it liberally to Connie's buttocks. She took her time about it, squeezing and kneading the firm flesh, but Connie was oblivious. Or so Elise thought. Great was her surprise when, after working her hand between Connie's buttocks and sliding it over her anus as she massaged the cream well into Connie's supple flesh, the young woman murmured, "Mmmm, that's nice..."

Elise was both startled and gratified by this reaction, but she was unsure whether Connie was awake enough to be fully aware of the situation. She finished working the cream in, then leaned over to check on the earthworms.

Connie's cunt was still very obviously full of worms. But Elise could see no more entering, and every few seconds one or two would slither out and burrow into the ground. Over the next fifteen minutes, the exodus continued, until she guessed that Connie's vagina was pretty much empty, except for the cockroach egg cases. In this she was mistaken.

Another half hour passed. At half past twelve, Elise nudged Connie awake. "Wake up, Connie dear," she said. "It's lunchtime. We can either eat here or go on and find a nicer spot. It's up to you."

Connie rolled over on to her back, sat up, and rubbed her eyes. "How long was I asleep?" she asked.

"Nearly two hours. I think you needed it."

Connie nodded. "Well, I don't mind if we eat here," she said.

They ate their lunch, and afterwards Connie got to her feet. Looking around on the ground, she said, "Where's my thong?"

"In the rucksack," said Elise. "Do you want it back?"

"Not especially," said Connie, "because it'll chafe me all the way back if I wear it. Is there any chance we could take another route back down? A route where we won't meet anybody?"

"We could head up into the forest," said Elise, "and work our way back out of sight of the path. Would that do?"

Connie nodded. "Sounds great," she said.

Elise slung the rucksack over her back and led Connie up the alp towards a distant line of trees, giving a small group of cows a wide berth. The oh-so-Alpine sound of cowbells was music to Connie's ears, but as Elise explained, cows had a habit of attracting biting flies, which were not averse to drinking human blood if it was available.

Unfortunately, the forest proved far worse on that score. Disliking the breeze on the alp, most of the biting flies accommodated themselves as a rule among the trees, where they were protected from the wind. Connie had not gone more than a few yards into the forest when she found herself surrounded by flies. Looking down, she saw to her horror that her dress, arms and legs were swarming with them already. And they were like no biting flies she had ever seen before. Large (more than half an inch in length), with brownish-grey, barrel-shaped bodies and heads that bore huge iridescent eyes, they bore no proboscis but instead bit into their prey with saw-like jaws, leaving two red pinpricks as evidence of their attack. Unlike mosquitoes, they flew silently, so that the pain of the bite was a victim's first indication that one of these monsters was in the vicinity. Known to some as 'horseflies', and to others as 'clegs', they were horrible little things.

Their silent flight was the reason Connie found herself covered so suddenly. The whine of so many mosquitoes would have kept her far from the edge of the trees, but in truth she did not see the danger until she found herself under attack. Before she could react, hundreds of clegs had already swarmed up the inside of her dress and begun to feast on her breasts, back and belly, while others had bitten into her arms, legs, pussy and buttocks.

Connie screamed and flapped at the flies ineffectually. Elise, who had by now begun to suffer a similar attack (though not as severe since less of her flesh was available), began to hot-foot it through the trees.

"Run!" she shouted to Connie. "They can't stay on you if you move quickly!"

Since Connie's natural instinct was to flee at this point, the advice made immediate sense even in her distressed state. She dashed off after Elise, and sure enough the clegs on her dress, and on her arms and legs, soon disappeared, although she found herself running through clouds of the biting flies all the time. Beneath her dress, however, a great many clegs were protected by the wind, and these continued to feast until Connie, in desperation, whipped her dress up over her head and continued to run in the nude (except for her shoes). In her haste she dropped her dress, but she was far too panic-stricken to stop and go back for it.

The remainder of the clegs on her body soon vanished. After two or three minutes' more running, they came to steeper ground and here they had to slow down to avoid having a nasty accident. Fortunately, they seemed to have come out of the cleg 'hotspot', and Connie found only one or two settled on her as she proceeded at a walking pace. These she quickly despatched with a swat of her hand.

"Sorry about that," said Elise. "I didn't realise the woods would be so thick with them."

"I'm covered in bites!" moaned Connie. She stopped and sat down on the top of a large hummock at the base of a pine tree. "Look!" she said, pointing at her legs. Pairs of tiny little red dots peppered her flesh all over. She bent over forwards to rub at a particularly painful bite on her ankle.

But her ordeal was about to begin anew. Not being used to country life, Connie had failed to realise that hummocks of pine needles in pine forests mean one thing and one thing only - nests of wood ants. Within seconds, the enraged ants had climbed in their hundreds all over Connie's pussy and bottom and were busy nipping at her, but for a while she simply assumed she was still feeling the effects of the clegs' bites on her pelvic region. Bent over as she was, with her pussy lips spread and squished into the nest, she was completely unaware that ants were at that moment climbing up inside her cunt.

Elise, however, had been startled and intrigued when Connie had deposited her naked bottom on top of a huge ants' nest. She gave Connie no warning, but watched intently to see what would happen.

All too soon Connie sat up and noticed the myriads of ants darting over her bare legs and, worse, her pussy seething with a scuttling mass of dark brown ants. She leaped to her feet in a panic and screamed again.

"Dear me, they are only ants," said Elise, coming over to help. She brushed the ants from Connie's pussy and legs, before turning her around and wiping more from her bottom.

"Why have all the creatures in this country got it in for me?" asked Connie morosely, once she had calmed down a little.

"Well, sitting on an ants' nest is never a good idea," said Elise, "but that is especially true when one is naked. And the flies were just doing what they do … and they bit me as well as you."

"I suppose so," said Connie. "But now what am I going to do? I'm naked and I've lost my dress."

Elise nodded. "Well, we can carry on through the forest," she said, "although there will be other places with just as many horseflies as there were back there…"

"No!" said Connie firmly. "That was a horrible experience - I don't want to come across any more of those things."

"The other choice is to go back to the path and hope we don't meet anybody," said Elise.

Connie sighed. "As awful as that sounds, I'd rather do that than face any more horseflies."

Elise smiled. "All right then," she said. "But the sun is still strong out there, and it's been a while since we put your sunscreen on. It only lasts a couple of hours - I should put some more on you."

"All right," said Connie, and she allowed Elise to cover her from head to toe in lotion, not even protesting when Elise took extra care over her breasts, pussy and bottom.

Elise led Connie out of the forest and back to the path, which was beginning to get busy with afternoon hill-walkers. To Connie's utter mortification, they met groups of people at least every couple of minutes, and there were many stares and exclamations to endure. Worse still, they were caught up by some French-speaking men who engaged Elise in conversation while grinning appreciatively at Connie.

The journey back took an hour and a half, although it seemed like forever to poor Connie. Eventually, however, they reached the house, and with great relief Connie rushed indoors and flopped down in an armchair in the living room.

"What an awful day!" she groaned.

"I am sorry," said Elise. "I had hoped to make this a nice day for you."

Connie was instantly contrite. "Oh no," she said, "the picnic was lovely - it was a great idea. It was just what happened afterwards that was so awful. I'm really sorry I lost that dress, after all the work you did on it."

"That's okay," said Elise with a smile. "I was quite pleased with that one … but, no matter."

"I'd like to make it up to you," said Connie earnestly.

Elise's smile became a grin. "Well, I'm planning to go on a little shopping trip into Lucerne tomorrow," she said. "I'd be grateful for some company, if you're willing to come along…"

Connie bit her lip, but nodded. "I'd be glad to," she said.

"In the meantime," said Elise, "you may find that some ants have got inside you. Do you want to leave them there or shall I have a go at getting them out?"

Connie's face fell. "I hadn't thought of that," she said, and she sighed. "Would you mind...?"

"Not at all," said Elise with a smile. "If you'd like to lie on the sofa, like you did last night..."

Connie took her shoes off, got up, moved across to the sofa, and lay down with her legs spread wide. Elise went off to fetch the baby oil, and when she returned she sat down and lubed up her hand. Gently she slid one finger into Connie's vagina, and then another. Feeling around, she felt a couple of little hard objects, and she drew them out. They were, indeed, dead ants. Re-inserting her fingers, she searched around but could find no more.

"I can't find any more," she said. "At least not within a few inches of your opening. Would you like me to check deeper? It would mean inserting my whole hand."

"I think I'd like to be sure that there are no more in there," said Connie. "I'm sorry - I know it's an awful imposition..."

"Think nothing of it," said Elise cheerfully, and she began to push more fingers into Connie's cunt. In a moment she had her entire hand inside, with scarcely a wince from Connie. She felt around, and soon discovered a large number of small soft objects, which were obviously not ants but just as obviously were not the cockroach egg cases. She was about to pull one out to take a look at it, when it suddenly occurred to her that they might be the egg cases of earthworms, if worms produced such things. At any rate, it would be interesting to find out.

She withdrew her hand. "No more ants," she said. "At least, I couldn't find any."

"Good," said Connie. "Thank you."

"Well," said Elise, "you've had quite an ordeal. Shall I bring you a nice cup of tea?"

"That would be lovely, thank you," said Connie. "I'll go and get dressed."

"Oh, of course," said Elise, "you'll want your thong back." She fetched the skimpy garment from the rucksack and handed it to Connie. "Are you planning to go out again today?"

"No," said Connie, as she slipped on the thong. "Why?"

"Are you cold?" asked Elise.

"No," said Connie again. "I'm quite warm, actually."

"Then do you really need to put another dress on?" inquired Elise.

"Well," said Connie, and hesitated.

"You can put a dress on later, when it gets cooler," said Elise. "Until then there's really no reason why you shouldn't stay as you are."

"But, I'm topless!" said Connie. "And ... you're here."

Elise laughed. "I don't mind seeing you topless," she said. "And I've seen you naked already - there's no point in being shy around me."

"I suppose not," said Connie doubtfully.

"I'll go and make that cup of tea," said Elise.

She left the room and walked towards the kitchen. As she passed the doorway to the basement, however, she heard a muffled thump coming from down below. Puzzled, she returned to the living room.

"I just heard a strange noise down in the basement," she said. "I'm just going to check it out."

Instantly Connie sat up. "Oh, don't," she said. "There are rats down there."

"Didn't Jacques put down poison for them, though?" asked Elise with a furrowed brow.

"Well, yes," admitted Connie.

"Then there shouldn't be any left," said Elise. She fetched a torch from a toolbox in the utility closet, which she had discovered while cleaning, and put on a pair of wellington boots. Opening the door to the basement, she started to descend.

Connie came running up behind her. "I don't like the thought of you going down there on your own," she said.

"I'll be fine," said Elise. "But you can come with me if it would make you feel any better."

Connie shivered, but she followed Elise down the steps, peering around to see if she could spy any rodents. So far she could not, so she nervously continued.

"Wow, this mud's pretty deep!" said Elise. She flashed her torch around, then started off towards the far end of the basement. Her going was slow, as she had to pull her boots free with each step, but before long she was a good ten feet away from the steps.

Connie paused at the bottom of the steps, and then, with a sigh, she stepped into the mud with her bare feet. Able to make faster progress than Elise, she soon caught up and followed close behind as they approached the far wall. Elise flashed her torch around the bare shelves, but no rats appeared. Connie was relieved, and began to think that, maybe, Jack had succeeded in eliminating the rats.

"I've just found some of the poison," said Elise, shining her torch on a saucer which had been placed on one of the shelves. "But it doesn't look like it has been touched ... and I've not seen any dead rats anywhere."

"It was in a different part of the basement that I was attacked," said Connie. "I also came down here to investigate a strange noise, but I never found out what it was."

"There seems to be something over there," said Elise, shining her torch towards the far corner. Just then, there was a thump, followed by a scraping sound. "There," she said. "That's where the noise is coming from."

They made their way over to the corner, and discovered a small grille fixed to the wall on a level with the surface of the mud - only here the mud was more liquid - almost watery. The grille was attached only at one side, and a gentle breath of air from beyond it was enough to set it swinging. Occasionally it swung shut with an audible thump, and occasionally it opened wide enough for its lower edge to scrape against the wall. Elise stooped, opened the grille wide, and shone her torch into the hole.

It looked like a long pipe, about eighteen inches in diameter and made of corrugated metal. The light from the torch only illuminated the first thirty feet or so of the pipe, and it ran perfectly straight for at least that distance.

"How strange," said Elise. "I wonder where that goes?"

"Does it matter?" asked Connie.

"I don't know," replied Elise. "Possibly. The house could be burgled by anyone who knows this route into the basement."

"Oh," said Connie. "I suppose it could." She did not like the thought of strangers being able to creep into her house unnoticed. "We could bolt the grille in place," she suggested.

"Possibly," said Elise, "but this wall looks rather soft and crumbly. It would not take much to force the grille open, I think. Besides, I am curious about where this tunnel leads. I think I shall crawl in there and have a look."

"What?" Connie was scandalised. "You can't go in there! It's so narrow! Even if you fit, if you get attacked by rats, you won't have room to manoeuvre and defend yourself!"

"I don't see any rats down there," said Elise, "and if, as I'm going along, I see any up ahead, I'll just back out again."

"But you'll get all dirty!" said Connie.

"That doesn't bother me," said Elise. "I can always wash an old t-shirt and denim jeans. It's not like I'm messing up anything smart."

"But," continued Connie desperately, "you'll be leaving me all alone in this basement, in the dark. What if the rats are just hiding, and they come and attack me when you're gone?"

"A fair point," conceded Elise. "You had better go back upstairs into the house, where it's safe."

Connie shook her head. "If I do, there will be nobody to help you if you get into trouble."

"So come with me," said Elise. "I don't mind what you do, but I'm going in." She crawled into the hole head first, then shuffled her body further and further in until she disappeared from view.

Connie fidgeted unhappily for a moment, and then, making up her mind, she crawled into the hole after Elise. If she was going to be attacked by rats again, at least this time she would not be alone.

The going was tough. The pipe was so narrow that Connie had to stretch her legs out behind her, her arms in front of her, and propel herself with her toes and her fingers. Her naked breasts dragged in two inches of mud. After a couple of minutes, Elise's muffled voice came back, "I've reached a junction. One pipe carries on forwards; the other goes left and slightly upwards. Which way do you think we should go?"

"I think we should go back," said Connie. "If there are junctions and stuff, we could get lost if we're not careful."

"We'll be careful then," said Elise. "I'll try going left."

Connie could barely see anything, since Elise's body eclipsed the torchlight, but it was fairly obvious when she came to the junction, and she followed the dim, dancing light down an opening to her left. Getting her legs around the corner was tricky, but by turning on to her side she managed it. She now found herself crawling uphill, gently at first, and then more steeply. The bottom of the pipe here was dry, for which she was grateful, but she now discovered wisps of something fine and threadlike brushing against her face every few seconds.

"Lots of spider webs here," Elise reported. "Some of them go all the way across the tunnel. I keep having to push through them."

Connie shifted uncomfortably. She was none too keen on arachnids. She hoped the older woman would sweep any spiders before her.

"Oh!" Elise's voice sounded disappointed. "I've come to the end of the tunnel. There's a vertical shaft here, and I can make out a grating at the top, but it's dark beyond and I can't see anything."

"I guess we'll have to go back, then," said Connie, relieved.

"Yes, you'd better start going backwards," agreed Elise.

Connie shuffled back towards the junction as quickly as she could, glad to be moving away from the spiders. When she reached the bottom, she backed into the unexplored section so that she would be able to face forwards for the journey back to the cellar. However, she had misunderstood Elise's plan. When Elise backed into the tunnel, she went the other way, so that she ended up facing Connie. The two woman looked at each other for a moment in the torchlight.

"Go on then," said Connie.

"You'll have to move first," said Elise.

"I can't - you're in the way," said Connie.

"Oh! But we haven't explored that tunnel yet," said Elise, pointing past Connie.

"I thought you agreed we'd go back!" protested Connie.

"Back to the junction, I meant," said Elise. "I still want to see where this goes."

"But we've found out what we set out to discover," said Connie. "There's an entrance to the tunnel outside the house. All we need to do is go and find it."

And so they argued, back and forth, for a couple of minutes. Eventually Elise wore Connie down, and Connie agreed to continue exploring. "But you'll have to let me turn around," she said.

"All right," said Elise, and she backed up a few feet.

Connie crawled forwards and turned into the sloping section, then she backed up around the corner towards Elise. Finally she crawled forward into the unexplored part. Then she realised a flaw in this plan.

"I'll need that torch," she called back to Elise.

Elise, who had been shining the torch on Connie's thong-clad crotch, which was just a foot or so away from her face, reluctantly passed the torch forward. Connie took it, and resumed shuffling forwards.

Soon the tunnel began to slope downwards, which made the going easier. Then the slope increased in steepness, and here the pipe changed from corrugated metal to smooth yellow plastic. Connie was about to shout back to Elise that they would have to turn back, when her hands slipped and she shot down the tunnel, unable to stop herself. Though the pipe was smooth, she quickly acquired friction burns on her elbows, knees and hips, and her thong was whipped down her legs and lost behind her. Suddenly she emerged into daylight, and plunged headfirst into a muddy pool.

Coughing and spluttering, she broke the surface, and sat up. She found she was sitting in part of a drainage ditch that ran along the side of the rough road that ran past her house. The ditch was filled with liquid mud that came up almost to her nipples. Wiping mud from her hair and face, she dodged suddenly to one side as Elise emerged from the end of the pipe and splashed into the pool beside her.

"Ugh!" gasped Elise as she surfaced. She wiped mud from her face, then she said, "Well, now we know. Must be a drainage pipe for when the basement gets flooded. Do you think there are leeches in this mud?"

Connie grimaced. "I hope not. Come on, let's get back to the house to clean up." She got to her feet, stepped out of the muddy pool, and wiped some of the mud from her naked body. "Can't see any leeches," she said.

She helped Elise out of the pool, and the two of them walked up the edge of the road towards the house. A car drove by, and honked twice. Connie was too weary to bother attempting to cover up. They reached the house, entered, and while Connie showered in her en suite bathroom, Elise bathed in the main bathroom next door. Soon they were both clean.

Elise, wearing a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, walked into Connie's bedroom as Connie was drying her hair. She was pleased to see Connie was wearing only a thong. "I'm going to make a start on supper now," she said, as Connie switched off the dryer. "What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?"

"I thought I'd take a look in the garage," said Connie. "I've been thinking, and it's my guess that the vertical shaft you couldn't climb emerges somewhere inside there. I thought I'd look for it."

"Good idea," said Elise. "I'm afraid I haven't cleaned in there yet, though. I've been concentrating on the house."

"That's okay," said Connie. "Garages aren't supposed to be spotlessly clean." She got up and walked out of the room, with Elise following immediately afterward.

The garage was built on to the side of the house, and was accessed via a side door that lay on the far side of the breakfast room. As Elise disappeared into the kitchen to prepare their supper, Connie unlocked the door to the garage and walked through.

Immediately she shuddered. Cobwebs were everywhere. Some of them stretched from one side of the garage to the other. Two months ago, when Jack had bought the house, the previous occupants had told him that the garage was full of unwanted furniture, which he was welcome to have if he wanted it. Not being a man to pass up on a potential money-making opportunity, Jack had accepted. Unfortunately in the course of his renovations he had never got around to clearing out the garage.

As Connie coughed on the musty air and the dust she had inadvertently kicked up on entering, she wondered if in fact anybody had been in this garage for the last ten years. A thick layer of dust lay over everything, and the spiders' webs were everywhere. Connie regarded them with distaste.

Looking around what little floor area she could see, she was unable to spot the grate which Elise had reported seeing at the top of the shaft. But most of the floor was covered with wooden furniture, stacked high and, to Connie's mind, rather precariously. She made her way to the far end of the garage, brushing away large cobwebs that lay in her path, and found that there was a route under the stack of furniture, a sort of tunnel formed by accident as a result of the arrangement of the chairs and tables that comprised the bottom layer of the stack.

Connie got down on to her hands and knees and started along this tunnel. Thick cobwebs spanned the tunnel every few inches along the way, preventing her from seeing very far ahead, but she bravely pushed through them, getting herself thoroughly coated in old spider silk in the process. Soon, however, she found what she was looking for - a round grate set into the floor, just barely visible in the dim light. This, then, was the other end of the tunnel. Her curiosity satisfied, Connie began to crawl backwards, but just then she felt a light touch on her shoulder. Looking down quickly, she was horrified to discover a huge, brown, long-legged spider climbing over her shoulder and down towards her breast. She flicked it off and tried to jump back, but in doing so she fell over backwards, and dislodged one of the chairs at the base of the stack of furniture.

With a terrible creaking and crashing sound, the stack collapsed a little. A chair above Connie dropped on to her, pinning her to the floor. More weight of furniture settled on top of the chair, holding it firmly in position. Connie, using all her strength, was unable to move it. She was trapped. Caught up in a hundred different spider webs, she struggled like an ensnared fly.

The owners of those webs, attracted by these signals, descended upon Connie as they would upon their insect prey. Each one had legs that spanned three inches from tip to tip, and although their bodies were small in comparison with the tarantulas of the tropics, they seemed frighteningly big to someone who was used to ordinary little British spiders.

The arachnids scurried up Connie's arms and legs, climbed her hair, and dropped on her from above. Soon dozens of them were dashing hither and thither across her body, trailing long strands of silk, attempting to cocoon her. Some of them bit her breasts in an attempt to poison her - a rather futile effort since their poison was designed for paralysing insects, not people, but the bites stung, nevertheless.

All of this happened in a fraction of a second, after which Connie screamed. Fortunately Elise, in the kitchen, heard her at once, and came running to see what was the matter. When she saw the predicament Connie was in, she was very concerned.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "Have you broken anything?"

"No!" cried Connie, "but spiders are attacking me! Help! Start pulling furniture off me!"

Elise did so, but it was ten minutes before she managed to get down to Connie. By this time the unfortunate young woman's body was seething with spiders, and was wrapped in a fine cocoon of silk from neck to toe. Elise swept several of the creatures off Connie with her hand, and the rest scattered for cover.

"Thank you!" said Connie, getting to her feet and pulling the silk from her body. "The whole pile collapsed while I was under it. But I answered my question, at any rate - the grate, and the top of the shaft, is indeed here."

"Good!" said Elise. "The mystery is solved. Now I think you had better come inside before you have any more accidents. You really are a walking disaster area, aren't you?"

Connie pouted and followed Elise into the house, sticking out her tongue behind her housekeeper's back. Inside, she went upstairs and lay down to calm her nerves. Worn out from the day's excitement, she drifted off to sleep.

When she next awoke, Elise was shaking her shoulder gently.

"Hungry?" inquired Elise.

Connie got up and the two of them went downstairs to have supper. After a starter of a particularly thick and gloopy tomato soup, followed by a delicious main course of chicken pieces in a white wine and mushroom sauce with broccoli and mashed potatoes, Elise took the plates into the kitchen. Connie followed, bringing the soup dishes.

"What's for pudding?" asked Connie, placing the dishes on the counter.

"Creamed rice," said Elise, indicating a large pan on the stove.

Connie peered in. "Wow, you've made a lot," she said. "The two of us will never get through all that!"

"I had a little accident," Elise confessed. "While I was pouring the rice into the boiling water, I got spattered by hot oil from the frying pan, and I dropped the whole rice bag into the saucepan."

Connie grinned mischievously. "Dear me, Elise," she said, "you really are a walking disaster area, aren't you?"

Elise's eyes flashed in mock anger, and she grabbed a handful of mashed potato from one of the saucepans on the stove. She flung it at Connie, who squealed and tried to duck, but she was not quick enough and the potato splattered across her bare breasts.

"Ooh," she said to Elise dangerously, "you are so in trouble now!" She gathered a double handful of creamed rice from the large pan (it was very warm still, but not hot enough to scald), and rushed forwards.

Elise ducked, but Connie merely plastered the rice over her housekeeper's head, mashing it into her hair. Elise gasped in horror and cried, "You ... bitch! That will never come out!"

"That'll teach you not to be so impudent!" declared Connie triumphantly, and she laughed at Elise's aggrieved expression..

Elise was now fully fired up for battle. Taking the pan of tomato soup from the counter, she advanced towards Connie threateningly.

"You wouldn't dare!" exclaimed Connie.

But Elise did dare. She up-ended the pan over Connie's head, and the thick soup poured in a reddish-orange deluge over Connie's beautiful tawny curls. Large globs of it dropped on to her breasts, covering her nipples.

"Right," said Connie, "that's it - you've really had it now!" She grabbed Elise's t-shirt and pulled it up over her head, then she spun the smaller woman around and pulled the garment down her back, and off her shoulders, a manoeuvre which effectively pinned Elise's arms to her sides. Grinning malevolently, Connie helped herself to a couple of handfuls of mashed potato, and stuffed them into the left cup of Elise's bra. The next two handfuls she stuffed into the right cup. Then she pressed the palms of her hands against the outside of both cups, squishing the mess into Elise's breasts and causing it to splurge over the top. Then she unzipped Elise's jeans, pulled out the waistband of her panties, plunged a handful of rice pudding inside, and let the waistband snap back into place.

Elise struggled out of her t-shirt, and ran to a cupboard. Pulling out a can of baked beans, she ripped off the ring-pull top and rushed up to Connie. Pulling the young woman's thong open, she shook the can upside down and poured its contents inside. Then she let go. The thong did not hold much, and the rest fell to the floor with a splat.

Connie, her eyes shining, now also ran to the cupboard to see what she could find. As she grabbed four more cans of beans, however, Elise tackled her from behind, and both women crashed to the floor. Elise grabbed the pan of creamed rice and, as Connie rolled over on to her back, poured the pan's entire contents over Connie's chest. Then, sitting on Connie's stomach and pinning Connie's arms beneath her knees, Elise began rubbing the mess over Connie's breasts.

Struggling out from beneath Elise, Connie ripped the tops off two of the cans of beans that had fallen on to the floor. Then, setting them down, she grabbed Elise's jeans and pulled. Getting to her feet, she hauled upwards on the bottoms of the trouser legs, hauling Elise's legs high into the air. Helpless, Elise flailed on the ground as her jeans were inexorably pulled off her legs. When the waistband had reached her knees, she kicked her legs free and rolled over on to her front in order to get up.

But Connie was not about to allow that. She flung herself on top of Elise, flattening the older woman. Grabbing the opened cans of beans, she sat herself on Elise's back and pulled open the back of Elise's panties. Then she poured the contents of both cans inside so that they formed a huge pile over and between Elise's buttocks, and poured down the gusset between her legs. She dropped the waistband back into place and pressed down on the huge messy bulge, squishing beans into her housekeeper's bottom.

Elise retaliated in style. Twisting out from beneath Connie, she scissored her legs around Connie's thighs and launched herself off from the floor, neatly flipping Connie on to her side. Grabbing Connie's wrists and pulling them behind her back, Elise managed to get Connie pinned, lying face down. She took hold of Connie's thong and yanked it down her legs. Pulling a handful of baked beans out of her own panties, she slapped it between Connie's legs and started rubbing it firmly into Connie's pussy, even popping a few of the beans inside her cunt.

Connie, meanwhile, was trying to reach the last can. With a lunge she managed to get hold of it, and she quickly opened it. Bucking Elise off her back and getting up on to all fours, she launched herself at Elise and grabbed the woman's bra. Pulling so hard on it that the garment snapped, she giggled as Elise's large breasts fell out into the open. Pushing Elise over on to her back, she shook the last can of beans over her housekeeper's chest and then, discarding the can, spent the next few seconds rubbing the beans well into both breasts.

But then she gasped in shock as Elise pushed three fingers deep into her cunt. With her adversary thus distracted, Elise threw Connie off and rolled her over. The two women wrestled vigorously for a while, each trying to pin the other until, quite by accident, Connie managed to manoeuvre Elise into a practically inescapable lock. This involved Connie sitting on the small of Elise's back, kneeling down with Elise's legs spread wide and pinned on the outside of Connie's knees. With a cry of victory, Connie pulled Elise's gusset to one side and started pushing beans after beans into Elise's cunt. Elise squealed and struggled, but in vain - she could not turn herself over, nor close her legs to prevent this invasion of her most intimate parts. Helpless, she continue to thrash her upper body uselessly from side to side while her cunt became more and more stuffed with baked beans.

When her vagina was packed to capacity, Elise called a halt. "Enough, enough!" she cried out breathlessly. "You win!"

"Ha!" cried Connie joyfully. "Now I think you should perform a forfeit. In fact, you must promise to do so before I let you up."

"All right, all right," said Elise, panting. "What do you want me to do?"

Connie thought quickly, and had a flash of inspiration. "I want you," she said, "to wear one of my microdresses for our trip to Lucerne tomorrow."

"Only if I get to pick which one," Elise gasped.

"Deal," said Connie. She knew that Elise had shortened all of her dresses to indecent lengths, so, whichever one she picked, Elise would be practically as uncovered as Connie herself had been on their walk today. Climbing off Elise, she let the older woman get up.

For a moment they stood there, looking at each other, both covered from head to toe in a variety of messy foodstuffs. Then they both burst out laughing, pointing at each other as they doubled over in hysterics, cackling and giggling until tears poured from their eyes.

"Oh dear," Connie sighed, wiping one eye. "That was the most fun I've had in ages!"

Elise nodded. "Me too," she said. "But I think we'd better go and bathe ... again. I'll clean up all this mess later." She gestured around her.

Cleaning off their feet and wiping themselves down, they headed back upstairs to wash themselves. After her shower, Connie spent the rest of the evening in just her thong while she sat and chatted with Elise. When the hour grew late, she went to bed, and this time she slept naked.

The next morning, she was awoken by Elise, who was already wearing one of Connie's dresses. Connie looked at her admiringly for a moment, then grinned impishly. "It suits you," she said.

Actually the dress Elise had picked out did not, in fact, flatter her that well, as she well knew. By her own very competent estimation, Elise was one of those women who looked best in a knee-length dress. Short and rather more plump than Connie, she had nicely tapered calves but her thighs were quite stocky, and her bottom was, to put it politely, generous. With her cheery round face and buxom chest, she suited this look very well, but a microdress that barely covered her buttocks was not an outfit she would ever have chosen for herself. Since she could not choose anything longer, she had picked one of the very low-cut dresses, so that hopefully people's eyes would be drawn to her extensive cleavage and not her extensive thighs.

Connie got out of bed and pulled a thong out of her drawer. As she put it on, Elise handed her a red microdress and smiled innocently. Connie looked at the scrap of material and raised an eyebrow. "I'm to wear this today, am I?" she inquired.

"Yes," Elise confirmed.

Connie unfolded the dress, trying to figure out which way it was supposed to go on, and then she stepped into it and pulled it up. "This," she said, "has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever had to wear."

Indeed it was. It was backless, sideless, and practically frontless. The neckline swept down in a vast U-shape from her shoulders down to the top of her pubic mound, and thus revealed much of Connie's thong. The sides began at the same level. The back was much the same as the front - the rear U-shape descended so low that if the thong had not been there, an inch of buttock cleavage would have been showing. In addition, the garment was so short that it cleared the lower curves of Connie's buttocks by almost an inch. The straps that hung from each shoulder were spaghetti-thin at the back, and they gradually increased in thickness until, when they got to the breasts in front, they were about an inch wide and just barely covered Connie's nipples.

In fact, Elise had cut away so much of this dress that it had become no more and no less than an obscenely short microskirt with shoulder straps.

Connie stared down at her chest. "I can't wear this," she murmured. "If I move even slightly, my nipples are going to be uncovered."

"Then you'll just have to be careful, and cover them up again when they pop out," said Elise.

Her heart beginning to pound, Connie added huskily, "But I can't go out like this - my thong's visible."

"Dear me, yes," agreed Elise. "You'll just have to take it off."

Wordlessly, Connie slipped out of her thong, then she went over to study herself in the mirror. By a miracle, she could not see her pussy - it was just barely covered by the thin strip of material at the front. She fixed the straps so that they covered her nipples, which had emerged as soon as she had started walking. She bent forward a little and glanced downwards. Fortunately the dress had been fairly tight to begin with, and did not fall open much. At the moment she could see her pussy, but only just, so she judged that people in front of her would not see much if she bent over towards them. Anyone behind her, of course, would get a real eyeful.

"What do you think?" asked Elise.

"It's very nice," said Connie. "Shall we go and have breakfast?"

Elise grinned. "Good girl," she said.

After breakfast, they climbed into Elise's car and drove into Lucerne. They parked in a car park in the centre of town, and as they got out of the car, Elise said, "Hmm, the sun's getting strong again - I had better put some cream on you."

Connie nodded, and, to the astonishment of the passers-by, Elise proceeded to liberally cover Connie's entire body with sunscreen. Connie blushed with embarrassment when Elise massaged the cream carefully into each breast while a small crowd gathered, and turned positively crimson when Elise slipped her hand down inside the skirt part of the dress and rubbed cream very thoroughly into her pussy. Elise spent almost half a minute in that region, sliding her middle finger in between Connie's pussy lips and even dipping the tip of her finger inside Connie's cunt.

Once Connie was completely screened, she said, "Right Elise, now it's your turn."

Elise looked at her in surprise. "I don't burn," she said. Her skin was naturally much darker than Connie's, so this was very probably true, but Connie persisted.

"You might, though. That sun is getting pretty strong."

The corner of Elise's mouth turned up in a sort of smirk, and she handed Connie the bottle of lotion. "Go ahead then," she said.

Connie slowly and carefully began to cover Elise's exposed skin with the sun cream. When she got to her chest, she slipped her hand down inside Elise's bra and smeared cream, slowly and with great deliberation, all over each breast in turn. As she did so with Elise's left breast, she tweaked her nipple, which made Elise jump. Then Connie dropped down and started working her way up Elise's legs. When she got to her housekeeper's bottom, she was a little disappointed to find that Elise was wearing panties. Foiled thus, she had to content herself with rubbing cream along the edges of the undergarment. Getting to her feet, she grinned at Elise.

Elise smiled back, but gave a warning glance downwards. For a moment Connie did not realise what she meant, but then she remembered her shoulder straps, and looking down she noticed that both nipples had popped out. Hastily she replaced the straps, and blushed in embarrassment.

"We'd better get out of here," murmured Elise. "We'll attract less welcome attention soon if we're not careful."

They walked quickly out of the car park, Connie holding her shoulder straps in place with her hands. They started down a main street of the town, attracting stares, whistles and comments (sometimes in French, sometimes in German, but Connie understood neither). She was aware of how she must look, with her breasts fully on display except for the utterly inadequate coverage provided by an inch-wide strip of material draped over each nipple.

Before very long, the attention grew so intense that even Elise became unnerved, and they ducked into a coffee shop to escape from the following they were acquiring. Elise got out her purse (she was the only one of them carrying a handbag) and bought two cups of coffee and two croissants. They sat next to the window and amused themselves by flashing passers-by, but when a new crowd began to build up, they crossed their legs, folded their arms, and gave nothing more away until the crowd had dispersed.

They next went to a clothes shop which was only a hundred yards away, yet they arrived there at a run. It was truly astonishing to Connie how much attention she was getting, and not a little alarming. Inside the clothes shop, the lady behind the counter looked at them disapprovingly. She addressed them in French, and Elise responded.

"What did she say?" Connie wanted to know.

"She says she does not think we will find what we are looking for in here. I think she is the manageress. I told her we are looking for dresses, and not just short ones."

Connie nodded, and for the next ten minutes or so they looked at the available dresses, Elise no doubt considering how they would look on Connie once she had butchered them appropriately. She picked out three and spoke with the manageress. During this conversation, the latter woman actually smiled briefly.

"She says you can try them on," said Elise, "but the changing rooms are being, uh, what's the word … renovated. You will have to try them on out here."

"What, in full view of the window?" asked Connie with wide eyes.

"Yes," said Elise, stepping back out of the line of sight between Connie and the front window. "Go ahead."

Blushing furiously, Connie slipped the straps off her shoulders and her dress fell to the floor. Now naked apart from her shoes, she tried to ignore the shouts from outside and the noses that were suddenly pressed to the glass. Elise handed her one of the dresses and, after fumbling for a few seconds with the buttons, Connie raised it up and dropped it down over her head. Looking up, she saw the manageress watching her with a mixture of amusement and contempt.

"How does it look?" asked Connie.

The dress was light of fabric and of colour, and came down almost to her ankles. The shoulder straps were narrow, and not an integral part of the garment, being sewn to the main part of the garment. The neckline was square and fairly high cut.

Elise regarded it critically. "Obviously we will have to shorten it," she said. "How short do you think?"

Connie blushed as she lifted the hem up her legs. Past her knees she pulled it, gathering it in a bunch in her hands, past mid-thigh, and still higher, and higher. When she reached a point that she judged was about half an inch below her crotch, she stopped.

"Really?" Elise inquired. "Is that your final decision?"

Connie, hesitated, then pulled it up another inch. She guessed that her pussy was now showing, not only to Elise and to the manageress, but also to the people staring in at her from the street outside. Then, plucking up her courage, she lifted it up another two inches. "There," she said defiantly. "That, I think, is the perfect length for this dress."

"Agreed!" said Elise, grinning. "We'll take it. Now, let's try this one on you." She held up another dress.

Connie took the first one off and handed it back to Elise, then she took the second and put that on. It was a knee-length affair with a high neck and short sleeves. To begin with Connie was not quite sure how it worked. She put it on as she would a jacket or coat, and then folded the left-hand side over the right, looking for somewhere to tie the string attached to the left-hand side. Then she realised there was another string attached to the right-hand side of the dress, which was supposed to be passed through a hole in the left-hand side. The two strings could then be tied at the back. When she had figured this out, Elise helped her tie it.

"Like it?" asked Elise.

Connie nodded. "It has potential," she said.

"In what way?" inquired Elise innocently.

"Well, you could trim down the sides, so that when I pull it shut, it only just covers my nipples … and the two halves meet only just above my … um… you know."

"Good idea!" said Elise. "And how short should this one be?"

Once more, for the benefit of a by now very large group of spectators, Connie lifted up the hem of the dress. This time she paused when her pussy was only just showing. "There," she said.

"Okay," said Elise. "Now take that off, and we'll try the next one."

Connie removed the wraparound dress, gave it back to Elise, and held out her hand for the next dress. But Elise frowned suddenly.

"Just a moment," she said. "I need to ask the lady something." With that she walked over to the counter, leaving Connie standing naked in the middle of the shop, with at least thirty faces pressed to the window not twenty feet from her. Very embarrassed, she held her hands over her pussy, though to her credit she did not attempt to cover her breasts. She felt a moment's panic when a couple of the bolder men in the crowd actually came in and pretended to look at clothes while checking her out, but fortunately neither of them attempted to approach her.

Elise was back a minute or so later. "I noticed this one is a size too small," she said. "But the manageress says she is out of your size. Still, you might as well try it on - you never know."

This dress, pale yellow in colour, was the shortest of the three. Gratefully Connie put it on and tugged it down over her body. It was tight, she found, but not too bad. Its hem reached mid-thigh, and it was of a fairly conventional sleeveless variety.

"Not bad," said Elise. "I can work with that. How short do you think this one should be?"

Connie paused, then grinned playfully. "How about this?" she asked, pulling the dress up until the hem was almost at waist level.

Elise smiled at her. "I like it," she said. "Now shall we buy these things and get out of here?"

Connie's credit card, which Elise had brought in her own purse at Connie's request, paid for the dresses. Clutching the shopping bag in one hand and trying to control her shoulder straps with the other, Connie ran from the shop past the cheering crowd, with Elise following close behind.

Heading down to the lake, where amongst other scantily-clad sunbathers they did not feel so out-of-place, they rested for a while, chatting and laughing with each other. Both were thoroughly enjoying their day. Then Connie suddenly stiffened.

"What's the matter?" asked Elise.

"I don't know - something's wrong," said Connie. "I can feel something moving in my … um … you know."

"Well let's have a look, then," said Elise.

Connie lifted her knees to her chest and spread her legs wide. Elise bent down to look closely at Connie's pussy, and her eyes widened as she noticed a tiny little object wriggling out of the moist orifice.

"It's a worm!" she said.

"A worm?" echoed Connie, alarmed. "What's a worm doing inside me?"

"Well I didn't like to tell you, but while you were asleep on the alp yesterday, some earthworms entered you and came out again a while later. It looks like they mated and laid eggs … which have now apparently hatched."

"Ugh!" Connie was horrified at this thought. "Quick - get them out of me!" she exclaimed.

"Let's not be too hasty," said Elise. "They'll probably all hatch at once, and come out of their own accord. I think we should just wait and see what happens."

Connie's lip trembled, but she said in a small voice, "If you say so."

For the next half hour, baby earthworms continued to emerge from Connie's cunt. One by one they dropped to the ground and burrowed into the turf. As the time passed, since she was suffering no ill effects as a result of the worms hatching, Connie calmed down a little. When the exodus appeared to have ceased, she suggested that the two of them move on.

"Where shall we go now?" asked Elise.

"You tell me," said Connie. "I don't know this town."

"Well, how about a ride on a paddle steamer?" suggested Elise. "There are several that take trips around the lake. Or we could go and see the bridges - there are two made of wood, and covered - very pretty." She furrowed her brow, calling to mind the various tourist attractions the town had to offer. "Uh, and there is a planetarium, and an IMAX theatre ... but in the dark nobody will see your lovely dress, of course... There are some churches ... a glass factory, but that's a little way out of the town."

"Do you think they would let us on to a paddle steamer?" asked Connie.

Elise shrugged. "We can try if you like."

Connie nodded. "Let's take the bag back to the car first, though," she said. "I don't want to be carrying it around everywhere we go, and the car park's quite close."

Elise nodded in agreement, and they returned to the car to dump the dresses in the back. Elise then led the way to the pier, where a large crowd of people was waiting to board one of the paddle steamers. Elise bought tickets, and Connie managed to keep herself concealed by sticking to the busiest parts of the crowd and keeping her arms folded across her chest. Only those next to her saw that she was practically naked, but fortunately nobody made a fuss, though she was stared at a lot.

Two minutes later, in the surge of people boarding, Connie managed to get on board unnoticed by anybody who might throw her off. She and Elise headed to the back of the ship, found seats on deck not far from the rail, and here they sat down. They endeavoured to remain as unobtrusive as possible, though people with cameras on the level above them were beginning to take quite an interest, and by the time the ship cast off they had not as yet been apprehended.

When they were a good five minutes out from the pier, Elise got to her feet and gestured for Connie to get up too. They made their way to the rail, and Elise bent over the side to look down into the water. Connie's eyes widened as Elise's panty-clad bottom came into view, and she marvelled at Elise's bravery. Not to be outdone, she stepped up to the rail beside Elise and bent over in a similar manner. Immediately wolf-whistles sounded from behind them.

"Spread your feet, dear," murmured Elise.

Connie obeyed. She knew that her naked pussy was now fully visible to those behind her, and she figured it would not be long before she got into trouble. Just then, she felt a wriggling sensation inside her cunt, and she gasped.

"I think some more worms are hatching!" she said.

"Wow, I've got to see that," said Elise. "Can you bend over a little more, and spread your legs some more? I'm going to get a better view." She hurried to a nearby empty seat, a few feet behind Connie, sat down, and turned to stare at the young woman's naked pussy.

All eyes were riveted on Connie as she stood up on tip-toes and bent further over the rail. Spreading her feet apart, the opening of her cunt came into view for those behind her. Cameras clicked, and voices were raised, including some angry ones. Mothers were shielding their children's eyes and leading them away from the scene while hurling abuse at Connie. Then a small, dark, wriggling object began to emerge from Connie's cunt, and many of the voices were suddenly silenced.

With mouths agape, the onlookers watched as first one earthworm, then another and another, writhed out of Connie's vagina and dropped on to the deck. Then there was pandemonium. A couple of men rushed forward to accost Connie, and Elise jumped to her feet in alarm. There was a brief struggle, a scream from Connie, and then a splash. Elise dashed up to the rail and looked over the side. Then she stared at the man who stood, shocked, with the torn remains of a red dress in his hand.

"Stupide!" yelled Elise at the man. She noticed smaller boats nearby, and, shouting "N'arretez pas le bateau! Continuez!", she jumped over the rail, realising half-way down that she had left her handbag on the boat. She splashed into the water and swam towards Connie, who was treading water not far away. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I am now," said Connie. "But it's cold! Thanks for coming after me. We're going to be in trouble when they come back for us."

"Hopefully they will not," said Elise. "I told them not to."

"Why?" demanded Connie. "It's miles back to the shore!"

Elise looked around, then waved at a small sailing dinghy that was passing nearby. "Ici!" she called. "Aide-nous!"

The man on board the dinghy waved in response, but he continued on his tack for several seconds before going about and heading their way.at a slower rate. As he drew alongside them, the women clutched on to the side of his boat. He helped Elise aboard first, and then Connie. He gasped when he saw that Connie was nude. "Mon Dieu!" he exclaimed.

It was a pleasant journey back to the shore. Elise removed her dress and wrung it out, and then she did the same with her panties. The man, who introduced himself as Marcel, was in seventh heaven as he watched them dry their naked bodies with a rather grubby towel he kept in the bottom of the boat. As they approached the shore, Elise donned her dress and panties once more. Marcel asked her (in French) if Connie wanted to put on some spare clothes that he had in a box under his seat, but Elise declined without passing on the offer to Connie.

"Oh God," muttered Connie. "How are we going to get back to the car?"

"Never mind that," said Elise. "How are we going to get into the car? My keys are in my handbag, and my handbag is back on the boat."

Connie gasped in horror. "Then how will we get home?" she asked. If we don't have your purse, we've also lost our money, so we can't even get a taxi!"

"Perhaps this nice man will help," said Elise. She put the request to Marcel, who nodded vigorously and responded in rapid French.

"That sounded good," said Connie.

"It is," Elise replied. "He's parked in the same car park as we are, and he's happy to take us home."

"Whew!" Connie was very relieved to hear this. "We'll have to break into the house, I suppose."

Elise nodded. "I have a spare set of car keys at home. I'll phone for a taxi, come back to Lucerne, and while I'm here I'll see if I can retrieve my purse from the the Lost Property department at the pier."

Marcel dropped anchor by a small pier, and they hopped out. They then had a mad dash back to the car park. Cheers, whistles and shouts followed Connie all the way, but within just two minutes they were safely inside Marcel's car, giggling and panting.

It was an uneventful journey back home. As he dropped them off outside the house, Marcel thanked them profusely for a wonderful afternoon. Elise laughed and blew him a kiss, and with a final wave he departed.

"Now," said Connie. "How do we get in?" She had imagined forcing a window, but a cursory inspection quickly revealed that all accessible windows were locked securely from inside. "I'd hate to break one," she said at last, "but I don't see any alternative."

"Well..." began Elise. "Actually there is one other way..."

Connie raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" she asked.

"There's the pipe into the basement," said Elise.

"No!" Connie exclaimed. "You're kidding! As if we could climb up that slope! Remember I got friction burns coming down."

"I know," said Elise. "But you came down head-first and uncontrolled. I don't think the pipe is all that steep - I think one of us should be able to climb up with a bit of effort."

Connie very much doubted it, but after a minute's arguing back and forth she agreed to give it a go. They walked down the road until they reached the muddy pool into which the pipe emptied. The end of the pipe was four feet above the surface of the pool, and set into the side of the grassy bank.

"Who gets to go?" asked Connie, staring nervously at the pipe entrance.

"I will," said Elise. "Get in the pool and give me a leg-up, and I'll do my best to climb up."

Connie smiled gratefully at Elise, then she slipped off her shoes, stepped into the mud, and locked her fingers together to form a step. Elise, not so bothered about muddying her own shoes, stepped straight in and then put her foot up on Connie's hands. Connie gasped with the effort of bearing Elise's weight, but she just managed to maintain her balance as Elise pushed off and entered the pipe with her upper body. Bracing herself against the sides of the pipe, Elise tried to propel herself upwards, but as soon as she lifted her foot off Connie's hands, she began to slip backwards. Then she slipped and shot downwards, and she and Connie tumbled together into the mud.

"It's no good," said Elise. "It's too steep."

"I knew it would be," said Connie. "So what do we do now?"

"Let's try the garage," suggested Elise.

"The garage?" inquired Connie. "Why the garage?"

"I'll show you," said Elise mysteriously. "Come with me."

Connie picked up her shoes and, rather puzzled, followed Elise back up the hill to the house. They walked past the house and came to the garage, and Connie looked at Elise questioningly.

Elise led Connie around to the far side of the building and pointed. "See that window?"

Connie saw. There was a small window at roughly head height near the back of the building. "So?" she said. "I'm sure we could get that open, but it doesn't help. We locked the door from the garage into the house from the inside."

"True," said Elise. "But one of us could drop down the hole in the floor into the tunnel, and then crawl into the basement from there."

Connie shivered at the prospect. "But there are spiders, and rats," she said. "And besides, I'm not even sure whether it will be possible to get around the corner. If you drop down the hole and can't turn the corner, you'll be stuck."

"Nonsense," said Elise. "You could always lower a rope and pull me up if I find I can't turn the corner."

"Well," said Connie with a sigh, "I suppose it's worth a try."

The window came off its hinges after a few good thumps, and once again Connie gave Elise a leg-up. She watched as Elise's panty-clad buttocks disappeared through the hole, and heard a crash and a yell as something inside collapsed under her weight.

"I'm all right," Elise reported a few seconds later. Her face appeared at the window. "As I got through, I put my weight on a chair which was balanced on another chair. You can guess what happened. Anyway, I'll go and open the front doors for you."

Connie walked around to the front and, as the doors swung open, she entered. She followed Elise to the place where the hole in the floor was. They removed one or two items of furniture to allow them access to the grate, and then they lifted it out of the hole.

"I don't think I can fit in there, you know," said Elise, looking at the hole. "It's a little narrower than the pipe, I think."

This was true. The grate was set into an iron ring that ran around the top of the shaft, and this ring was narrower by at least an inch than the pipe beyond. Elise sat on the edge of the hole, dangling her legs inside, and then she tried to lower herself in. But it was no good. Elise's capacious hips were just slightly too wide to fit into the hole. "I'm sorry," she said at last. "There's no way I can get in there."

Connie sighed. "I suppose I'd better have a go, then," she said. As Elise moved out of the way, she sat down in the same place and then lowered herself carefully into the hole. Her naked hips caught on the sides, but with a bit of a squeeze, she was through. "Wish me luck!" she said, and she eased herself further in. Getting her shoulders through was tricky, but she managed it by raising one above the other. Finally, when she was hanging by just her fingertips, she pressed her body against the sides of the pipe and let herself slide down gently. It was only a couple of feet further to the bottom. Immediately spiders ran on to her feet and began scurrying up her legs. In the confined space, she could not bring her arms down to fight them off, and she squealed with horror. "There are spiders on me!" she exclaimed.

"Hurry up, then, and try to get around the corner," Elise called down. "If you can't, I'll pull you up. I think I might even manage to reach your hands with mine."

"Only by lying down, and then you wouldn't be able to pull me up," said Connie. "But anyway, here goes!"

A dozen or more spiders were running over Connie's body by the time she started easing her feet forward. One stopped on her pussy and bit her clitoris, which made her squeal again. "Ouch!" she yelled. "A spider just bit my ..." Then her knees hit the inner corner of the bend. "The corner's too tight!" she shouted. "Pull me up, pull me up!"

"Try turning around," suggested Elise. "Then you can bend at the knees."

Despite her distress, Connie realised this might work. She turned around and slowly knelt down, easing her feet down the horizontal section of the tunnel. She whimpered as she felt countless spiders gathering on her naked body, and when one paused on her face she crushed it between her cheek and her shoulder. She arched her back as she stretched her feet out further and further behind her, and gradually she slid around the corner of the pipe. Fortunately she was still quite supple (she had excelled in gymnastics at school), otherwise she would probably have got stuck halfway.

Eventually she was lying face down at the start of the horizontal section, and she was desperate to get away from the spiders which still swarmed all over her. She pushed herself backwards as fast as possible, and was quickly plunged into absolute darkness. The tunnel soon began to slope downwards, and she propelled herself a little faster along this section. When her feet hit the far side of the lower tunnel, she slid them around to her left. This would mean backing into the basement instead of going forwards, but she did not want to waste any time in turning around.

It was with a sense of enormous relief when she felt her toes descending into mud. Pushing herself the last few feet out of the tunnel, she found herself lying full stretch, naked in the mud, still covered in spiders. Now, however, she could deal with the unwelcome creatures. Rolling over a few times, she squished a few into the mud, while the rest fled. Finally free of the arachnids, though now covered in mud, Connie heaved a sigh of relief.

This relief, however, was short-lived. With a cacophony of squeakings and scamperings, a host of rats suddenly began climbing all over Connie. She screamed and slapped at them, but the rodents were terribly persistent and her body was soon covered in a great weight of them. With a great effort she shrugged them off and struggled to her feet. Flinging rats to left and right, she took great strides in the direction in which she hoped the basement steps lay, her arms held out before her to prevent her from walking into any pillars or shelves. She did, even so, but suffered only minor bruises. Eventually she reached the steps, and jumping out of the mud ran up them to open the door at the top. By the time she burst breathlessly into the front hall, she was completely free of rats.

She hurried through to the breakfast room, unlocked its outer door, and let Elise into the house. Elise smiled and her and thanked her.

"Well done," she said. "But what happened - did I hear you scream?"

"I got attacked by more rats," Connie grumbled. "That poison didn't work at all."

Elise raised her eyebrows. "We'll try not to get ourselves into this predicament again," she said. "Hopefully there will be no further need for you to go down to the basement."

Connie would like to have believed this, but she was rather sceptical.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Connie showered and shaved while Elise took a taxi back to Lucerne, returning later on with not only her car but also her handbag, which had indeed been handed in at the lost property office. After supper Connie spent some time painting the walls in the corner bedroom, wearing only a thong. While she was doing this, she felt another batch of worms hatch inside her and emerge into the thong, and after a few minutes of feeling them wriggle around her clitoris and back towards her anus, she took them out and dropped them out of the window.

Later, as she climbed naked into bed, she felt a new stirring inside her. This did not feel like the worms - it was more vigorous and this alarmed her.

Elise came into the room at this point in order to say goodnight. When she saw the look on Connie's face, she asked what was wrong.

"There's something going on inside me," said Connie. "Would you take a look please?"

Elise pulled back the covers. "Spread your legs," she said.

Connie did so, and Elise peered down to look at her vagina. Suddenly she saw a tiny, pale-coloured insect emerging, and she smiled. "Ah," she said. "Yes, you had some cockroach egg cases inside you. They appear to be hatching."

"Oh my God!" whispered Connie in horror, sitting bolt upright.

"It's nothing to worry about," Elise assured her in a soothing tone. "You just lie down and go to sleep - the baby roaches will come out without your help, and they won't hurt you." She covered Connie back up and gently pushed her back down on to her pillows. "Goodnight Connie."

"Goodnight Elise," said Connie.

As Elise left the room, Connie closed her eyes and tried to ignore the tickling sensation in and around her cunt. It was not easy, but after half an hour or so the sensation had stopped, and eventually she drifted off to sleep.

The following morning she awoke, put on a fresh thong, and went downstairs to the kitchen. Elise was already there, and she poured out a bowl of cereal for Connie.

"What's on the agenda for today?" asked Connie.

"Well, Jacques should be arriving home shortly," said Elise.

"Jack! Crumbs, I'd forgotten he was coming back today!" exclaimed Connie. "Oh dear - I'd better go and put something on."

Elise laughed. "Is he not your husband? Surely you are not shy in front of him!"

Connie blushed. "No, of course not … but, he doesn't yet know what's being going on here. He might be rather shocked to see me in just a thong."

"I imagine he will be thrilled," said Elise with a smile. "Even more so, if you are actually naked."

"Oh my!" Connie shuddered at the thought. She had got quite used to being naked in front of Elise, but Elise had actively encouraged it - she was not at all sure how Jack would react.

At shortly after eleven o'clock, Connie heard Jack's car outside. She dashed to a window to make sure it was him, then excitedly she ran to the front door. She was about to open it, when she heard a polite cough behind her. Turning, she saw Elise, smiling at her with her hand outstretched.

"Oh very well," said Connie, and she took off her thong and gave it to Elise. Then she opened the front door and ran out to greet her husband.

"My word!" he exclaimed as he got out of the car and saw her. "This is a pleasant surprise!"

He took her in his arms and kissed her. "I never thought I'd see the day when you would run outside without anything on," he said when they eventually pulled apart.

Connie smiled shyly. "I've become a little more … adventurous," she said. "Elise has helped me lose some inhibitions."

"Well thank you Elise!" said Jack, and laughed. "Come on," he said. "Let's get inside."

Jack pulled a couple of bags out of the back of the car, then they went in and Jack said hello to Elise. The three of them chatted for a couple of minutes, and then Jack knelt down and opened one of his bags.

"I have a present for you Connie," he said. He handed her a bag. "Why don't you take it upstairs and put it on?"

Her eyes shining excitedly, Connie ran upstairs with the bag, leaving Jack alone with Elise.

"So," said Jack. "It went well, then?"

Elise grinned. "Perfectly. She won't be happy now unless she's showing either her breasts or her pussy - or preferably both. Even in public."

Jack sighed with happiness. "Excellent," he said.

"There is something, though," said Elise with an air of puzzlement, "that I did not expect. All the local animals seem to have an irresistible fascination for your young bride. In particular, they all wanted to get inside her panties. Rats, spiders, cockroaches, leeches, earthworms … it was most bizarre."

"Ah yes, well that was a little touch of my own," said Jack. He chuckled. "I'm not just the Lord of the Flies, you know." Then he sighed. "Ah, how I do enjoy the corruption of the innocent."

They were silent for a moment, then Elise said, "So, what's she putting on now?"

"You'll see," said Jack, and he winked at her.

A minute later, Connie appeared at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a dress made out of very thin, very see-through material. It was low-cut but not indecently so, and it came down to her ankles. She was not wearing any underwear beneath it, so her breasts and pussy were clearly visible. "I love it!" she exclaimed, and she ran downstairs to hug her husband.

"Good!" said Jack. "I'm entertaining some of my colleagues here next week, and I thought as our hostess you should wear something nice."

The thought of Jack's colleagues seeing her in this dress did not faze Connie in the slightest. In fact, her thoughts were working in another direction. "But Jack," she said, stepping back, "wouldn't you like it to be a little shorter? And perhaps a little lower-cut? Elise is a great seamstress - she's done wonders with some of my other clothes. I think she could really improve this dress."

"Sounds good to me," said Jack. "How about it, Elise?"

"I'll get to work at once," said Elise with a smile.

Connie pulled the dress up over her head and handed it to her housekeeper. "Excel yourself, Elise," she said.

Elise smiled as she took it into the living room. "Oh, I will," she replied.

THE END
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