Chapter Six
Chastened by her ordeal at the stables, Elizabeth resumed her domestic chores in a more dutiful frame of mind. She knew she had behaved badly, and if the punishment had been of an unforeseen severity, she could not say it was undeserved. Though to an extent the whipping had atoned for her offences, she still felt a measure of guilt which could only be fully assuaged through prolonged humility and service. Moreover, she felt, even though Matt had said nothing that she had in some measure let him down, that she had failed to achieve the high level of submission which he required of her. She feared that he was disappointed in her, and this she could not bear. Accustomed to set herself the highest standards in everything she undertook, she did not like the thought that she had fai
