The remaining four and a half months of the agreement went by with Casey trying hard to play by her aunt’s rules. She had several lapses and endured her over-the-knee punishments with as little protest as possible, considering how difficult it was for her to hold her tongue. In fact, she bit her tongue until she thought she’d wear a hole through it, and more than once found words half out that she quickly took back. Her aunt, while trying to be fair, was still very determined not to let up on her for even the smallest infraction.
By the end of the five months she was a good bit calmer, and finding it easier to live within the rules; though she shrank away from her aunt’s repeated attempts to set her up with some “fine young man”. These fine young men were all wimps in Casey’s mind, none o
