The groom finished tightening the straps and smacked Darcy across his backside.

“A handsome equipage for a handsome animal,” he said, admiring his work before driving Darcy before him with a small whip. He was responding well to training and now required only direction rather than punishment to make him move as desired.

The groom drove him out onto the Pemberley lawn where a pair of visitors awaited. Darcy pulled the gig before them and assumed the waiting pose.

The younger of the visitors gasped slightly. The groom smiled to see her blush.

“Tis an old Derbyshire tradition,” he informed her. “All heirs to ancestral estates serve one year as ponies. It teaches them obedience and strength, much needed lessons for when they become master.

“They usually serve before assuming their estates, but Darcy here lost his parents in such a way as delayed his ability to serve for some time. He has served only a season thus far but you see how well he does.”

The groom lightly whipped Darcy on the backside then on his cock. He maintained his attitude even as his jutting member bobbed under the assault.

Elizabeth could scarcely take her eyes away. Her aunt, jaded to the novelty by residence in the county, was more concerned about attaining her seat in the gig. The groom helped her as Elizabeth stared at the shackled man.

He was gagged and seemed to bear some object within his mouth that forced him to keep his throat open and to breathe deep through his nostrils. His hands were pinioned behind him in stiff leather shackles that kept them pointed behind him. His throat bore a high collar of the same black material, and the harness that attached him to the gig — in which she was to ride! — matched.

As she hesitantly took her seat the groom handed the whip to her aunt, who offered it to Elizabeth as a treat for the newcomer. She declined and watched uneasily as her aunt landed enthusiastic blows upon his rear, which she could now see sported a glossy, black tail, held in place by straps.

Briefly she had seen that his erect cock was also strapped round with leather but could scarce look upon the display before averting her gaze.

Her aunt commented on the grounds as they continued their tour of Pemberley — drawn by the master of the house!

As he trotted Elizabeth could see that his boots bore horseshoes. The gig moved so well that they scarce felt the path. The scenery was beautiful, but Elizabeth’s eyes were drawn back to the sight of the man pulling them. The muscles of his calves and thighs flexed gorgeously in the sun, and she could but admire the set of his shoulders and elegant bearing.

They returned to the stables, where the groom unharnessed Darcy and turned him over to a stable hand for care. Elizabeth watched him driven into the barn with lazy smacks of a riding crop.

“Will he be well?” she asked the groom anxiously. “He seemed rather welted.”

“Just what he needs,” he explained. “Ponies need a good whipping to keep them steady.”

“But he seemed in such a terrible state,” she protested.

“A pony is always excited when serving,” he explained, tolerant of the visitor’s ignorance of the old custom. “He is only allowed relief at the hands of his master — or mistress.”

Her uncle had joined her aunt, having left the ladies to the tour while he bent his attention to the water courses, and now approached Elizabeth and the groom.

“Of course you are curious about the custom,” Mr. Gardiner observed. “It seemed odd to me, but Mrs. Gardiner says it has ever been this way here in Derbyshire.”

“Of course it has. Lizzy, if you are very interested in this pony in particular, you could have the hire of him for the evening. I assume the terms are as ever they were?” she addressed the groom.

“Aye, ma’am. Just have him back to the stables by noon tomorrow. You’re free to use him as you like, just don’t remove the gag. It’s very important to him that he retain it.”

“Naturally,” Mrs. Gardiner replied. “Well, Lizzy, should you like it? You should be able to see everything up close and as you like.”

Elizabeth hesitated. “I could treat him as I liked?”

“In the privacy of your own rooms,” the groom clarified. “In public, he needs to be equipped as befits his station.”

“Yes, please, I would like it,” Elizabeth said, fascinated.

The stable hand had already strapped Darcy to the low beam that was his resting place. He removed the heavy clamps from his nipples and the straps from his throbbing cock.

He then loosened the straps that held the tail in place. Partly he withdrew the large, leather-covered wooden phallus that secured it, then pushed it in and out a few times before removing it, tossing it aside, uncovering himself and thrusting his cock into the passage thus vacated.

His pace was as lazy as his lashing, and he was still using the pony when the groom came to inform him that Darcy had been hired for the evening.

Slowly the stable hand drew himself forth from Darcy, then slapped his exposed backside until it was red before re-securing his tail.

“I’m sure the southern girl isn’t as tender as she looks,” the boy warned Darcy. “I yet remember what that London lady did to you,” he reminisced, stroking the pony’s backside.

Darcy suppressed a shudder, striving for the comportment that befit his station.

The stable hand unstrapped him and drove him back out to the front and turned him over to the groom.

The groom brought him to their visitors, directing Darcy to kneel before his mistress. He then handed the crop along with a bagful of objects provided for visitors’ private use to Elizabeth, who blushed as she took it.

“I’ll shoulder those, Lizzy,” her uncle volunteered. “You’ll need all your attention.”

He took the bag from her, and they awaited her to drive Darcy before them. She hesitated to strike, and her aunt had to encourage her. She struck timidly and he rose and started up instantly.

The groom was not satisfied and stopped Darcy with a command.

“A pony wants a good, hard blow,” he explained. “Less makes them shy and nervous. Darcy can be recalcitrant in odd ways. If he doesn’t do as you like and beatings won’t move him, the hands at the inn will supply what is needed at your request. Now, a good blow.”

Elizabeth swallowed hard and struck harder. Again, he started immediately and trotted across the lawn toward their carriage. Elizabeth’s aunt made her understand that he would follow at the tail of their carriage, that she would not have to drive him the whole way to the inn, which she heard with relief.

At the inn, the stable hand took Darcy and said that he would have him cared for and delivered to the young lady’s room by the time they were done with dinner.

Gravely she thanked him, and they went to refresh themselves for dinner.