Sleeping . sleeping . the room was fading away. Someone was close, looking at me. Someone had taken my hands. I felt myself lifted up. Then I was completely lost in darkness.

I awoke suddenly. I did not know where I was. I was in a strange room.

I was lying. naked . on a bed and my hair was loose.

I tried to lift myself, but my head was swimming and I felt dizzy. I was dreaming and this was some sort of nightmare. Where was I? I could not remember what could have brought me here.

I tried again. Something stirred beside me . someone.

I gave a little scream. My eyes had grown accustomed now to the darkness. I saw a window with bars across and my eyes could make out the outline of pieces of furniture.

I fought off the dizziness and sat up.

Immediately hands were pulling me down, strong hands. A voice said: "Kate, my beautiful Kate ..." It was a voice I knew. A voice I had often thought of. It convinced me that I was in some sort of nightmare.

I caught my breath and as I did so he pulled me down; he forced himself down on me. I cried out in disbelieving horror. This could not be happening to me. It was indeed a nightmare. I must wake up quickly.

But I did not wake up. I heard his triumphant laugh, and it was in truth the Baron who was misusing me . and something told me that he had always intended to do this and that at the back of my mind I had known it. feared it . dreaded it . and the shame of it half wanted it. I tried to shout out, but his mouth was over mine pressing down on me. I was aware of the strength of him and was powerless. I tried to struggle but my limbs were leaden. There was nothing I could do to resist him.

It was a shattering experience. I felt as though I were floating above the Earth into a world which was quite unknown to me. Strange, hitherto undreamed of sensations took possession of me. I was not resisting any more. I felt myself to be part of him . and I was fighting against a sense of exhilaration which threatened to overwhelm me.

It was over almost as soon as it had begun. He drew away from me, but his lips were still on my face and he was kissing me almost tenderly.

"Dear Kate," he murmured.

I was struggling back to reality. I put out my hands and felt his body. I was trying to collect my thoughts as they eluded me. The heavy drowsiness was still with me and I felt a great urge to close my eyes and lie there trying to recapture that strange sensation which I had just experienced.

His arms were about me. They felt like iron bands. I heard his voice whispering words which seemed strange coming from him.

"Kate ... sweet Kate ... Oh Kate, how happy you have made me."

I heard myself say: "This is a nightmare."

"It's a heavenly dream," he corrected me.

"Dreams ... dreams ..."

"Kate." His mouth was close to my ear. He nibbled it gently.

"Don't try to think now. You can't. You're still in a state of blissful pleasure. Don't try to wake yourself out of it ... yet."

Now was the time for me to wake up, to find myself in bed at the castle, perhaps, since that had been where I was remembering I had been going. No doubt I had arrived late and so tired that I had slept heavily . and being in the castle had had this strange dream.

But the bars at the windows . They suggested a prison. A prison!

I felt consciousness coming back. This was not a dream. I was still here. I was lying in a bed with the Baron . and we were . lovers. Lovers! What a travesty of the word!

I tried to sit up, but he held me down. I could not but be aware of how strong he was and how puny I was in comparison.

"This can't be true," I said.

His voice was low and triumphant.

"But it is. Too late for regrets now, Kate. It has happened. You and I... as I knew as soon as I set eyes on you it must be ... and it was going to be."

I continued to struggle.

"Be still, Kate," he said.

"You're bewildered. You are just realizing what has happened. Last night you became my beloved mistress."

"This is... madness."

"The effect of the wine is still with you. It will last some time yet.

It had to be, Kate. It was the only way. Now if I had appeared suddenly and said "I want you, Kate. My desire for you is so overwhelming that it must be satisfied" what would you have said?

You would have laughed me to scorn even though somewhere at the back of your mind was the thought: How I should like to give myself up to the pleasure he can provide. He is the only one. I want to be taken by him as his ancestors took women when they raided the coast. "

My mind was clearing with every passing moment. I murmured: "I was with that woman ..."

"My good servant."

"The carriage had broken down ..."

"It was all arranged, darling. I'm sorry it had to be like that. If you had come willingly ... but you never would. Your stern upbringing would have suppressed your natural instincts and you would have convinced yourself that they did not exist."

"I can't ..."

"Don't try. Lie still. Oh Kate, it was wonderful. You are magnificent.

You're a woman as well as an artist. I admire you so much, Kate. "

Through my befugged sensations came the appalling realization of what had happened. He had planned it and I had been the victim of. rape.

I, Kate Collison, had been raped by the man I most detested . this arrogant Baron who thought he had only to beckon to a woman to make her come running. He followed the customs of his marauding ancestors who had lived by rape and pillage. And I. had been his victim. I could not believe it. even now. "

I said: "Let me get out of here."

"My dearest Kate, you will go at my pleasure."

"At your pleasure! You are a monster."

"I know," he agreed.

"But in your heart you rather like this monster, Kate. I will have you recognized as a great artist. Just think what I have done for you already."

"I can think of nothing but what you have just done to me."

"Proud Kate, taken in a drunken stupor."

"That wine was drugged. That woman ..."

"Don't blame her. She was obeying orders."

"A sort of pander..."

"Hardly an apt description. What is done is done, Kate. You are a woman now. You and I have explored the realms of delight together ..

"Of degradation!" I said.

"You are cynical. You are laughing at me.

That is what I would expect of you. "

"Do you hate me still?"

"A thousand times more than I ever did."

"Perhaps while you are here I can make you change your mind."

"The more time I spent with you, the more I should hate you. What do you mean ... while I am here?"

"You are detained ... on my baronial pleasure."

"You can't mean you would keep me here."

He nodded.

"I could," he said.

"For what purpose?"

"I thought I had demonstrated that."

"You've gone mad."

"Mad with desire for you."

I tried to rise but he was still holding me down, and when I lifted my head I felt dizzy.

"What is your purpose?" I demanded.

"First to turn a rather haughty self-possessed young lady into a warm and passionate woman."

"I will never feel anything but hatred and contempt for you. And you say ... first..."

"There is something else."

"Well?"

"I think we will discuss it later when you are feeling a little refreshed."

"I want to know now."

"My dear Kate, it is I who make the rules here. Haven't you learned that yet?"

"What am I supposed to be ... a sort of slave?"

"A very favoured slave."

I was silent, still trying to convince myself that I was not dreaming.

His voice was gentle in my ear.

"Try to be calm, Kate. Accept this.

You and I have been lovers all through this night. "

"Lovers! You are not a lover of mine and never will be."

"Well, just say that last night you became my mistress. That's rather important."

I felt weak suddenly and very frightened. It seemed that my life had taken an abrupt turn into an entirely different world.

THE DEMON ai "Sleep, dear Kate," he said soothingly and he gathered me up in his arms as though I were a baby.

I must have slept, for when I awoke it was morning. My head had cleared and I sat up in bed and looked about me. I was alone. I realized that I was naked and when I saw the bars across the windows, the monstrous happenings of the previous night came flooding back to me.

I looked about the room. It was like a part of the castle-large, with a high vaulted roof supported by strong stone pillars. There was a great fireplace and the embers there showed that there had been a fire last night. The bed was large and had velvet curtains about it and there were carpets on the floor. In spite of this it was like a medieval stronghold.

I had undergone a change. I felt bruised and unclean. I had to face the truth. He had brought me up here; he had taken off my clothes, put me into this bed and committed rape.

I put my hands over my face as the hot flush spread there. Nothing would ever be the same again. Since I had come to France everything had changed. The cosy world ofFarring-don was slipping away from me and I had been plunged into intrigue . and rape . the sort of thing that had happened centuries ago.

And there was one man who was responsible for this. I could not get his face out of my mind. I realized I had been seeing it ever since I had left the castle. I had seen it in the gargoyles of Notre Dame. I had seen it in my dreams. I wondered briefly if he had some supernatural power-a gift passed on from those pirate forebears.

I had to be calm. I had to consider the position in which I found myself. I think I had always known that he had desired me. There was something in the way he had looked at me right from the beginning. I should have been warned, for when he desired a woman he thought he had the right to take her, whether she was willing or not. That was what the marauding Normans had done, and he lived up to the old traditions.

I should never feel the same again. I should never feel clean. He had defiled me and gloried in it. He thought that because he had humiliated me, he had made me his slave.

I had to get out of here quickly. Then I would think about revenge.

Nowadays no man should be allowed to act as he had done. It was all very well to make love to a woman if she consented. But to snare a virtuous woman and drug her and then take advantage of the situation, that was the way cowards and demons worked.

My hatred was so intense that I was shaking. I must get out of here.