<Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Hugh Pickering are waiting in the sitting room of Higgins's palacial mansion on the Dover coast, as a strikingly pretty young woman is shown in, a client keeping her appointment. She is wearing a very tweedy but clingy outfit, the jacket cut somewhat like a riding outfit... and in fact, wearing riding breeches to complete the outfit.>

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Ah, you must be Mrs. Hardcastle. You're right on time.

Thantasy: [Mrs. Hardcastle] And you MUST be the famous professor Higgins! <Extends hand.>

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] This is Colonel Hugh Pickering, Mrs. Hardcastle. Anything you say to me can be said to him. I will guarantee his discretion.

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] (Gives a little bow and smile as he shakes her hand.)

Thantasy: [Mrs. Hardcastle] Colonel Pickering! Another famous man! A true pleasure for me to meet you! And you may call me Gwendoline, or Gwen for short.

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] I'm charmed to meet you, Mrs. Hardcastle... Gwen.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Would you like some sherry, Miss.... Gwen?

Thantasy: [Gwen] Please, dear sir.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I am sure that you know what brought me here.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Pours from a beautiful decanter, hands her a glass in a courtly manner.)

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Yes... tell me, how can I help you, Gwen?

Thantasy: [Gwen] Although my letter was not explicit, I did mention the name of the person who, in a manner of speaking, referred me to you: My late cousin, Madeline Smathers, whose papers I was going through... and I found her diaries especially intriguing.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Your name was mentioned PROMINENTLY towards the end of her journals.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] A charming woman, I recall.

Thantasy: [Gwen] She had left instructions that her papers be destroyed without being read.

Thantasy: [Gwen] But we had been on such INTIMATE terms, I was sure that her wishes exempted me.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I believe she did mention a dear friend, though not by name. You would be that friend, then.

Thantasy: [Gwen] That is entirely within the realm of probability, since, perhaps, in a manner of speaking, I referred her to you, or at least created the interest that provoked her to seek you out.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] So you evidently have some idea as to her... fate. She was very pleased with the outcome, and apparently has you to thank.

Thantasy: [Gwen] When I told her of the charming sights that I had seen during my travels abroad, she was particularly intrigued by my tales of having witnessed ceremonies in India <pronouncing it "Injah"> --- secretly, to be sure --- celebrations of the cult of Kali.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] India! I was there in the 80's.

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] I, too, was there. Commanded a regiment.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Did you have the good fortune to witness, as I did, the practices of the cult?

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I certainly did, yes.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Ah, then you know whereof I speak. I imagine it was rather easier for you to become a witness to the events. I had to use my... influence <smooths out the material over her ample bosom> with a local rajah.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Now, Gwen, tell me how this relates to your being here.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Examines bosom discreetly.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] Well, I was intrigued by the very enchanted look on the faces of those who offered themselves to Kali --- particularly the women.

Thantasy: [Gwen] It seemed that they were almost in a state of... shall I say, erotic excitement, if that term does not offend, as they approached the altar.

Thantasy: [Gwen] The expressions on their faces were hardly ones of terror.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I daresay they are indeed in such a state. Perhaps you yourself imagined their feelings on such an occasion.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Oh, yes, my dear sir. <Smiles.>

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Returns smile.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] My friend the rajah, in fact, had a collection of death masks taken from Kali worshippers.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Mostly smiling ones, I trust.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Indeed, my dear, sir, indeed.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] You did not, however, join them?

Thantasy: [Gwen] No, not at THAT moment, at least not ACTUALLY -- but in spirit, perhaps.

Thantasy: [Gwen] A few years later, I had an even more rare experience.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Ah, tell me of your later experience.

Thantasy: [Gwen] It was in Africa, where I was able to observe the natives, and their quaint practice of cannibalism.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] In the Edori Tribe, I'll wager.

Thantasy: [Gwen] How knowledgable you are, sir.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I have made many studies of death rituals around the world.

Thantasy: [Gwen] On this particular occasion, a woman was boiled alive, a dreamy, blissful expression on her face as the water temperature slowly rose and rose, raising her body temperature with it, so that she passed over quite gradually.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Yes, a maiden volunteers before the first hunt of Spring.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Dear cousin Madeline found my tales of these events very arousing. I don't know if I actually awakened something new within her, or merely fed a favorite fantasy with true life reports.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I think not. I believe she had simply not previously found a kindred soul to whom she could confide these thoughts.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Yes.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Now, I have come to you for, if I read her diaries correctly, a similar service to that which you performed for her. An erotic...

Thantasy: [Gwen] professionally administered...

Thantasy: [Gwen] demise.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I would be happy to oblige. If you could describe to me any details you wish this demise to include... ?

Thantasy: [Gwen] I have given great thought to the matter, and there are so many possibilities. It is a shame that I can select only one.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I'm sure you have thought long and hard. No one comes to me without doing so.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I am not adverse to pain, but I would not like that to be the overwhelming feature of the event.

Thantasy: [Gwen] There are many poisons that produce arousal before demise.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] It is possible you might be subjected to more than one deadly threat.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Yes, that thought has occurred to me.

Thantasy: [Gwen] A certain amount of suspense is often a good thing...

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Smiles at the word "suspense.")

Thantasy: [Gwen] and it would be nice to have more than one possibility to savor in anticipation.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] But you do not have any one particular preferred method of ending your life?

Thantasy: [Gwen] In addition to my personal expeiences, I have read accounts, particularly by another female family member, of having seen luckless wenches hanged in public in the past century. Well done, with proper preparation, I can imagine that would be quite exciting.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Indeed. Such hangings draw quite a crowd on occasion. And I believe some members of the crowd go home considerably... aroused. One wonders at the effect on the principal.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I also recall, from my African travels, tales of people taken by large snakes --- constrictors, who suffocate their prey by squeezing, ever tightening their grip, relentlessly restricting the intake of air...

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] As if an infinitely strong lover has embraced you.

Thantasy: [Gwen] <Smiles.> Indeed!

Thantasy: [Gwen] I find those possibilities most enchanting.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I have also heard of submersion in quicksand, which, if a means were found to stimulate... certain areas as the submersion occurred, could be rather blissful.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Have you considered drowning? That would be similar to the quicksand death.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Drowning, yes...

Thantasy: [Gwen] including of course, that delightful practice of lowering bound women into water strapped to a chair, and raising them up, after leaving them under for ever increasing periods of time.

Thantasy: [Gwen] As for hanging: since I am a woman of some size, I am afraid that my time on a rope might be rather short unless I were partially supported.

Thantasy: [Gwen] A large snake, however, that would be very pleasant.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I see. I will have to give this some thought. Now, would you like to have an escape clause, or would you prefer that your death be guaranteed once set in motion, so that you cannot change your mind?

Thantasy: [Gwen] An escape clause?

Thantasy: [Gwen] Ummm...

Thantasy: [Gwen] After a certain point, no...

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] What would that point be?

Thantasy: [Gwen] I imagine that there might be some perverse, impish desire within me that might assert itself when I was at my weakest point.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I think I would like to put the matter this way: being, as I am, a woman who finds considerable arousal in knowing that she has pleased a man --- submitted herself to his will...

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I'm sure you do that easily.

Thantasy: [Gwen] which is why my late husband was so enchanted with me, that he left me his entire fortune with which to travel and enjoy myself.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Yes, clearly you made him very happy.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I think I would like to do it in this manner: I've presented a few options....

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Indeed, very interesting ones.

Thantasy: [Gwen] but I am sure that a man of your considerable experience has many suggestions, and I would be pleased to hear other alternatives from which I might make a selection, or rather selections.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Once I have narrowed the field to two options, with your advice and consultation, at the point at which I have said yes to two options...

Thantasy: [Gwen] that shall be my point of no return.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Very well, then.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Beyond that, the matter shall utterly rest in your hands. A very delightful scenario.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] The possibilities, then, include drowning, hanging -- I believe I can handle that well, in view of the reservation you expressed earlier -- quicksand, boiling, a snake... anything else?

Thantasy: [Gwen] Well, perhaps you have ideas to offer.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Oh, and let us not forget the poison you mentioned earlier, of which I happen to have a supply.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Mmmm, yes.

Thantasy: [Gwen] I'll tell you what...

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] (Sipping his sherry with a fascinated smile.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] Now, I am assuming that you do ENJOY this work, professor?

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Indeed I do. (Smiling.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] Because, as I said, I do derive pleasure from pleasing men, I would hate to think that my final act of eroticism would be before an unappreciative audience...

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I would certainly take pleasure from your quite untimely end, Miss... Gwen.

Thantasy: [Gwen] or even, a terribly small audience.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Colonel Pickering, would you do me the honor of attending my demise?

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] (Raising glass.) I should think I would enjoy the spectacle too.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Smiling broadly.) The Colonel and I would be thrilled to help you realize your dream... and would be quite aroused by its execution... and yours.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Well, good, I have, um, on other occasions, entertained two gentlemen...

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] At your late husband's request, no doubt.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Yes, the poor darling, I'm afraid I quite wore him out.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I am sure he died with a smile on his face.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Yes, that was a splendid moment.

Thantasy: [Gwen] <After her moment of fond recollection, clears throat and returns to the business at hand.>

Thantasy: [Gwen] I think it is important that my final performance live up to the expectations of the audience.

Thantasy: [Gwen] All of these possibilities have an appeal to me... but what appeals to me the most is the idea of pleasing males.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Here you have found two men who would take great pleasure in your... quite erotic ending.

Thantasy: [Gwen] So, perhaps, you two gentlemen could narrow the field a bit more me -- say, cut it down to three possibilities. Three ways in which you might like to see a woman of my charm and stature meet her end.

Thantasy: [Gwen] For example, Colonel would it please you to see a lass like me hoisted?

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] I believe I should like to see a hanging, yes, or possibly a drowning, or quicksand. Or a boiling!

Thantasy: [Gwen] Perhaps I should give you a better idea. <Begins to disrobe.> I mean, I do intend to leave this world in a state similar to that in which I entered it.

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] (Very nearly spills his sherry on his favorite smoking jacket.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] <Stands before them.>

Thantasy: [Gwen] <Her waist is remarkably thin in comparison, but only in comparison, with her ample hips and bosom.>

Thantasy: [Gwen] Would you enjoy seeing these <lifting her breasts slightly with her hands> bounce and jiggle as I dangled from a rope?

Cardaniel80: (Both men smile, nodding to each other.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] Or would you rather see them heave as I gasp for air while being lowered into a tank, again and again? Or would you rather seem them swell as a giant snake encompassed me, cutting off my ability to draw in air? Or would you like to see them slowly turn an even more lovely shade of pink as I slowly boiled?

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] (Turning to Higgins, whispering in ear.)

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Nods, whispers back.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] Or watch them float supported on soft quicksand, before sinking beneath it? Or would you like to see me writhe in a drug-induced frenzy?

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] If I'm to have a vote, I believe I would be pleased to see those lovely breasts heaving under a suspended neck, or reddening as the water boiled around them.

Thantasy: [Gwen] You certainly have a vote.

Thantasy: [Gwen] But I do want at least three alternatives from which to choose.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] I would concur with the Colonel, with boiling running a close third.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Hmmmmm.

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] Yes, I believe I agree with that.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Let me propose this: that at our next meeting, you have all three means, and, if you choose, one other, available. A rope is not difficult.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Yes...

Thantasy: [Gwen] A large metal tub is no problem. A large aquarium could be problematic, but I suspect you may already have such at your disposal.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Given time, I'm sure all the appropriate equipment would be available.

Thantasy: [Gwen] When I actually see these instruments of my demise before me, it is my intention to choose two from them.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Yes...

Thantasy: [Gwen] At the point at which I make that choice, my ability to rescind my commitment is forfeit, and you two shall select from among my choices.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] Excellent! Let us drink to that agreement... more sherry?

Thantasy: [Gwen] If, perhaps you should disagree, perhaps a third party could cast a deciding vote.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] A third party? Who would that be?

Thantasy: [Gwen] I'll leave that to you two to decide.

Thantasy: [Gwen] Perhaps you both know each other's minds so well, that there is no need for a third party. Perhaps you can agree in advance on two favorites. If you do, my choice and yours will have to coincide at least once.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] (Nods to Pickering.) Yes, that sounds splendid!

Thantasy: [Gwen] I will have that sherry now.

Cardaniel80: [Pickering] (Pours this time.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] Gentlemen, a toast.

Cardaniel80: [Higgins] To what, my dear? (Both raise glasses.)

Thantasy: [Gwen] To a pleasant conclusion to our business for all parties concerned.

Cardaniel80: (All clink glasses.) Hear hear!

Thantasy: [Gwen] <Downs the wine in a gulp.>

Cardaniel80: (Higgins and Pickering nod to each other and drink up.)