The ringing of the bell and the lord's herald calling for every villager to pay attention was not to be disobeyed. Every one gathered in the square to hear him declare �Lord Robert and his son Richard will return in two days�. �All families will know that if they have daughters who have reached the age of eighteen but have not been honoured by our lord and master they must be made ready to present themselves�.

Sally Olden knew her daughter Ann would be one of them but it would be different from when she and other women of the village had attended. When she had been called the lord, was a young man and having just lost his father it was just he and his squire. Now he had his son with him Ann would have to present herself to all three.

On the day of his return, there was a fair, with plenty of free ale and food the rejoicing went on late into the night. Families with daughters were not so happy; they knew their daughters would have to go to the castle next morning and the mothers having been there when they were young knew what would be done to them. The fathers also knew that the women they married were never virgins and the lord of the manor had taken their virginity. Everyone in the village had to accept he had rights de signeur and there was nothing they could do about it.

Before retiring that night, Sally told her husband to go to bed then called her daughter Ann to the kitchen. �Tomorrow you go to the castle and must accept that the lord and his son are our masters and will do the same things to you that has been done to all the women of the manor including me�. �When I went to him his father had just died and I was his first girl but although he was only a boy he knew what he had to do to me and you are old enough to know what that was�. �I can tell you the first things they do are disgusting and humiliating but not every one tells the truth so don't believe all you have heard accept it and don't annoy them�.

�When I was in his bed he was gentle when he entered and took my virginity but although I didn't like him doing what he did there was only a little pain�. � I like it with your father but I am told all men are different so I don't know what his son will want you to do if you are sent to him�.

When Sally joined her husband Godwin in their bed he turned to give her a hug and said After all these years, we have never talked about you women going to the Lord. We husbands know none of you are virgins when we marry you and that he takes your virginity when you go to him. One of my friends has said this is not always true so what does the lord do if, when he enters you, he finds you are not virgins�. �Dear husband we say nothing because we are too ashamed to talk about it and since it happens to us all we only regret it and try to forget. If you really want to know what happens to a woman if she is not a virgin see if Walter Grinds will tell you�. �He took Nora's virginity when she was only seventeen and he loved her so much in spite of what was done to her he still married her. Now please don't ask me to remember, just think how much I love you, caress me and let me give you the pleasure of a woman's body I could never give to any other man�.

The lord had been away for a very long time so in his absence there were two girls who had reached eighteen, one who was nineteen and three in their twenties. At midday following the celebration, the mothers, remembering the day when they had walked to the great hall, escorted their daughters to the castle gates. As the gates opened, they hugged their daughters then watched them enter the castle. The squire led the girls up to the dais where the lord and his son sat then told them to fall on their knees and bow their heads to the floor. They listened as he said �These six girls come before you and your son hoping you will find them fair of face and after I have undressed them you will also find their bodies desirable�. There was silence for a while then a voice said, �Have the first girl stand and show us her face then if we find her to our liking remove her clothing and display her body�.