22.

my first panty girdle. I didn't really need it then, and in fact, don't need one now, but they are feminine things and grown up ones too.

On accessories I did better, emerging well supplied with purses, hats, gloves, and costume jewelry. Only my insatiable greed for things feminine kept me from being satisfied with all she gave me. Actually it was a tre- mendous lot that fitted me for any but the most formal oc- aasions.

Other than the shopping the trip was heavenly too, we did loads of wonderful and fun things and without effort or forethought I found myself acting and looking naturally. Not once did I detect a quizzical glance in my direction, The trip home was another matter--paramount in my mind was a fear that Dad might force a termination though on the trip he seemed to forget his former objections.

They weren't forgotten, however, and no sooner were we home than he began on Mother again, fairly demanding that I be released from the supposed bondage. Not a day went by without a discussion, to say the least, on the subject. Perhaps had he been less insistant and violent with Mother he would have gotten her to consent, but as it was she got her back up and wholly aside from her, and my, desires she resisted on principle. When we were alone Mother and I frequently discussed the matter. There were, as I have said, no secrets between us, and so she knew all about my love for the clothes and a feminine life. She too, liked me that way, not from the point that she wanted another daughter, but because I was such a wonderful chal- lenge to her feminine abilities. They were lavished on me- not only hours of personal attention and instruction in per- sonal care, but also endless sessions of instruction in de- portment. I was so to speak, a creature of her creating, to be nurtured to the fullest development.

The final upshot of her arguments with Father was her ultimatum that I should be kept that way all Summer. Dad, positively violent when he first heard that, finally simm- ered down and fearful, I think, that further argument would