Chapter 6 - when the master's away... p2

It was Sunday, three days after Catherine's departure. The sun was just beginning to rise above the treetops. Even with master, mistress, and head maid absent, the servants stirred early, yawning as they dressed for their day. It was a cramped space, where a dozen or so young women all slept, dressed, and gossipped together. There was little privacy in the servant's quarters - a fact that Delia had quickly grown to hate.

"H-hnng!" Delia grunted. Behind her someone whispered, followed by a giggle. Delia felt her face flush.

C'mon... just have to... a little bit...

It was no use. Delia looked down forlornly at Catherine's old snow-white corset. It was stretched smooth over her torso, hugging her new curves tightly. The buttons which ran up the front were strained, each side trying it's hardest to pull itself apart from the other. Right at the apex of her soft belly was the unconquerable gap, the button that could not be fastened no matter how desperately Delia tugged and pulled and sucked in her breath. Her plump belly button peered through the gap, emphasizing the softness that was quickly obscuring her slender figure.

Desperately she tried again. Sucking in her stomach, she pulled at the tiny corset with all her might. The button came teasingly close to the slot, but couldn't make it. Whenever she came close, a soft roll would bunch up and block her progress, squishing itself up between the button and slot.

"Gah!" With a frustrated growl Delia let her breath back out, letting her developing pot belly puff out once again. From behind, there were more titters and a flurry of whispers. Had her face not already been red for effort, the embarrassment would have set her face burning.

She already knew who it was. Suzette was a thick maid in her mid-twenties who liked nothing more than to stir trouble. From the moment Delia had arrived Suzette had been cold to her, but in the past few weeks she'd been particularly nasty, poking fun of her new padding (despite her own rather rounded proportions). Together with her couple of cruel cronies, Suzette constantly prodded at Delia's shaky self-esteem.

"Good morning, Delia!" Suzette's pompous british accent far outclassed her role as a lowly maid.

"Uh. Good morning, Suzette."

Suzette approached, her friends staying in the background whispering gleefully. Suzette wasn't tall, but made up for that in sheer mass - her thick hips swayed widely with each step, sending her swollen breasts and flabby middle bouncing mightily.

"Here I'd thought you were eating well as Catherine's pet, but this is something else," she said, smiling cruelly. "You've gone from Catherine's lapdog to Colette's pet pig!"

Delia blushed, crossing her arms over her tubby tummy. It growled loudly, wanting breakfast. Delia blushed deeper as Suzette laughed.

"Oh, the piggy needs her breakfast. We'd better leave her to it," she said, waddling away with her friends.

Delia felt tears well up, but managed not to cry. Why were they so mean? She looked at her soft belly, poking it gently. 'Why', she thought, 'is a belly such a bad thing? Surely it's better to be fat than to be starving.'

Suddenly, Colette appeared, already dressed in her chef's jacket. "Mon cher, what is wrong?" she asked.

Delia wiped her moist eyes. "Oh, it's nothing, really..."

Colette's face hardened. "Was it zat Suzette again? Agh! She is always causing trouble." Just then Colette noticed the unbuttoned corset. Immediately recognizing what had happened, she took Delia by the arm. "Come on, mon cher, I will find you some clothes."

Delia reluctantly followed Colette out of the servant's quarters and through the empty house dressed in nothing but her undergarments and the ill-fitting corset.

"Don't ever listen to them, Suzette and 'er friends. Zey are just jealous," Colette said.

"Jealous?" Delia asked, bewildered.

"Of course! Zey are just angry because jou replaced zem," Colette smiled. "You were not Catherine's first handmaid. Suzette used to have your job. She would eat Catherine's snacks and accompany her all day long, just as jou do. But Catherine detested her because she was bossy and cruel to the other servants. So Catherine demoted her, and got jou instead."

Delia thought about that for a moment. "Wait, if Suzette did this before me... is that why she's so... plump?"

Colette chuckled. "Oh, jou are a clever one. Yes, zat is why she is so, ah, 'plump'."

Delia slowed her pace, glaring down at her doughy middle. "Then I'm not crazy! Why does Catherine make me eat so much? And Suzette, too?"

"Come, I'll tell jou when we get there."

They continued on until they found themselves in Catherine's dressing-room.

"Why are we here?" Delia asked. Surely Catherine didn't have any other clothes that would fit her.

But Colette had already disappeared into the huge walk-in closet from which Catherine chose her outfits. Delia waited nervously, crossed arms squishing into her soft stomach.

"Aha!" Colette emerged from the closet carrying a mottled pink dress, a corset and a white petticoat. "Here, I'll help you put this on."

Delia took off the too-tight corset shyly, allowing Colette to help her into the new one. To her surprise it fit just fine, each button slipping easily into place. Colette even left it a little loose for her. Then the petticoat strung neatly round her new hips, and the dress slipped over her head. Delia was shocked to see that the dress was a little loose on her.

Delia pulled at the excess fabric around her waist. "What? Where did you find this?" she asked.

"In ze back. There are several more like it."

"But why?"

Colette grinned naughtily. "Jou must promise not to tell anybody about this." Delia nodded quickly, and Colette continued. "When I came 'ere, Catherine was fourteen years old. She 'ad just begun to flower, and was still quite small - ze same size as jou were when jou first arrived. She loved my food very much - my baking especially. She would come to me in ze kitchens after 'er father 'ad gone to sleep and have me make platters of pastries for her to eat. We would stay up late eating and talking, and soon became friends. 'owever, as we grew closer, Catherine grew larger."

"Grew larger? You mean - you mean like this?" Delia pinched an inch of her own middle.

"Yes, like that." Colette chuckled at Delia's shocked expression. "She grew very quickly. She grew even larger than you in just a month! Needless to say her father was not happy. So he forbade our friendship, and put her on a strict diet. I have never seen her as happy as when she was a chubby little thing, eating all of my sweet treats. Ever since then she has taken pleasure in watching others eat and grow larger, just as she once had." Colette looked sad. "She now pretends as though zis whole episode never happened. But I think zat she just wishes she could indulge as you are able too."

Delia pondered the cook's new revelations. 'Here I was complaining about eating so much, when Catherine isn't allowed to have anything at all! How selfish I've been,' she thought to herself. She pulled gently at the dress, trying to imagine slender Catherine large enough to fill it out. The thought was strange and new to her - never once had she imagined Catherine as anything but the picture of beauty.

"It seems so strange," Delia mused. "Can you... can you tell me what she was like? Back then, I mean."

"Of course." Colette smiled, taking Delia's arm. "I remember it fondly. Her favorite was always my French silk pie..."

For the rest of the day, Delia was filled with a new confidence. She never worried once about her growing body. Colette noticed that she hardly needed any prompting to eat, and would stuff herself into a happy stupor without a single complaint.

All the while, Colette regaled her with stories of a young Catherine, more happy and bubbly then at the present. Delia found herself growing sad that she'd never gotten to know Catherine as she had been before her father's diet.

At the end of the day, the pair stayed up past bedtime talking. It reminded Colette of those old times with Catherine. She even made a French silk pie, and watched as Delia gobbled it down greedily, her belly filling out the larger dress with it's hard roundness.

"Come now, mon cher, it is time for bed," Colette urged as she noticed Delia's eyes drooping.

"Mm.. mhm." Delia got up tiredly, one hand placed gently on her overfed middle. Colette took her arm, and helped the full girl waddle slowly to bed.