Whilst most of the disciplinarians imagined in my little fantasies are male, there’s always space for the occasional strict female. The stern Headmistress, summoning a girl to her study; the prison officer stripping a reluctant girl before applying a birching; the mistress of the house dealing with the maids.

The final case sparked interesting thoughts of a young woman, recently married to a grand Duke. Disciplining the female staff, he’d explain, was to be one of her responsibilities; he’d provide her with a cane, encourage her to practice on the cushions, and inform her that the butler would be standing by to cut birch rods should she have to deal with a more serious offence.

Only, she’d flinch from her duties – memories of being chastised by her own father mixing with a desire to be liked, loved even, by the staff. Particularly the pretty young thing who was her own lady’s maid, her dresser – her confidant, even, in this scary, lonely big house.

The day would come, inevitably, when her favourite made some heinous mistake. The Duke, over dinner, would check with his wife: “You will be caning her later, I assume?” Trembling, she’d confirm that she would – and trembling again the following morning at breakfast, she would confirm that she had.

Only, you she, she hadn’t. She’d called the girl into her dressing room, scolded her, and sent her on her way.

Who knows how the Duke would discover her deceit – the trusted butler, listening at the door, noting the absence of whacking inside? But both his elegant young wife and her favoured maid would be called into his study.

“I understand that my wife let you off with a scolding,” he’d inform the girl. “Would for you she’d carried out her duties. He’d make her lift her skirts; bare herself; give her a dozen of the harshest cuts; send her on her way.

And then he’d turn to his new wife. “Clearly it’s not only the staff who need discipline,” he’d comment disapprovingly, before instructing her to adopt the position recently vacated by her maid. Twelve more strokes would echo out, teaching her an important lesson that would not be quickly forgotten, before holding her tight in his arms.