July 3rd 1831

'Once again some weeks have elapsed since I last found time to write this journal and in that time a little has changed. The workhouse is now looking smarter with most of the inside walls freshly lime washed and the wood given two coats of dark green paint which I prefer to the more sombre brown. The ladies have now gotten into my ways and there is less need for punishment. I pointed this out to Squire and he suggested we have the Saturday entertainments in turn at Grange Manor, Pembridge Hall, the home of Lord Parham and the Workhouse. Any girls for punishment are taken to the venue and the discipline applied by Higgins if at the Manor, Wallace at the Hall and myself at the Workhouse. Thus we all get to see a better variety of female flesh receiving the lash and I am not forced to add girls to the punishment list just to ensure enough are available for the entertainment. However that has reduced our income but usually I take some of the girls to the other places to assist with pleasing the guests and earn a pound or two that way.

Nonetheless I was surprised when his Lordship requested I bring the twins along the second time we met at the hall. I knew he had seen them when I gave them both four strokes of the birch on a Saturday but it was a married couple that took them to bed that night. Several men wanted Jane but I had insisted the pair performed together. That way I at least had some revenue from the boy. I had thought the couple came at the squire's behest but in fact it was Lord Parham that invited them and it was only later I learned the man was a construction engineer involved in the design and building of the new Town Hall in North Henley. He and the company he owned, have a number of other large public buildings to his credit, which have made him a wealthy man if not an aristocrat. He was still a tradesman at his roots. Down to earth and likable. Not pretentious.

I also took Henrietta along as I had given her three chalks marks for wrongly cutting and wasting some dressmaking material. It was a simple, understandable mistake but she'd only had the birch once since I arrived and I thought it time she had a reminder and it would make her a little more careful in future.

After Wallace had well warmed her bum and she'd been taken to a bedroom by a middle aged man, Lord Parham came to me and formally introduced Frederick Cooper and his wife Rose, the couple who had taken the twins at the Workhouse. We talked while the next act was being set up and then Frederick asked to have a private conversation with me concerning the twins, before the end of the evening. We sat and watched as two of his Lordships maids were fastened together tit to tit. Their hands were then made to grip a bar and were tied to it. This bar was raised aloft until their feet were clear of the floor and their bodies free to swing. Both were young, no more than sixteen at a guess. Lady Parham seemed to take a special interest in the pair and I later learned she was he cause of them being there. She had caught his Lordship rogering the pair. That in itself wasn't the problem, she knew he had all the maids and frequently watched his performances. This time both girls knelt side by side, bums in the air while my Lord rammed his prick a few strokes in one and then a few strokes in the other until he shot his seed and collapsed on the bed.

Watching this had made M'lady horny so she ordered the girls to service her husband with their mouths until he was hard enough to do his marital duty to her. My Lord's prick was not cooperative and lay exhausted between his legs. She ordered the whipping. Maids were not allowed to deprive her of being fucked by her husband's prick when she wanted it even though they'd had no choice in the matter.

Wallace and another man, each with a light, many thonged whip, took positions either side of the two hanging girls. Lady Parham started the pair swinging by giving a hard right hand slap to the arse of one and a left-hand swipe to the other. "Warm them well men. I will say when to stop," she shouted as she stepped back to watch. As each girl swung towards them, Wallace and his companion lashed the white buttocks until they became fiery red and the girls were crying and begging loudly for the whipping to stop. Only when M'lady deemed them sore enough did she give the order. Two guests stepped forward and thrust their pricks into the hanging girls and rogered them with great gusto. After they'd completed their task, M'lady ordered the two whippers to take the girls in their bottom holes before releasing them. My twins, I noticed were cleaning the spent cocks of the two guests.

Shortly after, the whipping being the finale to the entertainment, some guests began taking girls away to various rooms, and others retired to the drawing room. Frederick and Rose took me into a corner and asked if they could have the loan of the twins for a while. "Loan? How long? Why?" I asked, somewhat baffled by the request. Frederick sent Rose to refill our tankards and when we were again nicely settled began the tale.

"We have two children Josiah, a boy David, just turned sixteen and a girl Rosie who we named after her mother and she's a year younger than her brother. About six months ago, Bridget, their governess discovered them in bed together, fucking away like only young teenagers can. She naturally reported it to us and the three of us debated for a long while what to do. As you might guess from our attendance at these meetings, neither Rose or I are at all prudish nor is Bridget or her husband Frank who is one of our house staff. We regularly share each others services, if you get my meaning." I did. "We didn't want to spoil the children's fun but were not too keen on the incest side of it. You know all the stories of deformed and mentally ill babies. I gave the pair a severe lecture on what could happen and Rose gave Rosie advice on preventing pregnancy because we didn't go so far as to ban them from doing it with each other. At this stage we thought it was more experimenting with sex and they would grow out of it. Bridget kindly took David to her bed several times but Rosie refused to have anything to do with Frank. I then invited Jeffrey Parham over for a weekend and gave one of the maids a shilling to spend the weekend with David. Both pairs seemed to enjoy their time together and I hoped the false love our children declared for each other was broken, but it seems it went the other way. Both had learned new things they wanted to try with each other. Then I heard about your twins and wondered how you dealt with the situation and if having them pair off with my children might have a beneficial effect on both. What think you Josiah?"

I pointed out the twins were a rather different case. They had slept in the same bed more or less since birth and separating them caused physical and mental problems. "I heard they've had some rather traumatic experiences," Rose said.

"It's only with God's help, or rather the help of two or three women they are actually alive at all," I pointed out and when Rose asked why, I gave them the story.

"Jason and Gwendolyn gave me the outline of the sad lives of the twins and Alice wormed more details from the twins themselves as they seemed reluctant to talk as freely with me. I have confirmed as much as I can from the women and the bailiff so I am pretty sure the information is as near correct as it can be.

Katie Smith, or at least that is what she called herself although no one believes it is her true name, came to Pennydelset about fifteen years ago. She was heavily pregnant and took up abode in the near derelict cottage that was just past the forge. She only used the two downstairs rooms because of the way the roof leaked. Katie liked her drink, in fact she drank far too much and spent most of her money in The Swan and other pubs. Gin was her favourite tipple but she could only afford the gut rotting cheapest. Even so there were not many nights that she didn't fall into bed in a drunken stupor and this was probably the cause of the twins being small when she gave birth to them. For a few months, until the novelty wore thin, she looked after them reasonably well but still drank heavily so her breast milk wasn't of the best. At that period she was able to get seasonal work on the farms but when the twins were three or four years old and her need for gin increased, she found it more profitable to go to the quayside at Gippeswick and offer her body to the sailors. The young children had to fend for themselves, sometimes for several days at a time. The baker's wife, Hilda Todd found them one day, starving outside the back of the bakery looking for scraps of bread in the bin and gave them half of an unsold loaf and a meat pie that had been accidentally crushed and was unsaleable. The two shared the food and immediately devoured it. After that the twins went to the bakery regularly and Hilda tried to put things aside for them. Harry, her husband wasn't too keen on feeding waifs but turned a blind eye to his wife doing so as long as he didn't see it. When they grew a little, Hilda on Saturdays after the shop closed early, gave them a broom to clean the bake house and took them into the house for a proper meal afterwards. For a long while this was the only real meal they had each week. Harry was persuaded it was payment for the work they had done but wouldn't allow it more than on Saturdays.

As the children grew so Katie came home less frequently, usually no more than once a week. Jane and Bobby soon learned to keep out of the way when their mother came home drunk. Usually she was affable when she first arrived from town and often gave them coppers to buy food. By the end of the day she'd had her fill in one or other of the inns and would look for the money to buy more drink. The children soon learned to hide it and themselves. One of the hiding places was a side shed to Farmer Redman's barn. They used this until spotted by Rita Redman. She knew about the plight of the twins but didn't wish to be seen interfering. Giving them a couple of horse blankets she showed them the hayloft where they might stay in greater comfort. "When you hear the bell for the workers to come in for breakfast, you come on in too. Don't take no notice if Fred goes on and gripes a bit. He'll bark but won't bite. I've got him by his balls or at least my cooking's got him by the guts," she laughed. Although the farm men laughed at the amount of food such a small pair could put away, they never made any attempt to molest them and none ever told Katie.

School was another problem. In a small village school like this, everyone noticed if a child was missing. Any child playing truant received a goodly dose of the strap on their return. Due to their lifestyle the twins were often ill and when their mother was around, had to hide away to escape her wrath. With no one to back up their assertions of illness or the reasons for being away, Bobby and Jane received more than their fair share of the strap. So much so that even when they were so ill and shouldn't have been at school, they went in just to be sent home. The teacher did not want them spreading their noxiousness to the others. There was no money for medicines or the doctor so whatever they caught, lasted longer than for most pupils. None of this was helped by their cold, damp living conditions, the lack of warm food and poor physical condition.

When they were ten years old they almost lost their lives. It was November. Weather was cold and damp with an unusually high rainfall for the month. First Jane took sick with a cold and Bobby soon followed. This quickly turned to a fever and the pair just lay coughing in bed together, alternately shivering and sweating. Delirium set in. When they hadn't turned up for school for three days, Teacher Hopkins went around to see where they were. Immediately he called out old doctor Sedgton. The kindly doctor took one look at the pair, ordered them to be wrapped in blankets and put in his carriage and drove them to the Nun's Hospital at Tye Green. Even in their delirium they clasped each other so tightly they couldn't be separated until the fever broke on the third day.

It was an elderly crotchety nun who decided it was sinful for a boy and a girl to sleep in the same bed and put them in beds alongside each other. As soon as she left they were in each other's arms again. The move angered the old nun and she removed Jane to another room and locked her in. That night the screaming from Booby and Jane was so bad none of the other patients had any sleep and when Doctor Sedgton visited the next morning they complained to him. Bobby and Jane were still keeping up their wailing and calling out for each other and the doctor could see their condition was deteriorating. "Sister," he said to the old nun who was still adamant in keeping the two apart, "Were they fornicating when you saw them?"

"No, but they were in a lustful embrace. We cannot have this sort of thing in a Christian hospital."

"Sister, that so called sinful embrace was part of their healing process. The energy, a Christ's life giving essence, was flowing from one to the other and they were getting better. This happens with twins. You can see for yourself how they are slowly dying again now they are not joined. If you are a true Christian, you will let Christ do his work in his way and not thwart it." It was obvious the old nun didn't believe a word the doctor said but a younger one butted in.

"Why don't we let the doctor have his way during the day when we can see what is happening and at night put them in separate beds across the room from each other. With the night candle they can see each other and know they are not far apart."

"No!" The old nun rejected the suggestion out of hand. "All they need is a hard spanking. That will kill their tantrums."

"Then they'll die, Sister. I cannot have that on my conscience," the younger one stated and went off, returning with the Mother Superior. Much to the older one's chagrin the Mother Superior allowed the suggestion. "These children are ten years old and yet they have the bodies smaller and less developed than most eight year olds. I cannot see any harm in allowing them to be together at this time. I do know from personal experience of twins, they have a mental bond other siblings do not have so for the time being I will allow them to hold each other during the daytime but I do suggest they are apart at night as Sister Anne suggests. Any news of their mother?" There wasn't for two more days. Sister Anne brought Jane back to Bobby and after a very emotional reunion, she explained they could only have this arrangement if they kept quiet through the night so other patients who needed their rest could get it.

A bailiff was at Katie's door soon after she arrived. He issued a summons to attend the Crown Court in Gippeswick two days thence on a charge of child neglect and that was the last anyone from the village saw of her. The bailiff traced her to the docks and reports suggested she went aboard a vessel sailing for the Americas. She may well still be alive if she didn't fall drunkenly over the side before she got there. When the twins recovered sufficiently they were taken to the orphanage. There they became acquainted with the sexual activities of the older boys and girls and started to practice them between themselves. Gwen didn't concern herself too much. They were quiet and didn't disturb any of the others. In fact for some months it was difficult to get more than one word answers from them. As the girl didn't complain about her brother's attentions and she hadn't started her monthlies so was unlikely to become pregnant, Jason and Gwendolyn didn't even try to separate them. Indeed they thought it might make the pair more receptive when they were big enough for them to have fun with. When she thought Jane might start ovulating, she gave them both a stern lecture and some practical instruction to avoid any baby problems.

Perhaps now you can see why your sibling situation is so different to theirs and why I try and keep them together at all times," I concluded.

I could see tears in Rose's eyes when she spoke, "Josiah, I can see what you mean. It's a very sad story and our children have had a most comfortable life compared to them but I think we would still like to give it a try. What do you say, Fred?"

"Yes, perhaps we could borrow them for two weeks to start with and bring them back the Saturday after next when the entertainment is at the Squires and discus it further in the light of what happens. That should give us a reasonable amount of time to see what they are like and for them to see if our ways agree with them. I gather neither are averse to fornicating with others as long as they not separated. If they are so upset they do not wish to stay for the fortnight we'll bring them to the Workhouse next Saturday. " So it was agreed.'

Margaret had tears in her eyes too as she read through the document.