Margaret returned to the keyboard. "Dinner's on so the old man can't complain. It's stew so it will cook itself and I'll only have to give it a stir every now and again. I do want to find out what happened. Poor kids. Lucky they didn't die."

July 21st 1831

'Frederick and Rose wanted to keep the twins when we met again but I wanted to hear from them first before deciding and as there was no spare time for me to quiz them during the entertainment. In any case I knew Alice would do a far better job at finding out what happened than I would. I suggested I keep them until we met at Lord Parham's the next Saturday.

Rose was somewhat upset. "They've enjoyed themselves with our two and are beginning to learn a little more schooling with Bridget," she pleaded but her husband said I was only doing my job in looking after the twins' best interest.

"It will give the twins a chance to think about what they want to do. After what they have been through, I don't want to force them into a situation they don't like. I am sure Josiah will wish to take that into consideration too," Frederick went on.

We didn't bother the twins with questions during the following day but I know the other ladies did ask. As usual few got more than a few words from them except for Sara and she spent most of the day in the church crypt 'doing penance'. I decided to find out later what that involved. I know she came back with a sore arse.

When I went to the bedroom later that evening, Alice was naked in our bed with the twins, also unclothed, suckling contentedly on her breasts. Presently they lay quiet and Alice hugged the pair close to her body and said quietly, "Time now to tell Auntie Alice about your adventures with the Cooper's." Jane looked briefly at me but Alice went on, "Don't worry about big bear daddy. He won't interfere and we really do need to know before we decide if you want to go back or stay here. I like cuddling you two little things but if I think you would rather be with Rosie and David, then I will do all I can to help you be with them." She gave them both another hug. Although I was impatient to hear what they got up to, I allowed Alice to find out at her own pace. She would wheedle the details from them almost without them knowing. The was silence for a minute or two and then Alice asked, "Was it a nice house?"

"Oh yes," Jane answered, "it was beautiful. Big room and huge mirrors. Rosie's room had one that went right to the floor and you could see all of yourself. All at one go."

"I bet you looked at all the parts you don't normally see," laughed Alice.

"Yes and so did Bobby and the others."

"It's a big house, Alice," Bobby started talking, "Not as big as Lord Parham's but 'bout as big as the orphanage but much nicer. Paintings on the walls with gold frames. Soft chairs with fancy covers and lights and candles everywhere."

"And when we wanted anything we just rang a bell and a servant came and got it for us."

Alice let them carry on talking about the house and the things in it for a bit and then asked about the beds. "Did you have nice big beds?"

"Oooh yes," Jane giggled. "Soft feather mattresses and a canopy over the top. You could snuggle right down in the softness and get lost."

"And you could snuggle down with each other!" Alice was now getting to the details I wanted to know.

It was Jane that gave us these details. "David and Rosie have bedrooms with a door that connects them so we could easily walk from one room to the other. Rosie told me that was why they first started fucking each other. She saw David peeking at her when she undressed at night and demanded David undressed for her too. She's a forceful girl and usually gets her way. David's prick stuck out when he took his breeches off so she played with it and he played with her. "We knew what to do," Rosie said to me, "Because we'd seen Daddy and Mummy doing it with Bridget and Frank. They didn't see us though." When Bridget caught them in bed together, no one really minded although they had to listen to the usual stuff about babies and things."

"The first night," Bobby piped up, "Rosie took me to her bed and David took Jane. They left the door wide open and said we were free to move from one room to the other but they wanted to try us out first. That seemed all right. Rosie is a big girl, like Sara. Big titties, almost as big as yours Alice but sort of harder. We were naked by then, having been looking in the big mirror at each other. I knew my cock was smaller than David's but Rosie didn't seem to mind or notice and we fucked twice before she dozed off. It was all so strange I couldn't sleep. For a little while I heard Jane squealing as David did her and then it went quiet. I waited and then went to Jane and slept with her and David. David wasn't there when we woke but we could hear him and Rosie were at it so we did the same and then found they had come in to watch."

"What was David like Jane?" Alice asked.

"Nice. Bigger prick than Bobby as he's said, not as big as Daddy here or the other men that've had me. When Bridget came in to tell us to wash and get down for breakfast, we were all in David's bed. She pulled the covers down and looked at us. Rosie pulled her knees up to her chin so Bridget could see her cunnie and Bridget kissed it, then she told me to do the same. When I did she kissed me and then pushed her tongue right inside. It felt nice. Bridget was nice when she wasn't being a schoolteacher. She sucked Bobby and David's cocks and then ordered us up."

"As it was a Sunday we had breakfast in the dining room with the Cooper's," went on Bobby "And then on to church. Not a Roman Catholic one like ours and Sara's but easier to understand. Not so much Latin. We went out for a walk in the afternoon and after dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper took us to a room on our own and asked us about our stay so far and wanted to know who we slept with the previous night. When we told them they asked if we enjoyed ourselves with their children and we said we did."

"Monday was a school day and that wasn't so good. Both of us had the slipper," Jane said. "Bridget, who seemed so nice to us the day before, was very strict in the school room. Rosie had warned us to be careful. "Once we're in the room, treat Miss Bridget like you would the strictest teacher you've ever had otherwise your bums will be sore," she said to us just before we entered the room. Miss Bridget, we had to call her miss in school, set the others an essay to write and then gave us an english book and told us to read a page and then answer the questions. Well you know how we don't read very well and at the time we didn't know why. Neither of us could understand it but we pretended to write words on the paper. Miss Bridget was very angry when she saw what we had done. "I gave you a simple little task," she said, "And you sit there and play around. I'll show you what happens when you fool around in my classroom, I don't have lazy children here." Bobby muttered something about us having left school now, which seemed to anger her more. She dragged us to the front and bent us both over her desk. I thought, "It'll just be a few strokes with the slipper like Rosie said," but it was hell. Our bums were bared for the others to see and then she set to with fury and laid that slipper like about a hundred times until we were sobbing and yelling so bad they must have heard it through the whole house. The birching you gave us hurt but it was over quickly. The slippering just seemed to go on for ever. Anyways, when it was over, she sent me into one corner and Bobby to another but we just grabbed each other's hands and ran. We went right through the house and out the back door, down the garden and into the fields beyond. We hid behind a hedge."

Bobby took up the story. "We just hid there for a while until we heard voices. One of the gardeners came. He'd seen us running and picked us both up. Our arses were now stiff and too sore to run so we were taken back into the house and to Miss Bridget. She was still angry and stripped our clothes off and had David and Rosie hold us back down over the table. Again she lectured us about our behaviour in class and how playing truant had only earned us more punishment. This time is was the strap. She gave us a dozen on our already tender bums. As you can guess, we were in a poor state by then and as soon as they released us we just held each other so tight, they couldn't part us. "Take them to the attic room Rosie please," Bridget ordered, "Lock them in. They can go without their lunch today and just have bread for dinner."

Rosie whispered for us to come with her. "She'll calm down quickly and may forgive you before dinner." We walked and climbed painfully up stairs to a small room near the top of the house. Inside was a small bed with a hard straw mattress and one blanket, a piss pot and not much else. Rosie was crying too as she gave us a hug and said she would do what she could to get us out of there but for now she was going to have to lock the door. "Why didn't you do the questions?" she asked but we just held each other and didn't answer her.

We lay face down on the bed trying to comfort each other and wishing we were back here. What had started off as a real nice time, was now horrible. We couldn't understand how someone like Bridget could change from being nice and kind to us, to a wicked cruel woman. We kept asking each other that question once the first pain began to go away but couldn't find an answer. Some time later there was a knock on the door, we heard it unlocked and Molly one of the young maids entered with a tray. She was young and friendly. "Sorry," she said to us, "I'm told to bring you one slice of bread and cheese and some water but I've put a piece of pie in too so eat it up and don't leave any crumbs or you'll get me in trouble too. I've also brought a pot of Gran Mabel's which might help your bums if you'll let me put it on. We'd already taken off our clothes to prevent them chafing and let the air get to our sore arses so we let her put it on and thanked her. She again said not to tell on her and left. Hours later she came back with another slice of bread and cheese. This time there was no pie. "Sorry, Bridget was watching when I did your plate so I daren't add anything."

It was nearly dark when there was another knock on the door and Mrs. Cooper came in. She surprised us by lying between us and giving us a cuddle. "Come here you naughty twin chickens. You must think us a bad family to be with," she commented. Jane said we wanted to go back home but was told we couldn't do that until our two weeks was up. "You could be very happy here," Mrs. Cooper said, "But you must try and do your best and not fool about in Bridget's class. In there she's in charge and you're there to learn. She doesn't tolerate laziness or any one trying to abuse her teaching, as you've found out." Mrs. Cooper went on like that for some time but we gave up trying to answer and lay silent. Finally she asked a direct question, "Now I want to know why you didn't do the work she set."

"I said we couldn't read it," Jane cut in, "And then Rose went on to say the book was the easiest one still in the house, intended for children two or three years younger than us and that David and Rosie got past using it when they were eight or nine. "Children of your age ought to be able to read and write better than you seem to. I'll see what we can do about that in the morning. You'll have to stay here tonight because that's what Bridget ordered but I'll get Mollie to bring in a warm beverage and she'll put some cream on you."

"Seems as if Rose and Mollie liked you," Alice commented.

Bobby resumed the tale. "Bridget came in next morning and seemed back to her earlier friendly self. She took us to the kitchen and made us wash at the sink. In front of the staff we washed each other as normal. They all saw our colourful, sore bottoms. We only had the one dress we came with so Bridget found some of Rosie's old ones and we put them on. We looked quite nice in them. Even though I am a boy, I have become used to the shift dresses you've made me wear, Rosie's clothes made me look pretty. Mollie came and did our hair and made me look even more like a girl but she knew I wasn't because she felt my prick a few times. Rosie and David came in and we all sat for breakfast. We weren't offered a cushion or anything and Bridget acted like nothing had happened. Before going to the schoolroom, she took us to one side and told never to try and make a fool of her again and that Rose would be taking us to the local school that morning to see if she could borrow more suitable books for us.

At the school the teacher seemed friendly enough and knew Rose well. I learned the Coopers had given the school money at times so she was treated with great respect. He asked a girl, Violet, about our age to go to the store cupboard and see what books we could read. She was friendly and plump and wore little round spectacles. We started with the books for the very young and easily read those but when got to the bigger books we couldn't. Violet was very patient and at last said, "You can't see the words can you?" Neither of us could. She took off her glasses and we each tried them on and this made a great deal of difference although not as much as the ones we got later. We went back to Rose and the teacher without any books and she explained to the teacher why we couldn't read. Next day we went into Gyppeswick with Mr. Cooper when he went to work and Rose came too and took us to an eye man who gave us these glasses."

Jane felt around in her dress pocket and brought out a little case with wire-framed glasses and showed Alice and then me. After that their life at the Coopers seemed to much improve according to the story they told Alice and I guess I will have to let them go. By the end of their two weeks, both had slept away from each other for a whole night but had to cuddle each other first thing in the morning. Under Bridget's teaching their reading and writing had much improved and at drawing they were much better than their peers. "Did you sleep with any others in the house?" I asked.

Jane answered. "We spent two nights in the Cooper's bed and one with Bridget and Frank. Frank was quite rough and his fucking hurt. Even when he did it to Bridget but she seemed to like it that way. Bobby did Mollie in the pantry while I watched but most nights were spent with Davie and Rosie, frequently in the same bed and the boys made us try it in all sorts of ways."

"Did you get the slipper or the strap again?"

"Yes, but only twice and not that many. We saw Rosie and David get it too so we didn't think Bridget was being so unfair to us." Turning to me, she asked, "Will you let us go back?" I had to say, 'yes', although I had become fond of the pair but I couldn't see them really earning their keep in the Workhouse.