Deceived

'Why did you leave me?' Cally protested to her sister.

'Because the doctor made me,' Aurora said. 'You remember Dr. Carstairs, Cally? He only left St. Timothy when we were twelve. Dr. Michaels is away, and Dr. Carstairs will be delivering your baby. He will not let me stay, but Martha and Sally will remain.'

'I am going to die,' Cally said in a strangely calm voice.

'Nonsense,' Aurora replied. 'You are just frightened, little one. Dr. Carstairs will take excellent care of you.'

'I am going to die,' Cally repeated firmly.

'Do not say such a thing!' Aurora begged her.

'I do not blame you,' Cally continued. 'I wanted to be a duchess, Aurora. I didn't have to do it. I do not blame you.'

'Come along now, child,' the doctor said, his hand on Aurora's shoulder. 'It is time for you to get some rest.'

'You will not die, Cally,' Aurora insisted.

'I love you,' Cally replied as her sister was taken away, and she watched with sad eyes as the bedchamber door closed behind Aurora.

'What a mean thing to say to your sister,' Martha scolded Calandra. 'Having a baby won't excuse you. Shame on you!'

But Cally said nothing, instead turning her face away from Martha as she had from Aurora earlier. The hours moved on slowly at first, and then with exceeding speed. It was dawn, and then midday. The dowager came to see how Calandra was doing, speaking kindly to the girl, and then leaving, strangely disturbed.

'Why is it taking so long?' she demanded of the doctor as he brought her from the bedchamber. 'The child decides to come early, and then will not be born. What is the matter, Dr. Carstairs?'

The doctor shook his head. 'I do not know, your grace, but while I am concerned, the young duchess has been in labor only about ten hours. That is not really too long. We can be patient yet.'

'Indeed,' grumbled the dowager to Aurora, who had joined them. 'Trust me, my dear Aurora, if it were the man having the baby, nine hours ago would have been long enough. Patience! Hummmph!'

'Cally says she is going to die,' Aurora said quietly.

'Now, now,' the dowager comforted the young woman, 'that is just your sister's fear and her sense of the dramatic speaking. By tomorrow she will be delivered, beginning to feel well again, and planning her triumphant return to London, I am certain.' But Mary Rose Hawkesworth was not certain at all. Calandra had not looked right for several days now, and this early labor did not bode well. She could easily die. Childbirth was a dangerous business.

The afternoon faded into evening. Aurora had asked twice to be allowed to visit with her sister, but Dr. Carstairs would not permit it. I)inner was a silent affair, and afterward Aurora sought her bedroom. There she found Martha, who looked quite exhausted, sitting dozing by the fire.

Aurora shook her gently. 'Martha, what has happened? How is Cally? Is the baby born yet?'

'Dr. Carstairs sent me and Sally away to rest a bit, miss,' her servant said. 'It ain't good. Oh, it ain't good. Poor Miss Calandra is getting weaker by the minute, and the baby won't be born. She's going to die, miss. I'm so sorry to say it, but she is!'

Aurora ran from her bedchamber and to her sister's room. The doctor came forward as she burst through the door, but with a surprising show of strength the girl pushed him aside and went to her sister's side. 'Cally! Cally! Open your eyes this minute,' she commanded.

Calandra's hazel eyes opened slowly. She looked at Aurora with a weak smile. 'I knew you would come before it was too late,' she said. Then she shuddered, and her look grew vacant.

'Doctor!' Aurora's voice was almost a scream.

He came quickly to the bedside, and taking Cally's wrist, sought for a pulse. There was none. He put his ear to her chest, but the young woman's heart was stilled. Looking up, he said to Aurora, 'I am sorry, Miss Aurora, but your sister is dead.'

'The baby! Is the baby dead too? Oh, God! Don't let Cally's death have been in vain! What of the baby?' Aurora cried.

'Fetch me my medical kit,' he ordered her. 'Will you faint at the sight of blood? Go and fetch Martha. Hurry!'

She practically flung the black leather bag that held the necessities of his doctoring skills at him, and then she dashed from the bedroom, sobbing wildly, calling for Martha. The servant stumbled from her chair and practically collided with her young mistress.

'It's Cally,' Aurora wept hysterically. 'She is dead! Oh, Martha! My sister is dead, and it is all my fault! Go! Hurry! The doctor wants you to aid him. He will try to save the baby.'

Martha dashed into the duchess's bedroom, where the doctor stood staring down in horror at the bed. 'What is it, sir?' she asked him tremulously, attempting to see around his bulky figure.

'Come no farther!' he said sharply.

'What is it?' she repeated nervously.

He turned, white-faced. 'Look if you will, but it is a terrible sight, Martha Jones. No wonder poor Calandra could not deliver her child. It is a monster, but praise God in his mercy, it is dead.'

Determined but fearful, Martha gazed down upon Calandra, whose belly had been opened by the doctor in his desperate effort to save the duke's heir. 'It's two babies,' she said softly. 'What's that about their necks, Doctor, and why are they so close together? Why, they look as if their poor little bodies are united.' Then she gave a little scream. 'God help us! They have but two legs! Oh, Doctor! What is it that poor Miss Cally has borne in her body all these months?'

He shook his head in his own wonderment. 'I have heard of such a thing, but rarely. Had they been normally formed, they might have been twins, but of what sex, I cannot tell, for they are conjoined in such a manner to make it impossible. They have two heads and necks; each has a set of shoulders and an upper chest, and each has two arms, but the rest of their trunk is one, and there are but two legs. They have been strangled by their own cord, thank God! I will sew the duchess back up, Martha Jones, and we will tell the duke the child was dead in its mother's womb, which is no lie. There is no need to say what we have seen this day. There will be sorrow enough in this house, and as Miss Aurora is to be married herself in a few months, there is no need to frighten her with her poor sister's misfortune, eh, Martha?'

Martha nodded. The sight of Cally's monster would remain with her for the rest of her days. It was horrible. Then she had a thought. 'They'll ask what the babe was, Doctor. Tell them a wee girl. There will be so much sadness over this as it is. The duke has been good to us. Don't let him think he lost a son as well as a wife.'

'It is no son,' the doctor said softly, 'but I do not think it is a daughter either.' Then he shook himself and said, 'Go and fetch the duke, but I do not want him to come into this room yet. Ask him to await me in the library, Martha. And see to your mistress. She was here when her sister died. Calandra's last words were for her.'

As Martha left the room, the doctor began to sew up his patient's belly. He was astounded by what he had seen, and wondered what could have possibly caused Calandra to conceive such