Anthony Stadlen asked about my conjecture regarding Floyd & Lloyd's mother.  In my original post, I placed my thoughts in parentheses to emphasize its status as a "speculative aside," but I suppose I can do a bit better.

Floyd and Lloyd's father is also their grandfather based on these facts:

 

1. Grandfather Ahem (Ibrihim) is an "old scoundrel" who "might have taken better care" of the twins' mother.

2. Ahem's wife is absent, presumed dead.

3. The twins' mother is his youngest daughter, and she is exceptionally beautiful.  Isn't this something of a trope in Father-Daughter incest narratives?

4. She is known as gray Ahem's pearl.  The connection between father and daughter here feels the least bit creepy to me.

5. She is raped in an orchard by an anonymous sire. "One set of rumors mentioned a Hungarian peddler;
another favored a German collector of birds or some member of his expedition--his taxidermist, most likely." Clearly we are to take these explanations as being wildly speculative and unsound. We can also deduce from this that the real story was suppressed, otherwise there would not have been cause for such rumors. So then, why would someone make up a story about her being raped by a man who cannot be identified or verified? Isn't this the kind of alibi that is often created to protect an actual assailant or consensual partner who remains within the community but must not be exposed? If so, then her father is really the only suspect we are given.

6. It is commonly thought (rightly or wrongly) that incest results in birth defects.