“Septimus, you should not speak to your father like this. If you did not tie your hands, who did?”
“Who did? That young loafer Bernard Brooks. I want you to flog him within an inch of his life.”
“Bernard Brooks tied your hands?”
“Didn’t I say so?”
“But why did you let him do it?”
“How could I help it, when he had Nat Barclay with him?”
“So Nat Barclay was with him?”
“Yes, he was.”
“I forbade him to associate with that Barclay.”
“Much he cares for your orders. When I told him you would flog him, he laughed!”