"How long ago was this?"

"It happened when I was twelve."

"Was it ever repeated?"

"Yes, a month later; but the punishment lasted only for two days."

"And you submitted to it?"

"I had to, but as soon as I was released I gave Peter such a flogging,
with the promise to repeat it, if I was ever punished in that manner
again, that the boy himself was panic-stricken, and objected to my being
imprisoned again."

"He must be a charming fellow!"

"You would think so if you should see him. He has small, insignificant
features, a turn-up nose, and an ugly scowl that appears whenever he is
out of humor."

"And yet your father likes him?"

"I don't think he does, though Peter, by his mother's orders, pays
all sorts of small attentions--bringing him his slippers, running on
errands, and so on, not because he likes it, but because he wants to
supplant me, as he has succeeded in doing."

"You have finally broken away, then?"