You have been an inmate of the prisoner's household since your earliest consciousness.

He provided you with food, lodging, and clothing during your infancy and early youth.

You have seen him on annual visits to your home, and watched him as he performed the usual parental functions for your younger brothers and sisters.

I therefore repeat, is the prisoner your father, Susanna Crum ?" "I wudna say he's no', my lord." "This is really beyond credence! What do you conceive to be the idea involved in the word 'father,' Susanna Crum ?" "It depends, my lord." And this, a few hundred years earlier, would have been the natural and effective moment for the thumbscrews.
I do not wish to be understood as defending these uncomfortable appliances.

They would never have been needed to elicit information from me, for I should have spent my nights inventing matter to confess in the daytime.