It was a vault-like apartment, and the roof was upheld in the centre by a stout pillar such as one sees in the crypts of churches, and suspended round this pillar were a pair of manacles and a leather belt.

Cuthbert had many times been tied up to this pillar before, his hands secured above his head in the manacles, and his body firmly fastened to the pillar by the leather thong.

Sometimes he had been left many hours thus secured, till he had been ready to drop with exhaustion.

Sometimes he had been cruelly beaten by his stern sire in punishment for some boyish prank or act of disobedience.

Even the gentle and timid Petronella had more than once been fastened to the pillar for a time of penance, though the manacles and the whip had been spared to her.