My father's miserliness is notorious.

[ He says that like it has some explanatory power. Like, well, yes, of course we all have dark hair, he had dark hair too. He despises his father for it, no doubt of that; he hates the fact that he and his sister wore rags and were sick, often as not, off the slop they were fed. He hates the fact that he had to beg and wheedle the proper books for Nadine. That he turned into a thief, filching and pawning family heirlooms, so she could keep up with the other students. That his father threw that in his face, later - that he was a sneak and a criminal as well as a pervert, when By was just doing what any good parent would.

So he hates his father for it. But should have had is a foreign concept for him. Should he? This is just his legacy. His and Nadine's. Born into a family that long ago traded compassion for power, and who were paying for it.

Really, though, how strange. In the midst of this outrage, this offense against his honor - How strange it is that Prior comments on the offense against something as commonplace as his physical well-being. It seems so minor in comparison. ]

Asking him to clothe his children would be like asking a hillman to count past ten with his boots still on.