"By your parents?"
"By our father. Mama couldn't do anything to prevent it. She actually risked too much by telling me the truth. I promised her I'd never tell the others, for our lives would be in danger if he found out."
"But it's such a childish approach…"
"Probably. But it's the way we've been brought up. I assure you they're beliefs deeply rooted in those girls."
The young woman in red couldn't avoid some hesitancy in her last three words.
"So your mother was somehow a prisoner here also."
"Yes. She never met anyone, like you, to rely on. And she, above all, feared for our safety if she upset Father.
She explained to me that she didn't have the means to get us all out of here, mainly because Father owns all of the territory and controls all comings and goings. And outside the territory, the other owners are friends of his, so they would stand by him. I don't know if things now, after all these years, might have changed and that's why you act… the way you do."
Joseph watched his sister fascinated, indignant and proud of himself for being so different to his father.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, you're quite right. Circumstances have changed… And, Harris has given me an understanding that they're going to change a lot more."