37: The Condemned ManThe boy was kneeling on the stone floor. He was wearing only his drawers and his small body was shivering. Brother Charles had his back to the door and must have assumed the interruption was from one of the boys as he continued to hold the boy’s head to his crotch as he spoke, his fingers tangled in the boy’s matted, unwashed hair.
‘Get back to bed before I leather you,’ he said, without turning round, his words breathy and punctuated by grunts.
Jack couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. ‘Brother Charles, what in God’s name are you doing? Let that boy go. Stop! Now!’
The monk took his hands away from the boy’s head and the lad grabbed the opportunity to scramble to his feet and run out past Jack.
Brother Charles tucked his p***s back inside his robes. ‘Go to bed
