"Jack was not feeling warm and filial sentiments towards his new stepmother. "What was she meant to do, deliver me trussed and bound onto the ship?" "Wouldn't that be a bit gratuitous?" Everyone turned to look at Miles Dorrington, who held up both hands in self-defense. "Why would you truss and bind? Surely one would do." "You," said Jack's stepmother, advancing purposefully, "are not helping." Miles Dorrington ducked behind his wife."