in the gloomy , familiar sitting room , where fats had confessed to his parents that he had exposed his father 's illness to the world ; where he had confessed to as much as he could think of , in the hope that they would conclude him to be mad and ill ; where he had tried to heap upon himself so much blame that they would beat him or stab him or do to him all those things that he knew he deserved , colin put a hand gently on his son 's back and steered him away , towards the sunlit kitchen . )