Wesley narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Usually so do their mothers. But she doesn't. I will find out all I need to know soon enough." He said, acting as if this entire situation wasn't driving him crazy.

"I do not want to hear you repeat something you've probably repeated many times since you could crawl. I could prove you are wrong as well since you have claimed one thing then another, when we had a witness. But people are usually unaware of their own condition until it is far too late. Denial is a strong drug." He smirked as he walked with them. The woman still hadn't said the father's name and he was convinced she didn't know. But they were both not sharing information, so he looked to the boy.

"What hole in the wall is your brother cowering in?"

James opened his mouth to comment, but then the priest started saying a lot of stuff he didn't understand and he shut up. Instead, he ate the food Ruth had given it, holding it close to his mouth with both hands as if to shield it from thieves, and watching the men argue.

"Which one?" he asked, when the constable addressed him once again.

Well and maybe she had lied about the names, but she wasn't about to tell the judgmental ass of a constable that. At least there was the priest distracting him. Ruth still didn't understand why he had involved himself in the first place, but she was glad for it.

"Shut up, James," she called back. "Let the constable figure it out on his own, since 'e's so good at that."

She turned a corner that led her not in the direction of the church.

Completely undeterred by the constable's condescending words, Malachi continued without pause, pushing the wagon and following Ruth's path all the while.

"...And God said, Let there be light!" Okay, so he played it up a little bit, with a lean towards the constable.

"And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness..."

Wesley laughed slightly and clapped his hands together. "I suppose some of you think you're immune to the law." He leaned toward Malachi as he looked at the priest. "But we know no one is. " He eyed Ruth. "If you spend a night or two in jail, will the priest care for your children? Can he?"

James shut up when his sister told him to. He did notice she was going in the wrong direction, but he shut up about that as well. Instead he watched the priest who carried on talking funnily.

"Ow'd 'e do that, then?" he couldn't restain himself.

"I won't 'cause l ain't done nowt wrong." Ruth said, without looking back. She walked on firmly. Little Sam had to run a little to keep up. Hopefully the constable would find the priest more interesting to deal with.

Malachi spared the constable a glance, but didn't bother to acknowledge his question beyond that. He had no legal reason to bring the young mother in.

Unsure as he was about where they were headed, he sped up, pushing the cart faster to keep up with Ruth. If he went any faster, could he get the constable to jog?

"You're not really supposed to question it," he replied, "but I think it's good to be curious. See the sun?"

Taking one hand off the cart for a moment, Malachi pointed up at the sun, before it dropped back to the handle.

"He put that up there, like a candle that he blows out at night. That's how he divided the light from the darkness, and why we have days and nights."

Sounded like a good enough answer, even if it was one he made up on the spot.

Wesley smiled more. "You haven't done anything that I know of..yet. If you've done something in the past, or even if there is record of you being a suspect in something. I'll find out. And there are three other constables in town that I can ask to keep an eye on you... all of you. If you're truly innocent, you have nothing to fear. But know you may have the law breathing down your necks.." he said with complete confidence as he looked to Ruth. It was a pity these people wanted to be so rebellious. He'd have to humble them somehow. He also knew there was no way he'd speak to Cockburn, thay one he'd stayed clear of and would keep it up.

"No 'e didn't!" James said speaking faster now as if to keep up with their pace. He held on to the sides of the cart. "It's a ball of gas. Didn't ye go to school?"