Elijah sighed heavily. 'Nothing that would hold him for long, then he'd get out angrier than ever. And if he even thought it had something to do with Ed, he'd certainly do something to the boy.'

Ben frowned. Now he wished he could give that bloody father a good hiding. "Is it possible to get the boy away from there? Send him to a reform school?"

Elijah sighed. "Who would take him? Some might accept his wild behavior but they tend to expect money, the free ones would never keep him with the way he acts, and I'm certain he can ignore a cane now and again if they tried to use that for punishment."

"It would be worth the effort. Ye arrest him for som't, get him to court and we hope the court sends him to the reformatory." Ben suggested. If they would have to pay for it... well, maybe they could start a fund and ask all the people who wanted Ed to leave the town to donate. They'd soon have money enough to send his siblings there as well as a preventive measure.

Elijah frowned. A court ordered reform school would truly be a dark place. But it seemed the town was becoming a powder keg for wanting to remove Edward. "If he did something bad enough, yeah. But stealing food from the market isn't quite enough I think. Even with the history. Not sure a broken window would be too. It would have to be a serious enough crime."

"Add up all his crimes. I don't know. I'm sure you can convince the court or whoever is responsible of the need of persecuting. This is not the right situation to be nice." That was usually Elijah's problem. He was too nice. And Ben appreciated it most of the time. But niceness was not going to keep that kid from terrorizing the streets of Whitby.

Elijah frowned more. He stared down as words came to him, but he didn't dare release them. "Let me keep trying, just a little longer. I have his teacher to try to help something else. Before we go to something extreme.'

Ben sighed. "Well, you're the constable..." he said.

Elijah smiled weakly. "Let me try. At least he isn't dangerous or anything. Just a constant pain. I'll work on it though, I haven't given up yet. He may become a useful member to society yet."

"Not dangerous..." Ben grunted. He held up his hand. "The kid's feral."