Anthony was both glad and disappointed that there was no response from the man. They both stood there in an awkward and unpleasant silence for a bit. "You're a bit of a cunt, I think," Anthony said to break the silence.

Charles was used to swearing. Both in the workhouse and before in the Navy, he had been exposed to a colourful range of profanities. In fact, he had learned most of his swear vocabulary at sea. But once he had become an officer, he had disapproved of it, as he did now, in the workhouse. "Profanity is the weak man's weapon..." he said.

Anthony inhaled sharply in an almost-laugh, and then shrugged. "Okay. I don't really care. I never claimed to be strong." This all just made him think that this man was even more of a cunt.

Charles decided to ignore the man and so he went back to being silent, waiting for the police.

Anthony was getting very bored very quickly. His fear had completely dissipated, because it was obvious that neither of the constables would be joining them. "Don't you have anything better to do, than just wait here for god-knows how long?" Time to be annoying again.

"I have a responsibility towards this town..." Charles said. Now if only other people took their responsibility seriously, he wouldn't have to wait here with this wretch.

"Uh-uh. A responsibility to stand around and wait for hours on end for a constable who'll never come." Anthony was now trying to annoy or convince him to leave, just because he didn't have anything better to do. "That clearly helps the town more than working or whatever it is you do."

Perhaps Charles would have given up already, had the other man not been so annoying. But now he was all the more important that this guy would see justice. Of course he officially had no right to arrest him, or keep him here, but a bit of intimidation worked just fine.

Anthony waited a little bit for any sort of response from the man, but he didn't get one. "And you're not saying anything, because you know I'm right." He nodded, as if that would make his statement more true.

Charles dealt with petty people a lot. He decided not to take the bait, knowing that would probably annoy the other guy more.