"Right. Right." Harry nodded gulping down some ale to quash the terrible thought of killing a man. "So this fellow is why you were at the station then?"

A bartender brought Robert's drink. "Anything else, sir?"

"Bit more speed next time would be marvelous," Robert answered.

"Apologies, sir. It's very busy tonight."

But Robert rolled his eyes and waved the man away and turned back to Harry. "It is. The bastard was a porter at the station. I saw him treating my sister indecently and wrote to the railways. Got him sacked. But he and my sister complained to my father, and my father, rather than thanking me, decided to punish me by making me work as a porter. Senile old git."

"How frightfully modern of him! It that had been me, my father would have just paid him a lump sum to bugger off."

"Bastard shouldn't be paid at all. He should be in prison or the workhouse or whorehouse or wherever he's crawled out of. Anyway, my father has lost his mind and encourages it. The world as we know it is about to be destroyed, I tell you. Unless we do something. We need to find something on this bastard... something we can use against him, or some way we can strike... without going to prison for it or worse..."

Harry was slightly deflated that his opinion had been roughly ignored, but said nothing. Robert was right about all changes going on with women and working men like the chap they were discussing demanding more than they deserved.

"Does this nasty little fellow have a name? Seems silly not to be specific, if we're going to ruin his life."

"Joseph Blacke. He lives in Oswy street apparently. Figured that out by now. God, you know you're dealing with vermin when you know it crawled out of that place. His father is working for the railway as well. Fireman. I've seen him, covered in dirt and soot. And my sister associating with that sort! Just think about that!" He took a large drink of his beer to wash away the unpleasant thought. "Now, I'm busy with this bloody job. So what I need you to do is to find out everything you can about him and his friends and family. Any weak spots, any source of scandal, their routines. Anything we might use. Then we can come up with a plan."

"What a wonderful idea," said Harry between gulps of beer "I'll be a sort of Inspector Bucket: looking for clues, information to help us. This is going to be fun. It's too bad we can't place him under arrest. I suppose we have to give the real police something to do."

Robert quietly reflected on the idiocy of his friend. But Harry was useful. "Something like that. But you don't tell the police what you've found, you tell me."

"Right. No police. What sorts of things should I look for? I mean this Joe Blacke fellow probably doesn't have 2 shillings to rub together or a clean collar."

"Find out if he's ever done anything illegal. We could blackmail him, or show my father how worthless he really is. Or perhaps he's got the wrong kind of friends. He's probably been a lot of women before. That sort breeds like cockroaches. If we could show that, that should help my sister see sense. Find out about his family. Perhaps he has a sister that we could get into some trouble in return for messing with our girls. Has his family been involved in anything criminal or illegal that we could use against them? Who are their friends? Who are their enemies. Anything we can use against him." He hoped Harry was smart enough for this.