ou haven't a legal leg to stand on, Brennan."

"So I find out. It seems incredible that there isn't any law set up to
control the activity of a child."

"Incredible? No, Brennan, not so. To now it hasn't been necessary. People
just do not see the necessity of laws passed to prevent something that
isn't being done anyway. The number of outmoded laws, ridiculous laws,
and laws passed in the heat of public emotion are always a subject for
public ridicule. If the state legislature were to pass a law stating that
any child under fourteen may not leave home without the consent of his
parents, every opposition newspaper in the state would howl about the
waste of time and money spent on ridiculous legislation passed to govern
activities that are already under excellent control. They would poll the
state and point out that for so many million children under age fourteen,
precisely zero of them have left home to set up their own housekeeping.
One might just as well waste the taxpayer's money by passing a law that
confirms the Universal Law of Gravity.

"But that's neither here nor there," he said. "Your problem is to figure
out some means of exerting the proper control over this intelligent
infant."

"My problem rises higher than that," said Brennan ruefully. "He dislikes
me to the point of blind, unreasonable hatred. He believes that I am the
party responsible for the death of his parents and furthermore that the
act was deliberate. Tantamount to a charge of first-degree murder."

"Has he made that statement recently?" asked Manison.

"I would hardly know."

"When last did you hear him say words to that effect?"

"At the time, following the accidental death of his parents, James Holden
ran off to the home of his grandparents. Puzzled and concerned, they
called me as the child's guardian. I went there to bring him back to his
home. I arrived the following morning and it was during that session that
James Holden made the accusation."

"And he has not made it since, to the best of your knowledge?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hardly make anything out of that. Seven years ago. Not a formal charge,
only a cry of rage, frustration, hysterical grief. The complaint of a
five-year-old made under strain could hardly be considered slanderous.
It is too bad that the child hasn't broken any laws. Your success in
collecting him the first time was entirely due to the associations he'd
made with this automobile thief--Caslow, you said h