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Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. About Alison Stuart
  3. Also by Alison Stuart
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Author’s Note
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. Preview of The Goldminer's Sister

Penrose put his elbows on the table and ran his hands through his hair as Lil returned to her place behind the bar. He stared at the unyielding slab of wood that stood between him and the woman he loved. ‘This can’t go on,’ he said. ‘I’ve got to do something.’

Caleb laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘Lil’s right. You’re just torturing yourself coming here. Go home and try not to think about it.’

Penrose stood, picked up his hat and hurried out into the street, the curious gazes of the other patrons following him.

‘Another drink?’ Lil secured the bottle Caleb held in his hand.

‘Last one,’ Caleb said.

Lil poured a measure and set the bottle back below the bar. ‘Star-crossed lovers, those two,’ she said. ‘It’s not doing my business any good ’aving ’im ’anging around ’ere. I may ’ave to send Sis back to Melbourne.’

‘That’s a bit harsh,’ Caleb said.

Lil shrugged. ‘My cousin ’as a very respectable establishment in Little Lon. Sis will do all right, but if that lad wants to make an ’onest woman of her, ’e’s got to find the balls to stand up to ’is uncle and make it ’appen.’

Caleb took a sip of the bourbon. The lovelorn Penrose could sort his own problems. His thoughts were on Richard Barnwell and they were disquieting thoughts. He glanced at the door to the stairwell with growing distaste.

Why had Barnwell tracked down Adelaide to this obscure corner of the empire? The answer hit him like a blow. Marriage. Richard Barnwell was looking for a wife. But if his intentions were to court her then why would he walk into a public house and avail himself of the first available woman he met?

Maybe he was reading too much into Barnwell’s intention. Maybe he really was nothing more than an old family friend with no other purpose than to reminisce about happy times with Adelaide, but Caleb hadn’t liked Barnwell on first meeting and he disliked and distrusted him even more now.

He sculled the rest of the glass and stood up.

Adelaide had made it clear. It was none of his goddam business.

‘Goodnight, Lil,’ he said and wove an uneven path out of the hostelry into the warm night air.

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Six

8 February 1872

As the long, hot summer evening drew in, Caleb sat at the desk in his new surgery doing an inventory of all the medicines and surgical supplies he had found in the cottage. The list would not be long and, in the absence of an apothecary in Maiden’s Creek, he would have to send to Melbourne to obtain a decent supply of anything.