‘It was not an easy death. The doctors said it was a cancerous growth. They could do nothing to save her and all Aunt Margaret and I could do was watch as it consumed her. I have a letter from my aunt for you in my luggage.’ Eliza looked away, pressing her hand to her mouth to stop the tears. ‘She is all alone too. I hated leaving her …’

Cowper stood and laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’ve had a terrible shock. There will be time enough for talk later when you have had a chance to compose yourself. Unfortunately, I have a business to run so, if you will excuse me, dear girl, I must return to my duties.’

After he had left her, she sat staring into the flames, too tired and numb to truly comprehend that, without Will, she was alone in this strange and unfamiliar country. All the plans, hopes and dreams that had sustained her on the long voyage were gone. Her future loomed before her like the flames in the hearth, wavering and dancing, falling into embers.

The winter evening had already begun to close in as Alec McLeod joined the mine foreman, Enoch Trevalyn, to watch the team manhandle the new boiler into place on its carefully prepared brick bed in the massive cavern that served as the mine’s plant room.

Trevalyn nodded his approval. ‘That’s going to change things.’

‘It means we can drive the steam-driven drills,’ Alec said without much enthusiasm. The revolutionary pieces of equipment had been ordered by Charles Cowper and were already on the way. Alec had seen the drills in operation on the Ballarat goldfields and disliked and distrusted the noisy pieces of equipment, particularly the amount of dust they produced. However, they would improve the speed of tunnelling and reduce the accidents caused by the mallet and drill bit.

Trevalyn pushed his greasy felt hat to the back of his head and scratched his bald spot. ‘Did you hear Will Penrose’s sister’s come looking for him?’

Alec’s stomach lurched. He had come to know and like his predecessor at the Maiden’s Creek Mine in the months before Will’s death. They had spent many a long evening discussing the intricacies of the mining industry. Will had mentioned he had a sister, but the girl was thousands of miles away back in England. She couldn’t be here in Maiden’s Creek.

‘The Harris boy came looking for Cowper this afternoon. I heard him telling the boss that Miss Penrose had been knocked over in the street and was in a fearful state.’

Alec almost swore out loud. He had sent the niece of his employer flying into the mud? Half the town must have witnessed his appalling behaviour and if it got back to Cowper … Then again, the only thing that really seemed to matter to Cowper was the price of his shares.