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send a letter to Lady Alexandra, my father’s cousin. She’s on good terms with my mother. If they’re in trouble she’ll know about it. Arrange for a bank draft to include with the letter. I want it sent by steamer immediately.’

      ‘Yes, Mr Fairclough.’ The man clapped closed his leather folder, collected his things and left.

      Silas laid a piece of paper on the blotter and, in very concise terms so as not to create a panic where there might not be one, but also to stress the urgency of the situation, wrote to Lady Alexandra. Silas prayed his mother would turn to Lady Alexandra for help if things were truly dire, but he knew the strength of the Fairclough pride. His father used to say that Silas possessed an overabundance of it, just like the Earl, his grandfather.

       It can’t be that bad. If it were, Lady Alexandra would have written to me about it at once.

      The fact that he had not received a concerned letter from her or either of his sisters gave him some hope. Perhaps there was already a letter on the way stating that all was well and the bank drafts had been received and cashed.

      It’d been a long time since he’d communicated with Lady Alexandra and as he dusted the letter and prepared it for the inclusion of the draft, he thought of the Christmases that he and his family had spent at the grand dame’s manor house. His sisters might not have cared to spend time at Lady Alexandra’s estate, but Silas had been mesmerised by her lavish life, stately house, manners, servants and the bit of port she used to slip him after dinner. Time with her had been his first taste of true prosperity and he’d appreciated it, especially the Christmas after his father had passed.

       When was the last time I was home for Christmas?

      He couldn’t remember. It was long before Liverpool. During the last few years, the railroad’s affairs had made it impossible for him to travel. He summoned his clerk and gave him the letter for Mr Hachman. The attorney was one of the best man of affairs Silas had ever worked with and he reminded Silas of Septimus Clarke, the Fairclough Foundation’s general manager who’d helped see it through the difficult years following Silas’s father’s death. He was the same man who’d convinced his mother to find a place for Silas in Liverpool with Jasper King, placing Silas on the path that had led him to Richard and finally to success.

      Silas wondered if his mother cursed her decision to let him go to Liverpool all those years ago, especially since Septimus had retired. Millie had written to Silas about Jerome Edwards, the new manager who’d been engaged to take Septimus’s place. She’d spoken highly of him, but Silas regretted not having been there to help interview him and other prospective candidates, to at last put his business skills to use for his family and show his mother that his natural gifts had real value. Instead, he’d trusted from afar that his mother and sisters had made the right decision, just as he’d trusted that the monthly payments had reach them. They hadn’t.

      The door to Silas’s office opened and Richard strode in with confident steps but there was no mistaking now the looseness in his suit or the hollowness in his cheeks. Silas touched the signet ring with his thumb, his heart dropping even while he smiled. ‘Richard, what brings you here?’

      ‘I want to see the plans for the new English locomotive you’ve been telling me about.’

      ‘It’s magnificent.’ Silas laid out a number of drawings of the English-built locomotive that had been sent to him during his correspondence with Mr Williams, the engine’s designer. They were drawn in a fine hand with strong lines and a view from every angle. ‘It uses half the amount of coal as our current model and is stronger and faster. With this engine we can reduce travel times and haul twice the freight. Between this and the new track, we’ll surpass our competition.’

      ‘I have no doubt it will be as successful as our foundry.’ He clapped Silas on the back, the heavy fall of his hand much lighter than before. ‘Let’s go for a walk and you can show me the new steam works.’

      They left the relative quiet of the office for the clatter and banging of the machine shop. Silas and Richard called out and replied to greetings from the workers whose faces were blackened by sweat and grease. Silas and Richard’s dark suits were a stark contrast to the men’s stained shirts and sturdy trousers. Outside, the musty scent of coal from the large deposits elsewhere on the grounds carried on the light breeze. It mingled with the dampness from the nearby Patapsco River that flowed out into the Atlantic, its waters crowded with ships hauling goods and rough materials in and out of Baltimore harbour.

      They walked across the rail yard to a tall new building of glass and iron being constructed near the tracks. Men moved about the metal structure, heaving the large panes of glass into place. ‘I doubled the size of the steam works to accommodate the increased width of the English engine and added more glass for better light for the workers. It’s a bit of a gamble, but it’ll be worth it when the first steam engine rolls out of here and we’re turning a profit instead of sinking money into it.’

      ‘I’m glad to see our plans progressing, although the credit for this one is entirely due to you.’ Richard waved his walking stick at the organised chaos around them, then fixed on Silas. ‘With so much settled, have you given the matter of matrimony any further consideration?’

      ‘I have not.’ This last week was the most time Silas had spent in Baltimore since September. He’d travelled between Baltimore and Pennsylvania to oversee the acquisition of the foundry and the conversion of the steel works into producing rails. On the rare occasion when he had been in town, meetings with businessmen and investors had left him little time to enjoy the quiet of his home much less Richard’s, or the pleasantries of courting Lady Mary.

      ‘I still say it’s a strong proposal. You won’t have to waste time courting flibbertigibbets and she won’t have to parade herself in front of society bachelors who’ll size up what I intend to settled on her and see if it’s enough to make them overlook everything else.’

      ‘What everything else?’

      ‘I’ll leave that to the lady to tell you. I’m not her father, simply someone who’s concerned about her future and happiness, and yours. I want you both to have a true partner, not someone who’ll only see the advantage in the other and then turn cold once that advantage is no longer a benefit.’

      ‘I thought this entire idea was to my and Lady Mary’s advantage.’ Silas laughed as they strolled towards the dock where the ship unloaded the coal, the scent of it and the grease mingling with the faint mist of steam from the nearby engines.

      ‘It is and I’m convinced the two of you are companionable. Speak to her tonight at Mrs Penniman’s Christmastime Ball. Try to see in her what I see and what she can offer you. If you can’t, then I won’t hold it against you if you decline.’

      And he wouldn’t. Silas was sure of it. Richard might propose an idea, but in the end the final decision always remained with Silas. It was time to evaluate this investment and make a decision and settle the matter one way or another.

       Chapter Three

      Mary sat across from Richard in the carriage, her yellow-silk ball gown pressed in by Mrs Parker who sat beside her. They waited in the long queue of vehicles inching towards the Pennimans’ front door. Christmas was still three weeks away but the Pennimans’ Christmastime Ball marked the start of the festive season in Baltimore and the round of parties before everyone secluded themselves with their families to celebrate the season. The Pennimans’ Mount Vernon Square house was built in the classical style with wide columns flanking a massive wooden front door. It stood with a number of equally impressive homes surrounding the wide, tree-filled square at the centre of which stood a tall Doric column topped with a statue of President George Washington.

      ‘You spoke to Mr Fairclough again about your idea, didn’t you?’ Mary asked Richard, struggling to sit still on the squabs as the carriage moved forward, then stopped. Foundry business had kept Mr Fairclough away from Baltimore for

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