Behind His Blue Eyes by Kaki Warner

Author:Kaki Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Will you be going to the social this weekend, Miss Pearsall?” Peter Bonet asked over the rumble and clang of the press.

It was printing day. The office smelled of ink and the chemicals used in the print process. Lint from the rolls of paper hung in the still air, irritating her eyes and making her sneeze. She had already gone through one hanky.

“Yes. We all are. It sounds like a wonderful gathering.”

“I would be happy to escort you. And your family, of course.”

She dabbed the hanky at her runny nose. “Thank you for the offer, Mr. Bonet, but Mr. Hardesty is already planning to take us.”

“Of course.”

He went back to typesetting.

Audra laid out the pages already printed and cut. Working with Mr. Bonet was becoming steadily more awkward. He was gentlemanly enough, but she felt him watching her as if waiting for her to make a mistake, and his unspoken disapproval every time Ethan came to escort her home was almost palpable. She needed employment, and didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize her position here. But she sensed a confrontation of some sort was imminent.

“That was an excellent piece you did on the latest spring fashions, Miss Pearsall,” he said after a long silence. “And on Mr. Rylander’s ideas for the Heartbreak Creek Depot.”

“Thank you.” There wasn’t much to either article. Fillers, for the most part. But at least she was writing again.

“But I’m not sure what you wrote about the coolie encampment would be of interest to our readers.”

Audra paused to look at him.

He gave one of his rare smiles. “After all, they’re Celestials. Very different from us. Little more than slaves owned by the railroad.”

Audra was surprised. “Granted, the working conditions are harsh. As harsh as they were for the Irish on the Eastern lines. But they’re here by their own choice. And as hard as the work is, it must be better than what they left behind if they were willing to come all this way to do it.”

“Beasts of burden, Miss Pearsall. That’s all they are to their employers. Someday the railroads will be held accountable for the way they’ve treated all their workers. And for the deaths they’ve caused.”

Hoping he wasn’t about to launch into another mournful retelling of his brother’s death, Audra didn’t respond, and resumed her tasks.

“How long have you known Mr. Hardesty?” he asked after a while.

Another sore subject. Looking up from the papers she was folding, she saw by the clock on the wall that she still had an hour before she could escape for lunch. Edwina was meeting her in Lucinda’s office for a final fitting of the new dress she was sewing for the social. The green silk had cost her most of a week’s wages, but Audra didn’t care. It had been ages since she’d had a new dress, and especially one so beautifully made. “I met him the day we came to town.”

“Has he told you about the hospital in California?”

She didn’t respond.

“He was the architect on the renovation, you know.

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