Fires of Fortune: A sweeping Australian saga about love and understanding by Patricia Shaw

Fires of Fortune: A sweeping Australian saga about love and understanding by Patricia Shaw

Author:Patricia Shaw [Shaw, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780755389568
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2011-10-26T22:00:00+00:00


Chapter Eight

There’d been no word from the Premier, despite Edgar’s requests for an appointment. Despite his insistence that Royce Davies keep up the pressure. But that fool was fast losing his grip, with Abercrombie making the running. Any day now he could roll Davies and take over as Leader of the Opposition.

Bribing Abercrombie was out of the question, and Edgar could find no mud to worry him with, so he began to turn his attention to the federation debate. Letting it be known that he was in favour and pressuring his tame pollies to switch to the Premier’s side on this one, to curry favour.

Davies agreed, he went with the wind. Buchanan was a problem. Edgar wished he could shut him up, because he was writing that federation meant independence from the Old Country! The man had no political nous; this was the wrong time to wheel out that argument. He was a step behind the action. Couldn’t he see that the Premier had the power to make or break the company at this point? The crucial issue now was the land.

He took up a pen and wrote to Buchanan, asking him to desist from criticism of the Premier for the time being, but then he tore it up. Awkward to ask that of a member of the Opposition. In writing.

But that was the least of his worries. Even with the public float, cash was a problem. Without the collateral of the land, the banks were leaning on him. Steelworks and manufacturers were demanding money, as were his Sydney coach-builders, claiming they’d be broke soon if he didn’t resume the progress payments.

It was all one hell of a mess. Edgar had written to his friends, the American railroad tycoons, for advice and financial backing, which he knew they could well afford, but they hadn’t even graced him with a reply.

Facing ruin, Edgar looked for a way out. He set up a private company called the New South Wales Steelworks, to hoodwink the public and nosy bankers, and began withdrawing money from Western Railroad, paying it into that facility. Then he raised his fees as managing director and treasurer to astronomical figures, knowing he wouldn’t have to face his shareholders for another four months.

Recently he’d been introduced to Mrs Connie Downs, widow of a Charters Towers gold miner who’d owned the fabulously rich El Dorado mines. Although Connie liked to speak with a sob about her beloved late husband, friends had whispered to Edgar that her Charlie had been a womanizer of the first water. But he’d overstepped the mark in carrying off a young Chinese girl. Her father had come to her rescue and left Charlie with a knife in his gut. Vale Charlie. But that was beside the point. Connie’s female friends were busy matchmaking, with Edgar the target.

For once, Edgar was happy to oblige. He began making arrangements to sell his house, claiming he would need a bigger home shortly, and that gave them heart. Connie was clearly



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