The Iron Road Read Online Free PDF

able to work.’
    James could see that, despite a nervousness that revealed itself in her right index finger digging at the broken skin around her thumbnail, she was determined to make her point and against his will felt a twinge of admiration.
    ‘But if he’s injured or killed, what then? There is no compensation. His family is left destitute.’
    ‘Yes, that’s true. And I’m sorry. But that’s the way things are. The rules are not mine.’ He had no reason to feel guilty. He didn’t like it any more than she did, but it was a hard economic fact of life. The work was dangerous; inevitably men got killed.
    ‘Imagine what would happen,’ he went on, ‘once a company or a contractor admitted the principle of liability. How many navvies would bother to work for their wages when they could stage an accident then claim compensation for their injuries? How many claims would it take before there was no money left to build the line? If that happened all over the country then where would the remaining navvies find work so they could feed their families?’
    As the blush climbed her throat, staining her cheeks a deep rose, he saw her raise one hand to the lace trimming on her bodice. Its rise and fall was a visible sign of her agitation. She bit her lip then smiled. ‘You express yourself with admirable clarity, Mr Santana.’
    Realization washed over him in an icy wave. The whole purpose of this visit was to placate Sir Gerald. Tact and diplomacy were essential. Yet he was arguing with the baronet’s wife. What had possessed him?
    ‘I beg your pardon. I didn’t –’
    ‘Please,’ she interrupted. ‘I’m not offended. You paid me a rare compliment.’ Seeing his bewilderment she explained, ‘You responded honestly, as you would have to a man.’ Before he could comment she went on, ‘I take your point. But surely there must be some way to improve conditions for those living and working on the line?’
    Though intensely relieved, James didn’t know how to reply or what to say. As an engineer his brief was to plan and survey the route a line would follow, specify the bridges, viaducts, cuttings and embankments required, and oversee the construction of the permanent way. The hiring of the men was left to the gangers who were accountable to the contractor. The conditions under which the navvies lived and worked were nothing to do with him.
    ‘Well, I –’
    ‘Perhaps – if you have no objection, of course,’ – her mouth curved in a shy smile – ‘I could come and see for myself how we might best be able to help?’ She leaned forward slightly. ‘The committee on which I sit would truly appreciate such a humane gesture on your part. There are so many who will use the line when it is complete, yet have no care for the welfare of those involved in building it.’
    Such earnest enthusiasm was difficult to refuse. Besides, accommodating Lady Radclyff’s social conscience might improve his chances of appeasing Sir Gerald. That would certainly raise his stock with the directors. Yet while these were perfectly adequate reasons for agreeing to her request, they would not have been sufficient to persuade him. The truth was he wanted to see her again. There was something about her, something that puzzled him.
    It was not conscious on her part. He had been flirted with by enough spoilt, bored women to recognize every ploy. She was different: obviously intelligent yet strangely naive. There was no artifice or coquetry in her manner. He’d met other women of her station. Most viewed charity work as a necessary duty. She cared.
    ‘Mr Santana?’ Her colour had risen under his frowning scrutiny.
    ‘Forgive me, Lady Radclyff,’ he said quickly, furious with himself. ‘I would be delighted –’ The door opened and James received his second shock of the afternoon.
    Sir Gerald Radclyff, for with that bearing it could be no other, was at least thirty years older than his young wife. James’s surprise increased as