1
MARY
The surprise hiss of steam made me stumble as I stepped down from the train.
“Careful, Miss Millard,” Mr. Corbin said, taking gentle hold of my elbow until I was once again on solid ground. Even in the heat, I could feel the warmth of his touch through my sleeve.
The platform in Butte was busy, many alighting after a long journey from the east. It was the richest town on Earth and would-be miners were eager to find their own vein of copper and strike it rich.
I wasn’t quite so eager, for I’d only come from Billings, not Minneapolis or even Chicago, and had lived in Butte my entire life. I was quite familiar with the town and I did not have the hope the others had. Of course, I didn’t need to work for money. Not because I was a woman, but because my father had more of it than Go
