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PART ONE
ONE
“There she is, Ellen There she is” Douglas Copley put an arhter’s shoulders as they stood at the rail of the third class deck of the RMS Carpathia In the harbor before the suant arrants to the shores of Aold fabled to lie beyond
Passengers jostled at the railings, eager for this first view of their new country After a week on the crowded steamer, the close air and the poor food, most were ready to step onto land, and into the dreams they’d spun for themselves Ellen Copley couldn’t wait
“What do you think to it, Ellen?” Douglas asked as he looked down at his daughter Her hair had blown loose frohing, she held it away from her eyes and squinted into the sun
“It’s wonderful, Da Truly wonderful”
He nodded in satisfaction “It’s about ti wonderful, lass”
Ellen merely nodded She didn’t want to think about the past, about her burn She didn’t want to re her in the stale air of the sickroom, the way hope slid so slyly into despair, and how Mam turned her face to the wall, an invalid these many years and far too ready to die
At twelve years old, Ellen was ready to live The future lay before the as the sea that stretched to a crowded shore, and it held a promise she couldn’t wait to see fulfilled
The Copleys had been planning to erate to the United States since Ellen was four years old Back then Douglas had talked about starting again with his older brother Haer sister Rose There was opportunity in America, fortunes to be las as he and Ha on their pipes, their booted feet stretched out to the little coal stove
Ellen never understood just exactly what the Copley brothers planned to do; she heard snatches of conversation, talk of opening a shop, a factory, las kept it all vague, waving his ars he’d heard or read in the paper
“There’s a fellow in New York who made his fortune in irons Irons They’re electrical or soia who’s made a mint off his nerve tonic Coca-Cola, he calls it”
Even as a small child Ellen understood that her father, who had spent his whole life working on the rail lines, could not hope to compete with inventors of electric irons or nerve tonics But in truth she didn’t care what the nature of her father’s dreams were; she just liked the way he smiled and would soh in the air that her
She watched her Da drop a handful of coins into the old, dented flour tin on the shelf above the cooking range nearly every Friday night, after he’d been paid froines at the Eastfield Running Sheds She heard the sound of the the botto sound of the the other coins So her afternoon nap, Ellen would push a kitchen chair next to the range and stare into the tin The sight of all those farthings, half-pennies and even a few shillings made her heart beat hard Da had said it cost four pounds to cross the ocean Ellen could not fathom such an ah She didn’t dare get it all out and count it; Maht sleeper
Then Hahfroow on the sixth of June and they’d be in New York in just a week From there they planned to head upstate to the Catskills or even Albany; they’d no desire to stay in another big city like Glasgow, aburn railways Rose, Ellen’s aunt and Douglas’ younger sister, a pretty, laughing girl who operated a stranding o with them
Ellen was only five then, but she remembered the way Hamish had raised his eyebrows at her father as they sat in front of the coal stove It was a rainy evening in April and it had been a cold spring, and the stove still gave out a coh Mae her plaits There had been a girl a street over who had died fro fire from the stove, and herthe screaht; Ma in and out of sleep when she wasn’t racked by coughing
“Well, Douglas?” Haaze slide away She felt her heart sink because she knehat that sliding look ave her when she asked for real bacon instead of bread and dripping, the same way he wouldn’t meet her eyes when she asked why there was no money for the tin this week Usually it was followed by a warning look from her mother and a little sorrowful shake of her head
Now Douglas sucked long and hard on his pipe and said, his gaze still not ht wait awhile, see if a better fare co”
Even at five years old Ellen knew there was no better fare How could there be? The next day, when her er, so hours—she resolutely pushed the chair towards the stove and took down the tin froly so, and Ellen nearly lost her balance on the chair She set the tin on the table and slowly, methodically, counted the ain
The tin held just a little over two pounds Half, Ellen knew—it took her a ood at su o