About this story
Wool prices may justify your forecast, Brandon, if Hedley ever reaches us with the letters. You step into this one-chapter preview with Mr Compton at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. Before you could confront Potts, you had to cross an ocean and discover where he had put everyone you loved. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
How it opens
News of the Rival's arrival sent Sydney merchants waiting for the English mail on a July morning.
Wool prices may justify your forecast, Brandon, if Hedley ever reaches us with the letters.
In the inner office of Compton and Brandon, ordinary trade seemed the only possible concern.
Louis BrandonThe calculation was ordinary; the post will tell us whether it was correct.
Hedley appeared in King Street carrying the packet that could settle the question.
Choose
Any private letters among the firm's business?
Leave the accounts until we sort the post.