'Don't fuss. They can't get far.' The girl gestured towards the other side of the ship. 'I've already measured the deck. It's just nineteen steps across, when the sailors don't get in the way. I'm Jemima,' said the girl, twirling one of her curls. 'What's your name?'

'Letty,' she answered. 'My sister's Lavinia and I have to find her straight away.'

'We'll ask the Doctor then.' Jemima pointed to the back of the ship, where a wooden balcony rose above the deck. 'See the bald man with the long moustache?'

Sydney Winter's Night

The ground felt unsteady under Letty's feet as they trudged up the hill. She was glad she held her sister Lavinia's hand. The street was dark; it seemed to Letty to have a secret life, scratching and scuttling at the edges of her hearing. A dog howled.

Letty did not have much to be glad for, other than Lavinia. She was tired and starved. Her clothes were stiff with salt water and dirt. She and Lavinia had sailed all the way to Australia from England, leaving their family behind. It was their first night in this strange country. And they were homeless.

Lavinia hadn't been happy with the immigrant tents, or the loud pubs offering rooms to stay. So they were searching for the home for girls that they'd been told about at the last hotel. They had come to an intersection and they didn't know which way to go. Sydney had no street signs. Or if it did, there were no streetlamps to read them by.

Sydney

Until the letter arrived, Letty was having a very fine morning. A square of warm Sydney sunshine lit Mary's lace pillow. Victoria's baby smiles lit everyone's faces.

For the past two months, Letty had been working in the little house behind George Fry's Bakery. Her job was to help with the housework while Mary recovered from having her baby and the fearful time that had led up to that. Mary still had silent days sometimes, but she was up and about in her neat red dress, instead of hiding in her blanket. Mary's brother George was very relieved. Although he paid Letty's wages, he did not bother much about tidiness. So really Letty's work was lots of cuddling and talking to the baby. Letty felt like a big sister again. She hadn't been happier since leaving England, months and months ago.

George came in from the bakery and handed Mary a floury envelope. 'There's a letter for you, from the Bathurst mail.'

The Sheep-Run

A hot wind blew across the Greys' sheep-run.

It blew riffles of dust around Letty's feet. It blew grit into her mouth, and into baby Victoria's eyes. It blew no good to anyone, Mary said.

In the first days of November, the paddock grass had faded from green to gold. Letty had watched the tussocks sway on the ridgeline, like ladies bowing in a dance. Then the sheep had eaten the grass into clumps of short bristles. The water in the creek got low and soupy. Still it didn't rain. The sheep kept eating, until they'd chewed the land down to its bare bones.