He’d gone to Astor House in search of peace, but peace certainly was not what he’d received. Leaning his head against the cool glass of the carriage window, he permitted himself a long, drawn-out sigh.Miners were suffering, and he was ultimately responsible—it was as simple as that.For years he’d skirted around ethics in his quest for profitability, but never had that skirting caused physical injury to another person. Granted, he’d thought improvements were under way at the Fayette mine, but that didn’t excuse his negligence in not making certain those improvements had actually started.It was abundantly clear Silas had taken entirely too much liberty in the matter, but the question of the hour now was how to proceed.A part of him believed he should cancel his meetings with the Duke of Westmoore and travel to West Virginia with Silas to assess the situation. The other part of him, however—the part that paid Silas an exorbitant salary—believed Silas had played a major part in creating the disaster, so it was up to him to set matters to rights.
