The Golden Ledger
Copyright© 2026 by BillMax
Chapter 5: A Wife’s Worry
[A bell chimes. Your income today is four dollars.]
[Would you like to activate the random multiplier?]
“Activate.”
On his way to fetch his wife, the Golden Ledger did not disappoint. The moment the four dollars was in his hand, a row of golden letters appeared before his eyes.
There were those two shining golden dice again. Caleb was still daydreaming about rolling two fives at once.
That would be ten times over, a clean forty dollars.
The first die stopped, and it wasn’t a five. It was a four.
He smirked a little. Not bad luck at all.
The second die came to rest too, landing on the middle number, a three.
Not a small number either.
[Congratulations, holder. You have rolled a random sevenfold multiplier.]
[Twenty-eight dollars has been credited to your purse. Balance: twenty-nine dollars.]
Heh ... he could have shrugged his shoulders three times over.
For no reason but pure joy.
At this rate it wouldn’t be long before he could buy a house.
Then he could get close with his wife whenever he pleased, and when there was nothing else to do he could stretch out on a little porch of his own. Life couldn’t get any more comfortable than that.
There wasn’t much big news from his wife’s side, except that her telegraph company had finished its fourth round of raising money from investors this year.
After this round, the company was reckoned to be worth one million six hundred thousand dollars.
In 1872 the wire business was still ruled by the three great telegraph combines, and these new wire companies were growing at a tremendous clip.
Take his wife’s company. It had only been founded a few years back and hadn’t turned a profit yet. In fact, it lost money every month.
Even so, what folks reckoned it was worth kept climbing.
Word was this round had even been led by a well-known big-money syndicate back East.
It seemed they were quite hopeful about her company’s prospects.
None of that had anything to do with him yet. He was only marveling at how fast these wire outfits were growing.
In an ordinary trade, it would take forever to make a few hundred thousand dollars.
With these outfits, the value just went soaring on its own.
Having finished this round of financing, his wife’s company had grown bigger, and they meant to move to the Westfield District after the New Year, the part of Sterling City where all the new wire and railroad outfits were setting up shop.
It was all in preparation for growing further and raising more money.
Around the New Year there’d be a big year-end banquet, and he was allowed to go too.
Just sitting quietly at the very back with his wife, Caleb figured it would be good to broaden his horizons.
He couldn’t spend the rest of his life thinking of nothing but selling oranges on the street.
Clara came out, still in her plain clothes, her hair tied casually back in a low tail.
She’d slipped on a thick black quilted coat.
Her holiday was about to begin as well, and this year both of them would be spending the holidays in Sterling City. Before she left, Daisy asked her to go shopping together once the holiday started.
To buy things for the holidays.
Clara was about to say no, but Caleb agreed on her behalf, mostly because he felt he could earn a fair bit now.
There was no need to pinch pennies like before.
Save where you ought to, spend where you need to.
“Then it’s settled. We’ll go shopping together on Tremont Row once the holiday starts.”
Daisy’s family was genuinely well off. The moment she started working they’d bought her a smart new buggy worth over two hundred dollars.
Born in Sterling City, she’d been set up for success from the starting line.
With her plans with Daisy settled, Clara went home.
When he got home, he found that their neighbor Lily, the girl who played extras, was back too, practicing her craft alone with a copy of The Art of the Player.
Clara had learned only yesterday that a young woman who was also an actress had moved in next door.