An Engineer's Story

by Amelia B. Edwards

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror

48 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2004

About the author

Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards (1831-1892) was an English novelist, journalist, lady traveller and Egyptologist, born to an Irish mother and a father who had been a British Army officer before becoming a banker. Edwards was educated at home by her mother, showing considerable promise as a writer at a young age. She published her first poem at the age of 7, her first story at age 12. Edwards thereafter proceeded to publish a variety of poetry, stories and articles in a large number of magazines.

Edwards' first full-length novel was My Brother's Wife (1855). Her early novels were well received, but it was Barbara's History (1864), a novel of bigamy, that solidly established her reputation as a novelist. She spent considerable time and effort on their settings and backgrounds, estimating that it took her about two years to complete the researching and writing of each. This painstaking work paid off, her last novel, Lord Brackenbury (1880), emerged as a run-away success which went to 15 editions.

In the winter of 1873–1874, accompanied by several friends, Edwards toured Egypt, discovering a fascination with the land and its cultures, both ancient and modern. Journeying southwards from Cairo in a hired dahabiyeh (manned houseboat), the companions visited Philae and ultimately reached Abu Simbel where they remained for six weeks. During this last period, a member of Edwards' party, the English painter Andrew McCallum, discovered a previously-unknown sanctuary which bore her name for some time afterwards. Having once returned to the UK, Edwards proceeded to write a vivid description of her Nile voyage, publishing the resulting book in 1876 under the title of A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Enhanced with her own hand-drawn illustrations, the travelogue became an immediate bestseller.

Edwards' travels in Egypt had made her aware of the increasing threat directed towards the ancient monuments by tourism and modern development. Determined to stem these threats by the force of public awareness and scientific endeavour, Edwards became a tireless public advocate for the research and preservation of the ancient monuments and, in 1882, co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society) with Reginald Stuart Poole, curator of the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum. Edwards was to serve as joint Honorary Secretary of the Fund until her death some 14 years later.

With the aims of advancing the Fund's work, Edwards largely abandoned her other literary work to concentrate solely on Egyptology. In this field she contributed to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, to the American supplement of that work, and to the Standard Dictionary. As part of her efforts Edwards embarked on an ambitious lecture tour of the United States in the period 1889–1890. The content of these lectures was later published under the title Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorer (1891).

Amelia Edwards died at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on the 15 April 1892, bequeathing her collection of Egyptian antiquities and her library to University College London, together with a sum of £2,500 to found an Edwards Chair of Egyptology. She was buried in St Mary's Church Henbury, Bristol,

Wikipedia: Amelia B. Edwards

Reviews

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Engineer’s Story is by the author Amelia B. Edwards, who “has been acknowledged as one of the best Victorian writers of ghost stories” (according to the unnamed editor of an anthology I have, “The Big Book of the Masters of Horror, Weird and Supernatural short stories”, with over 120 classic authors represented). She has an easy, flowing style, and page-turning plots which encourage the reader to carry on.

Amelia B. Edwards showed early promise, publishing her first poem at the age of seven and her first story at the age of twelve. She went on to regularly publish stories in popular penny magazines early in her career. These “Penny Dreadfuls”, as they came to be known, were a new publishing phenomenon, especially popular between the 1830s and the 1870s. Such cheap, mass-produced stories were designed purely for entertainment. They were sensationalised serial stories aimed at the newly literate working class, and appealed to the public of the time, just as formula soaps do now. They paved the way for later pulp fiction, and horror stories.

An Engineer’s Story was first published in 1857, and has all the hallmarks of this type of story: jealousy, obsession, passion, revenge, unrequited love and violent crime. It conforms to the standard, with a nudge towards gothic horror, ghoulish murder, and supernatural themes; but it is one of the better examples of the type. We read a frankly predictable plot, where two young men - best friends - both fall in love with the same beautiful woman. But she is a coquette, flirting with everyone. She:

“encouraged them, laughed at them, led them on and turned them off at her pleasure … she had no more heart than a marble statue.”

She becomes the mistress of a rich nobleman instead. It ends in tragedy, but there is a development and an ending which comes as a surprise.

As well as writing ghost stories and novels, Amelia B. Edwards was a journalist, writing profusely about her many travels around the world. She became a noted Egyptologist, and tireless public advocate for the research and preservation of ancient monuments. Her “A Thousand Miles up the Nile” is a classic work in the field, and was enhanced with her own hand-drawn illustrations. As a child she had wanted to be an artist, and had shown talent, but was discouraged by her parents. We see evidence of her love of travel in the middle of the story, which is narrated retrospectively by Benjamin Price. He and Benjamin Hardy had both been brought up in the same small village in the West Country, under the shadow of a tor. We note the strong sense of place, imbued with a feeling of doom from prehistoric rites. We note the sadness, the melancholy of the narrator, and wonder why, because:

“It was such a friendship as one reads about sometimes in books: fast and firm as the great Tors upon our native moorlands, true as the sun in the heavens.”

The two friends remained close, even though they were so different temperamentally, and even though their lives seemed destined to take different paths. Benjamin was the son of a prosperous blacksmith, and pursued his studies diligently, hoping to be an engineer. He was apprenticed to an iron-master in Birmingham, a large industrial city in the Black Country. As the son of a poor farmer, Matthew had been put to work early in the fields, but as soon as Benjamin completed his apprenticeship and found work for an iron construction firm, he brought Matthew to Birmingham. Matthew continued to move steadily up the ladder, and when he was offered a job in Italy, he asked Matthew to be one of the men also working there.

The two best friends loved Italy which was so different from the Black Country. They settled in Genoa where they met the beautiful but poor and flighty Gianetta Coneglia. Their friendship began to die from that moment, and turn into enmity.

“It was not his fault. He was too true and gentle-hearted to have willingly brought about such a state of things between us. Neither do I believe - fiery as my nature is - that it was mine. It was all hers - hers from first to last - the sin, and the shame, and the sorrow.”

One day Matthew told Benjamin that Gianetta had played both of them false and was to marry the rich Marchese Loredano. Because the quick-tempered Benjamin believed Matthew was lying, the friends came to blows and Matthew’s stab wounds left him close to death for weeks.

Benjamin took him to convalesce at a little village on the coast of the Riviera, but his health never returned, much as they both wished it would. The two finally reconciled before Matthew died, but Benjamin was a broken man. Even though Matthew wanted him to convey his forgiveness to Gianetta, Benjamin began to hate both her and himself even more. When he could not find Gianetta, he wandered through many countries, getting work wherever he was able to on his travels, and occasionally returned to his friend’s grave.

It is perhaps not surprising that Charles Dickens would spot this talented young writer, and want to add her to his select stable of writers whom he mentored and published in his magazines. Amelia B. Edwards was born in 1831, so she was 19 years younger than him. Dickens liked to maintain editorial control over the stories in his magazine, and talked of “conducting” the collaborative works which would typically be published as bumper Christmas issues. Amelia B. Edwards had already contributed stories and a poem to some of these, but they were uncredited, in keeping with his other in-house authors. He always said that this was to let the budding authors keep ownership, and allow them to reuse their stories.

An Engineer’s Story was included in his collaborative collection “Mugby Junction”, which was first published as a Christmas edition of Dickens’s magazine All the Year Round in 1866. The issue comprised railway-themed stories, including four by Dickens himself. It was published just over a year after Charles Dickens was involved in the terrible railway crash at Staplehurst, memories of which plagued him for the rest of his life. The most famous story from that collection is “The Signalman”. A firm stand-alone favourite, that is the only one often read now. In fact as usual only the bits written by him (the 4 stories) are included in most editions titled “Mugby Junction”.

As usual, Dickens wrote the frame story and various collaborators each contributed an individual story to the collection. They were Charles Allston Collins, Amelia B. Edwards, Andrew Halliday, and Hesba Stretton. It is possible therefore to also find the story under the name Dickens gave it: “No. 5 Branch Line: The Engineer”. The “number 5” refers to the number in the edition, although it is a sort of pun for the branch line in the story. It is the fifth and final story from the other authors, after Dickens’s own 4 stories and the conclusion.

So is this a ghost story? Yes, but the supernatural element does not come where you might expect. Many years later, Benjamin finds himself back in Italy, his job being to drive a special train to Venice. The passenger is none other than the now Duke Loredano, and his beautiful wife. He learns that nobody respects this vulgar peasant woman, who had been his mistress before trapping him into marriage. Just before Benjamin leaves he is approached by a muffled stranger suggesting a way to murder the duke and his entourage on a runaway train. We wonder if this is perhaps a ghost, but it seem more likely to be a political conspiracy.

Benjamin decides to kill himself along with Gianetta and the others, and there is a thrilling description of how he recklessly insists that the stoker produces as much steam as possible, terrifying him by relentlessly urging him on as they hurtle toward the embankment where the tracks have been swept away by a storm. Faster and faster they go, and although the stoker refuses to add more fuel, they still tear toward an inevitable crash, until a third man appears within the engine. This stranger calmly turns off the steam, as Benjamin recognises him and falls down in shock. It is Matthew Price, who has returned from the dead to save the soul of his lifelong friend..

I think the Victorians would have loved this ending. And modern readers may well enjoy this exciting, nicely structured tale of unrequited love, full of deadly passion, with an exotic feel and reminiscent of the Bible story of Cain and Abel:

“Then I see Mat lying back in the arms of a bystander; myself trembling and bewildered - the knife dropping from my grasp; blood upon the floor; blood upon my hands; blood upon his shirt. And then I hear those dreadful words:
“O, Ben, you have murdered me!””.

Here are links to my other reviews of stories by Amelia B. Edwards:

The Story of Salome ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Jean's review

The Four-Fifteen Express ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Jean's review

And for my review of Amelia B. Edwards’s most famous tale “The Phantom Coach” ⭐⭐⭐ and a little more about her, please LINK HERE

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two British men with a lifelong friendship were working together in Italy for the railroad. Their landlady had a beautiful daughter who flirted with all the men who came into her shop. The lies of the woman and the jealousy of the two men led to some dark times. "An Engineer's Story" is a well-written short story with a dramatic ending. I read this story with the Dickensian group.

[Plateresca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Dickensian short read. The writing is good, but I've found the story a bit too melodramatic.

[Franky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just happened to hear about this story through one of my reading groups. It’s an odd little classic tale. The story centers on the relationship between Matthew Price and Benjamin Hardy, who have known each other since childhood and have developed quite the friendship, going to the same school and spending their boyhood together with camaraderie and activities.

However, there comes a major conflict between these two friends later in life that completely shifts the tone of the story and becomes the central point. This ultimately comes when a young beauty named Gianetta surfaces into the two friends’ lives. While a striking woman, she is quite haughty and arrogant, and likes to “play” with the feelings of the two friends, pitting them against one another by leading them along and trying to break their friendship, until they become rivals.

When certain information about her is revealed, it sets in motion a drastic and tragic occurrence.

It’s difficult to give many more details into the story, but the story digs into the thematic subjects of friendship and the nature (and costs) of revenge.

Overall, I found the story just a little lacking and uneven in some ways. It feels like once the big revelation (central conflict to the story) happens, things just happen way too uick without much exploration of why they are happening. The story feels very rushed in a way, and so the character situations and reactions and ultimate outcome to the story just feels a little underdeveloped or not explored fully.

It felt like if the story and details and characters and motivations, etc. were more flushed out, this would have made for a well-rounded story with a moral or theme. It feels like everything is rushed, particularly in the second half, and upon the resolution to the story the reader just wonders “What just happened and why?” (Well, at least I did).

I’m willing, though, to check out more of this classic author. I just hope some of her other stories have a little more depth.

[Delanie Dooms · Rating 4 out of 5]

One reviewer feels that this story is not "engaging". This is simply not true. Amelia B. Edwards' story is one of deep interest, with the coup de grace put in expertly. Our narrator's friend, who he murdered, forgives him and all those who harmed him in life; he appears as a ghost and saves them all from suicide-murder on a train.

This story is more-or-less about passion. The narrator is a passionate fellow, someone who feels deeply and acts upon those feelings, often in a very negative way. When he is seduced by an Italian flirt, he begins to dislike his long-time friend (whom he lives with, helped into the engineering profession, and set up business with), with this friend doing the same; the culmination point, as it must come, is when the flirt is outed as marrying for money, our protagonist murders his friend in a rage (because he doesn't believe it, his pride is hurt by his suspicious thoughts). The friend does not die for a year, however--all of which year is spend being taken care of by the would-be and remorseful murder. He does die, however, and is buried; the protagonist goes on a quest of self-destruction, the most horrible the better; soon, however, he wants to die and be buried near his friend, so he goes back to Italy and around that area for this purpose. He is given an assignment, a man comes up to help him assassinate the man to whom the flirt married, he says he might--and, in the process of doing in, the dead friend returns and saves them all.

In this, we see the triumph of a forgiving temper. We see a sharp delineation of our masculine protagonist, whose angry emotions cause most of the problems of the story; it is through forgiveness that things come to be done right.

[Ydnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Engineer
by Amelia B Edwards
Two friends since childhood become engineers and sadly fall in love with the same woman. She plays them both and ends up marrying a royal man while the two engineer friends battle each other. One gets very injured, and the other friend feels guilty, but both of them come to their senses. Engineer 1 takes care of Engineer 2 until his final days. Engineer 1 lives a sad life full of regret and never makes any human connections again. He becomes a nomad and prefers to work in harsh conditions because he doesn't feel worthy of anything good. This short story is a roller coaster of emotions.

Forgive your self
Bros before H

[Fadi Kharoufeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

“For Italy's sake, for liberty's sake”

A brilliant short story by Amelia Edwards about how 1 woman manages to get in between two male friends and break their friendship when they fight for her love.

A short poignent but tragic story for our times.

Characters: Gianetta Coneglio, Matt, Benjamin Hardy
Places: Italy

[Abbie Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8✨

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story about friendship, a scheming woman and revenge.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of intrigue and super short! Not sure what I think about the ending, but wonderful imagery.