Hardcastle explained that the _Proserpine_ shipped the gold, which was the more valuable consignment; and that he saw no harm in the officer who was so highly trusted by the merchant (on this and on former occasions) taking out a few tons of lead and copper to the _Shannon._ "Well, sir," said Seaton, "suppose I was to go out and see the chests stowed in those vessels?" "I think you are making a fuss about nothing," said Hardcastle. Mr. White was of the same opinion, but, being too wise to check zeal and caution, told Seaton he might go for his own satisfaction. Seaton, with some difficulty, got a little boat and pulled across the harbor. He found the _Shannon_ had shipped all the chests marked with her name; and the captain and mate of the _Proserpine_ were beginning to ship theirs. He paddled under the _Proserpine's_ stern. Captain Hudson, a rough salt, sang out, and asked him roughly what he wanted there. "Oh, it is all right," said the mate; "he is come for your receipt and Hewitt's. Be smart now, men; two on board, sixteen to come." Seaton saw the chests marked _Proserpine_ stowed in the _Proserpine,_ and went ashore with Captain Hewitt's receipt for forty cases on board the _Shannon,_ and Captain Hudson's of eighteen on board the _Proserpine._ As he landed he met Lloyds' agent, and told him what a valuable freight he had just shipped. That gentleman merely remarked that both ships were underwritten in Sydney by the owners; but the freight was insured in London, no doubt. There was still something about this business Seaton did not quite like; perhaps it was in the haste of the shipments, or in the manner of the mate. At all events, it was too slight and subtle to be communicated to others with any hope of convincing them; and, moreover, Seaton could not but own to himself that he hated Wardlaw, and was, perhaps, no fair judge of his acts, and even of the acts of his servants. And soon a blow fell that drove the matter out of his head and his heart. Miss Helen Rolleston called at the office, and, standing within a few feet of him, handed Hardcastle a letter from Arthur Wardlaw, directing that the ladies' cabin on board the _Shannon_ should be placed at her disposal. Hardcastle bowed low to Beauty and Station, and promised her the best possible accommodation on board the _Shannon,_ bound for England next week. As she retired, she cast one quiet glance round the office in search of Seaton's beard. But he had reduced its admired luxuriance, and trimmed it to a narrow mercantile point. She did not know his other features from Adam, and little thought that young man, bent double over his paper, was her preserver and _protege;_ still less that he was at this moment cold as ice, and quivering with misery from head to foot, because her own lips had just told him she was going to England in the _Shannon._