To one underwriter, Condell, with whom he was on somewhat intimate terms, he said, "I wish I could insure the _Shannon_ at her value; but that is impossible. The City of London could not do it. The _Proserpine_ brings me some cases of specie, but my true treasure is on board the _Shannon._ She carries my bride, sir." "Oh, indeed! Miss Rolleston." "Ah, I remember; you have seen her. Then you will not be surprised at a proposal I shall make you. Underwrite the _Shannon_ a million pounds, to be paid by you if harm befalls my Helen. You need not look so astonished; I was only joking; you gentlemen deal with none but substantial values; and, as for me, a million would no more compensate me for losing her, than for losing my own life." The tears were in his pale eyes as he said these words; and Mr. Condell eyed him with sympathy. But he soon recovered himself, and was the man of business again. "Oh, the specie on board the _Proserpine?_ Well, I was in Australia, you know, and bought that specie myself of the merchants whose names are attached to the receipts. I deposited the cases with White & Co., at Sydney. Penfold will show you the receipt. I instructed Joseph Wylie, mate of the _Proserpine,_ and a trustworthy person, to see them stowed away in the _Proserpine,_ by White & Co. Hudson is a good seaman; and the _Proserpine_ a new ship, built by Mare. We have nothing to fear but the ordinary perils of the sea." "So one would think," said Mr. Condell, and took his leave; but, at the door he hesitated, and then, looking down a little sheepishly, said, "Mr. Wardlaw, may I offer you a piece of advice?" "Certainly." Then, double the insurance on the _Shannon,_ if you can. With these words he slipped out, evidently to avoid questions he did not intend to answer. Wardlaw stared after him, stupidly at first, and then stood up and put his hand to his head in a sort of amazement. Then he sat down again, ashy pale, and with the dew on his forehead, and muttered faintly, "Double--the insurance--of the--_Shannon!"_ Men who walk in crooked paths are very subject to such surprises; doomed, like Ahab, to be pierced, through the joints of their armor, by random shafts; by words uttered in one sense, but conscience interprets them in another. It took a good many underwriters to insure the _Proserpine's_ freight; but the business was done at last.