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252 several little matters Lord Hardaway had not used us altogether well, and it seemed to me that in this matter he was not using us altogether well either; there was no necessity, for instance, for him to threaten us with the loss of his custom. My partner, however, Mr. Ruby, would not hear of a refusal. He was naturally unwilling to lose the business which would be associated with what would, probably, be one of the weddings of the season. On one point I did stand firm. As I feared that, if he was the bearer of the goods, Mr. Ruby would quite probably allow himself to be wheedled out of them, without receiving any satisfactory promise of payment, I resolved to take the goods myself. Which I did do." Mr. Golden paused. At this point of his narrative, which he had reached, a certain uneasiness seemed to possess him.

"It was about midday when I reached Deal. It was both blowing and raining, and what I should have called a regular gale was on. A sailor with the words 'Stormy Petrel' on his cap came to me at the station, and, when I told him who I was, informed me that we must go off to the yacht at once, because his lordship had resolved to weigh anchor if I did not arrive by that train. I had never been to Deal in my life before, and I had some idea that the yacht might be anchored to the pier. But when I got down to the beach I found that there was no pier, and the sailor, pointing to what was merely a speck on the horizon, said, "There's the Stormy Petrel." When he said that, and I saw that the yacht was heaven knows