Penfold easily insured the _Shannon,_ whose freight was valued at only six thousand pounds.

The _Proserpine,_ with her cargo, and a hundred and thirty thousand pounds of specie to boot, was another matter.

Some underwriters had an objection to specie, being subject to theft as well as shipwreck; other underwriters, applied to by Penfold, acquiesced; others called on Wardlaw himself, to ask a few questions, and he replied to them courteously, but with a certain nonchalance, treating it as an affair which might be big to them, but was not of particular importance to a merchant doing business on his scale.
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.