William GUY
He sat at his desk, a clerk in a shipping office working hard, though his thoughts were sometimes far away.
On a cold winter morning in London in November, the snow lay thickly all about and people walking to work went briskly and some even ran.
A young man of medium height and sturdy build walked steadily to his work as a clerk in a law firm. As he passed the hospital he glanced proudly at the name *Guy's Hospital as it was his own surname.
William was quite well educated for the year **1856 and his family expected a man of middle class in the second half of the nineteeth century to live out his life like other men of his time and class.
As he warmed his hands by the glowing coal fire in the grate at the office he thought of his friend's letter telling of an exciting life as a member of a gold escort in Australia. From such a great distance the gold fever seemed to warm his blood and he longed for a life of adventure.
None of his family wanted him to go, but he was a bit pig-headed, a trait that strengthened in later life.
So he haunted the shipping office and went to the wharf to look at the ships and ask their destination. Fortunately he found one going to Australia and was able to work his passage as an off-sider in the galley. He felt that he really was a galley 'slave' before he reached Melbourne, but he got there.
The last Christmas he had at home was most enjoyable with a splendid dinner and every place at the table filled with the family. His place was empty after that.
His mother knew she had to let him go and be brave about it but she never saw him again, though she heard from him especially after he married and his wife took over the letter writing.
William thought Melbourne small and the people a strange mixture of ticket-of-leave men, free emigrants, gold miners and adventurers. After enquiring at the gold escort office, he found that Jack was on a gold escort coming from Ballarat.
With his abilities and education he soon got an office job while waiting for his friend. (In margin) Most of the gold seekers were digging for dear life.
A bit later one evening as he walked to his lodgings someone came up behind him and slapped him on the back. It was Jack.
They shook hands heartily and William said, "Say, how soon can I go with you?" "Well there's a vacancy on our run. One of the men thought he would try for some gold of his own."
William was overjoyed. It seemed wonderful to him to be near gold even if it was protecting it for someone else.

Notes:
* Guy's Hospital was and still is in Southwark, south of the River Thames, but the Guy family lived in Turner Street, Stepney which is adjacent to the Royal London Hospital.
** There are calculations at the top of the story about dates and ages. The one that seems to be correct is William Walter's age of 22 when he sailed to Australia, most likely after Christmas in London in 1852 and arriving in Melbourne early in 1853. Wm Walter was married in Geelong, Victoria in 1855, so to place him in London in 1856 is much too late.

The Government Escort was established on 21 Sep 1851. The recorded yield as taken to Melbourne by the Government Gold Escort between 21 Sep and 31 Dec 1851 was 30, 323 ozs. This was the total from Ballarat, Bendigo and Mount Alexander (Castlemaine) but the full yield can never be known as many diggers made quick fortunes and returned to England with an undisclosed amount of gold and much was not recorded, having been sold privately in Melbourne and Geelong.
News of the Victorian gold discoveries reached England early in 1852 when the voyage to Victoria was about 6 months.
Ballarat : The Formative Years by A.W. Strange, Apr 1982.

Note about Helen GUY who married a grandson of William Walter GUY.
Helen Knox FLETCHER born 6 Dec 1909 Singapore d/o William and Mabel Geraldine FLETCHER, missionaries in Malaya. Helen died 30 Jul 1980 aged 70 yrs Ballarat.
Helen married 26 Dec 1940 Ballarat, Charles Leslie GUY born 31 Jan 1906 Staffordshire Reef, Victoria s/o Walter GUY and Amelia Edith LAUGHLIN. Charles died in 1983 aged 77 yrs at Ballarat.
Helen and Charles GUY had three sons and one daughter, Helen Vivienne who married James Robert Rexter DAY in 1962 in Ballarat.
William Walter GUY died 11 Mar 1917 aged 86 yrs at Staffordshire Reef, Victoria, when Helen Knox FLETCHER would have been 8 yrs and 11 mos old. The handwriting seems to be too fluent for one so young and the language is quite sophisticated with correct spelling and grammar. As an ex-teacher, I would say that an adult wrote the story. Helen, a nurse, was known for her story writing and perhaps she wrote this one as an adult from the recollections of her husband's family.