The business climate for slave–trading improved in the mid–1840s. This chapter analyzes Thomas Williams’ correspondence with Richmond, Virginia, auctioneer R. H. Dickinson, slave sales transacted in the latter half of the decade, and the variety of returns, exchanges, and cancellations of sale that were part and parcel of the slave–trading business. William H. Williams, meanwhile, was embroiled in a case of the alleged kidnapping of the free black waiter Henry Wilson.