"And for himself, as well, I doubt not."
"No, my lord, not for himself. All for his ward. He has taken nothing for himself, though he might have done so. It has been all for his ward."
"A virtuous guardian, truly. Young man, he should be an example to you. Would that there were many guardians so prudent and so careful!"
Then I invited him into the cabin, and showed him how the log is kept, and the ship's course set down day by day. There was nothing which he did not wish to understand.
"I never knew before," he said, "that ships could mean money. Pray, Captain Crowle, could a ship, such as this, be sold and converted into ready money like a forest of oak or a plantation of cedars, or an estate of land?"
"Assuredly, my lord. If I put up The Lady of Lynn for sale to-morrow there would be a score of bids for her here in this town. If I sold her in London she would command a higher price."
"Your ward could, therefore, sell her whole fleet if she chose."
"Her fleet and her business as a merchant, and her lands and her houses and her jewels—she could sell them all."
It seems trifling to set down this conversation, but you will understand in due course the meaning of these questions, and what was in the mind—the corrupt and evil mind—of this deceiver.
"But," he went on, "the ship may be cast away."