They contained an account of goods shipped to the London house on board
vessels sailing from Smyrna and Odessa, and they were signed by the
masters of the ships, who thereby acknowledged the receipt of the goods,
and undertook to deliver them safely to the persons owning them, as
directed. First copies of these papers had already been placed in the
possession of the London house. The duplicates had now followed, in
case of accident. Richard Turlington instantly determined to make the
duplicates serve as his security, keeping the first copies privately
under lock and key, to be used in obtaining possession of the goods
at the customary time. The fraud was a fraud in appearance only. The
security was a pure formality. His marriage would supply him with the
funds needed for repaying the money, and the profits of his business
would provide, in course of time, for restoring the dowry of his wife.
It was simply a question of preserving his credit by means which were
legitimately at his disposal. Within the lax limits of mercantile
morality, Richard Turlington had a conscience.
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