"Most certainly I could have.  Because our sometimes estimable Secretary General is no more a money-seeker than you are.  His drive is political power - a drum whose beat I do not hear.  Had I guaranteed to Douglas (oh, gracefully, of course - there is decorum even among thieves) that the Smith estate would continue to bulwark his administration, then I would have been left undisturbed to do as I liked with the income and had my acting guardianship made legal."