'If you were called upon to swear in evidence that you signed a proper receipt for the money, you couldn't deny it, could you?
A receipt's good if given at any time after the money has been paid.

What's the matter?
Why do you look as if you doubted it?
What is truth, anyhow?
It's the agreement of the facts with the statement of them, isn't it?
Well, I don't see but the statement coincides with the facts all right now.' While he had been talking Lady Maud had poured out the tea, and had cut some thin slices from the lemon, glancing at him incredulously now and then, but smiling in spite of herself.
'That's all sophistry,' she said, as she handed him his cup.
'Thanks,' he answered, taking it from her.

'Look here! Can you deny that you have given me a formal dated receipt for four thousand one hundred pounds ?' 'No--' 'Well, then, what can't be denied is the truth; and if I choose to publish the truth about you, I don't suppose you can find fault with it.' 'No, but--' 'Excuse me for interrupting, but there is no "but." What's good in law is good enough for me, and the Attorney-General and all his angels couldn't get behind that receipt now, if they tried till they were black in the face.' Mr.Van Torp's similes were not always elegant.
'Tip-top tea,' he remarked, as Lady Maud did not attempt to say anything more.

'That was a bright idea of yours, bringing the lemon, too.' He took several small sips in quick succession, evidently appreciating the quality of the tea as a connoisseur.
'I don't know how you have managed to do it,' said Lady Maud at last.
'As you say, the "how" does not matter very much.

Perhaps it's just as well that I should not know how you got at the Patriarch.