_Just._ Tut, tut, tut, man!—took the money and left the box? I’ll never believe _that_! I’ll never believe that anyone could be such a fool. Tut, tut! the thing’s impossible! It’s well you are not upon oath. _Old M._ If I were, please your worship, I should say the same; for it is the truth. _Just._ Don’t tell me, don’t tell me; I say the thing is impossible. _Old M._ Please, your worship, here’s the box. _Just._ (_goes on without looking at it_). Nonsense! nonsense! it’s no such thing; it’s no such thing, I say—no man would take the money and leave the tobacco-box. I won’t believe it. Nothing shall make me believe it ever—that’s poz. _Lucy_ (_takes the box_, _and holds it up before her father’s eyes_). You did not see the box, did you, papa! _Just._ Yes, yes, yes, child—nonsense! it’s all a lie from beginning to end. A man who tells one lie will tell a hundred. All a lie! all a lie! _Old M._ If your worship would give me leave— _Just._ Sir, it does not signify—it does not signify! I’ve said it, I’ve said it, and that’s enough to convince me, and I’ll tell you more; if my Lord Chief Justice of England told it to me, I would not believe it—that’s poz! _Lucy_ (_still playing with the box_). But how comes the box here, I wonder? _Just._ Pshaw! pshaw! pshaw! darling. Go to your dolls, darling, and don’t be positive—go to your dolls, and don’t talk of what you don’t understand. What can you understand, I want to know, of the law? _Lucy_. No, papa, I didn’t mean about the law, but about the box; because, if the man had taken it, how could it be here, you know, papa? _Just._ Hey, hey, what? Why, what I say is this, that I don’t dispute that that box, that you hold in your hands, is a box; nay, for aught I know, it may be a tobacco-box—but it’s clear to me that if they left the box they did not take the money; and how do you dare, sir, to come before Justice Headstrong with a lie in your mouth; recollect yourself—I’ll give you time to recollect yourself. (_A pause_.) _Just._ Well, sir; and what do you say now about the box? _Old M._ Please, your worship, with submission, I _can_ say nothing but what I said before. _Just._ What, contradict me again, after I gave you time to recollect yourself! I’ve done with you; I have done. Contradict me as often as you please, but you cannot impose upon me; I defy you to impose upon me! _Old M._ Impose! _Just._ I know the law!—I know the law!—and I’ll make you know it, too. One hour I’ll give you to recollect yourself, and if you don’t give up this idle story, I’ll—I’ll commit you as a vagrant—that’s poz! Go, go, for the present. William, take him into the servants’ hall, do you hear?—What, take the money and leave the box? I’ll never do it—that’s poz! (_Lucy speaks to the Old Man as he is going off_.) _Lucy_. Don’t be frightened! don’t be frightened!—I mean, you tell the truth, never be frightened.