FER. (_having rushed to cupboard and inspected it_). Good gracious! This is most serious. What infernal carelessness! Who did it? and who allowed it to be done? Do you know, you demented old ass, that in that state, my poor aunt was as brittle as glass; and if she's been dropped, or even knocked up against anything, or, for the matter of that, even jolted, she would break into ten thousand pieces! Who's to blame for this, I should, like to know? MR. W. (_with a groan_). I know, Ferdinand, _I_ am. I am what you came to England to look out for, the first felon. Freeze me as quickly as you can, and if you have any sympathy for me, keep me frozen. (_Enter, door_ L., MRS. WATMUFF, WALTER, _and_ EMILY. MRS. WATMUFF _is walking between them, and has an arm round the waist of each_.) FER. Hullo! Here _is_ the body! Now, who on earth has done this? MR. W. My wife, alive and well! Aha! Aha! Oh, joy! joy! joy! FER. Well, upon my soul, it takes very little to make you happy. What I want to know is-- MRS. W. Peace, assassin; and you (_to_ MR. WATMUFF), malefactor, peace, I say. FER. No, but hang it, this is a serious matter to me. It's a direct infringement on my patent. That's what it is. Who brought you round? Sentiment is sentiment,--but damme, justice is justice; and I mean to know who brought you round, and then prosecute him. MRS. W. Silence, miscreant. I have not, as you put it, been brought round, because, your vile scheme having been frustrated, I was never rendered insensible. The liquid in your life-destroying phial, Ferdinand Swift, was cast away by these hands, and pure and innocent water took its place. FER. Then you never were frozen? MRS. W. Only so far as genuine horror can freeze. FER. But you went off? MRS. W. It was a masquerade-- MR. W. What! Do you mean to say that you were sensible all the time that-- MRS. W. I was conscious during the entire period. I was conscious, Mr. Watmuff, when you were gloating and exulting over what you believed to be my lifeless body. MR. W. (_sinks in chair, and buries his face in his hands_). Oh, don't! Spare me! spare me! MRS. W. I was conscious, Mr. Watmuff, when you abstracted from my pocket the key of the cellar. MR. W. (_groaning_). Oh, don't! don't! MRS. W. I heard you, Mr. Watmuff, express your determination to possess yourself of a duplicate to that key. (MR. WATMUFF _groans_.) I heard you descend to the wine vaults, and was conscious of your return with beakers and flagons containing wine. (MR. WATMUFF _groans_.) I was conscious of the vile odor of tobacco pervading these rooms, which hitherto I had kept free from such pollution; and, mark this well, Mr. Watmuff, I was more than conscious _when the smoke from your cigar, ejected from your lips, designedly suffused my countenance_.