Dame.
Odds bodikins and pins! what's the matter, now?
Rip.
[Raising his head cautiously.] Matter, indeed! [the devil's][64] in the cupboard! Oh, la! I'll be swammed.
Dame.
In the cupboard!—[Going there, sees china broken; squalling.]—All my fine porcelain destroyed! monster! vile, rapacious monster! A devil, indeed, has been in the cupboard, and that's you. The china, presented to me by my grand relations, which I set such store on, smashed into a thousand pieces; 'tis too much for my weak nerves. I shall swoon! I shall faint! [She sinks in the arm-chair, but immediately starts up, and, squalling, falls into Rip's arms.—Knickerbocker regains the closet, unobserved by all, save Alice.
Dame.
Heaven have mercy on us! there was somebody in the chair! somebody in the chair!
Rip.
Phoo! there's nothing in de chair, save your old cloak, [Tossing it aside.] dat's all.