Walter. I speak in great haste, madam, and I beg of you to listen to me. Every moment is of vital importance, and I do not hesitate to say that your life may depend on hearing me.
Mrs. W. My life, sir? I do not dread death, young man. My parents dreaded it not. It came, and they accepted it; and so in due season shall I accept it.
Walter. But, Mrs. Watmuff, it may come to you in very undue season. To be brief with you, I have discovered that at this very moment, in this very house, a horrible plot is being concocted which may cost you your life.
Mrs. W. A plot! How say you? And who, then, are the conspirators?
Walter. You have a nephew named Ferdinand Swift—
Mrs. W. A hare-brained adventurer. He is in the other hemisphere.
Walter. He has returned, and is in this house. He has brought with him some wild American invention with which he proposes to make his fortune. Do you see this bottle?
Mrs. W. I observe a phial, sir.
Walter. This bottle contains a fluid which will, so says your nephew, if injected into the ear, freeze or suspend the animation of the subject so operated on, until another fluid, injected into the other ear, restores life. The difficulty is to persuade any one to submit himself to so hazardous an experiment; but he has so excited the curiosity of Mr. Watmuff, that he has consented that you should be subjected—
Mrs. W. He has consented? I gather, sir, that my consent would also be necessary.