Page 2535 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

experiment of his suspicion. But I am glad the knight is not here; now he
shall see his own foolery.

MISTRESS FORD
How near is he, Mistress Page?

MISTRESS PAGE
Hard by, at street end; he will be here [35] anon.

MISTRESS FORD
I am undone: the knight is here.

MISTRESS PAGE
Why, then, you are utterly shamed, and he’s but a dead man. What a woman

are you? Away with him, away with him; better shame than murder. [40]

MISTRESS FORD
Which way should he go? How should I bestow him? Shall I put him into the
basket again?

[Enter Falstaff.]

FALSTAFF
No, I’ll come no more i’ th’ basket. May I not go out ere he come?

MISTRESS PAGE
Alas, three of Master Ford’s brothers [45] watch the door with pistols, that

none shall issue out; otherwise you might slip away ere he came. But what
make you here?

FALSTAFF
What shall I do? I’ll creep up into the chimney.

MISTRESS FORD
There they always use to discharge their [50] birding-pieces. Creep into the
kill-hole.