A sudden trampling in the room above, near my mother's bed, did the proposition the very service I am speaking of. By all that's unfortunate, quoth Dr. _Slop_, unless I make haste, the thing will actually befall me as it is.
A sudden trampling in the room above did this very action.
'By all that's unfortunate,' quoth Dr. Slop, 'unless I make haste, the thing will actually happen.'