Johanna had had a long time to herself in Todd's shop now. When first he left upon that expedition of murder, she had almost been afraid to stir, for she had feared he might momentarily return; but as his stay became longer and longer protracted, she plucked up courage.
She began to look about her.
"As yet," she said to herself, "what has been done towards arriving at a solution of the mysteries of this dreadful place?"
The more she thought, the more she felt compelled to answer this inquiry in an unsatisfactory manner. What had been done?
The only thing that could be said to be settled, was the fact that Todd was guilty, and that Mrs. Lovett was his accomplice. That he, by some diabolical means, murdered people who came into his shop to be shaved, was a fact, incontestable; but how he did the deed, still remained a mystery.
The care which Todd always bestowed for the purpose of concealing the manner in which he committed the murder, had hitherto been successful. No one but himself, and probably Mrs. Lovett, knew exactly how he did the deed.
It has been of course sufficiently observed that he never attempted anything amiss when two people were in the shop. That he always made it a point to get rid of Johanna upon occasions when he thought he had a chance of making a victim; and that in fact he had, by the very fact that Sir Richard Blunt and his officers had in various disguises followed people into his shop, been for some time prevented from the commission of his usual murders.
Now without in the smallest degree disguising what he did know, it is quite clear that Sir Richard Blunt up to that time did not know how Todd did the deeds of blood for which his shop was to become famous, and himself infamous.
That people went in and never came out again, was about the extent of what was really known.
The authorities, including Sir Richard Blunt, were extremely anxious to know exactly how these murders were committed, and hence they waited with the hope, that something would occur to throw a light upon that part of the subject, before they apprehended Todd.
At any moment, of course, he could have been seized, and he little suspected that he was upon such a mine.
If anything, however, could be said to expedite the arrest of Todd, it would certainly be what had taken place at the colonel's house.
Now, to all appearance, when the colonel came home so close upon the events that had happened in his absence, and had so very nearly been fatal to both Minna Gray and Tobias, Todd had made his escape.
A rapid, but effective search of his, the colonel's house, sufficed to prove that there he was not.
The appearance of Tobias, with blood gushing from his mouth, was sufficiently alarming, and it was under the impression that he was dying from the rupture of a blood-vessel, that the colonel wrote the note to Sir Richard Blunt, which was intercepted by Sweeney Todd himself.
Upon the arrival, however, of the surgeon, who was immediately sent for, it was soon ascertained that the blood-vessel which had given way in poor Tobias, was not on the lungs, and that the danger arising from it was by no means great, provided he were kept quiet and properly attended to.
Minna Gray received this information with deep thankfulness, and the colonel, upon hearing it, immediately sought Sir Richard to consult with him upon the subject in its now altered state, for the idea that Tobias was dying, had made him, the colonel, view the affair much more passionately than prudently.
By dint of some trouble, the colonel found Sir Richard Blunt, and then to his no small surprise, for he had known his groom long, and thought he could thoroughly depend upon him, he found that the magistrate had received no note at all upon the subject, so that of course no steps had been taken.
Upon hearing the affair detailed to him, Sir Richard Blunt said--
"I regret this much, as it will put Todd in a fright and expedite his departure."
"But was he not going by the Hamburgh packet before day-dawn? At any rate, I understood you that by the manner in which you had dogged him, you had thoroughly ascertained that fact?"
"I had, but had taken steps to prevent him."
"You would arrest him to-night?"
"No, I do not think it advisable to arrest him just yet. The fact is, I do not know all that I want to know; but in order to stop him from leaving his shop to-night, I have caused the Hamburgh Captain Owners, to write to him, since he had taken a passage, telling him that the ships stores would not be ready until to-morrow, when at one hour before sunrise he would sail."
"Then you want to keep him in his shop another day?"
"I do. I hope and expect that during that day, something may occur to clear up the mystery that still attaches to the mode in which he commits his murders."
"It may so."
"I think I can take measures by running some little personal risk to make it do so; but something must be hit upon to calm his mind, regarding this affair at your house now, for he will expect nothing but instant arrest on its account."
"What can I do?"
"If you will be guided by me you will write Todd a letter, threatening him that if there is any more interference with Tobias, you will prosecute him, but that you will, if you hear no more of him at your house, say nothing of the past. You need be under no fear that he will derive any future advantage from such a promise, as any charge against him connected with poor Tobias will sink into insignificance, compared with other offences."
"True! true!"
"Such a letter, couched with the one concerning the non-departure of the ship, may keep him in his shop over to-morrow."
"And then--"
"Then he sleeps in Newgate, from which building he steps on to the scaffold."
"But has he not sent many trunks and packages to the ship?"
"Yes, and I have as regularly removed them all to the police-office at Bow Street. We have already some thousands of pounds worth of property of the most costly description."
"But Johanna? What is to become of her?"
"You may depend upon it that Todd will pursue the same course with her that he did with Tobias. He will give her a trifle of money, and tell her to get a night's lodging out; and in that case she knows where to come to be quite safe and comfortable. But if such should not be the case, my protecting arm is over her; I think I can almost defy Todd to do her any injury."
"Think you so?"
"Yes, I have made such arrangements that if she were missed only for ten minutes, Todd's house would be searched from top to bottom. I would not, for this right hand, that any harm should come to her."
"Nor I--nor I."
"Be at ease regarding her, colonel."
"I know how fully we may trust to you, and therefore I will be at ease regarding her; and I will at once write the letter to Todd you suggest to me."
"Do so. His fears upon your account must be calmed down."
The colonel accordingly wrote the necessary note to Todd. Of course, neither he nor Sir Richard Blunt knew that Todd had another reason for wishing to be off that night, which consisted in his great unwillingness to meet Mrs. Lovett in the morning; for it will be recollected that he had an appointment with that lady upon money matters at an early hour.
The reader is now fully aware of how matters stand, and will be able to comprehend easily the remarkable events which rapidly ensued upon this state of things, and therefore we can at once return to Todd.
We left him upon his door-step.
It was never Todd's custom to walk at once into his house as any one else would do upon their arrival, whose
"Conscience was not redolent of guilt!"
but he would peep and pry about, and linger like a moth fluttering around a candle, or a rat smelling at some tempting morsel, which might be connected with some artfully contrived trap, before he entered.
He wanted sadly to get a peep at what Charley was doing.
Now, poor Johanna, fortunately at that moment, was only sitting before the little miserable fire, holding her face in her hands, and deeply thinking of the once happy past. She had brought out from beneath the counter the sleeve of a sailor's jacket, which she had found upon her former examination of the shop, and after sprinkling it with some tears, for she fully believed it must have belonged to Mark Ingestrie, she had hidden it again.
And now as she sat in that house of murder all alone, she was picturing to herself every tone and look of her lover when he had first told her that he loved her before, as she might have said in the words of the old song--
"He loved me, and he sped away
Far o'er the raging sea,
To seek the gems of other lands,
And bring them all to me."
At that moment, with all external objects hidden from her perception she could almost fancy she could hear his voice as he had said to her--"My darling, I shall come back rich and prosperous, and we shall be happy."
Alas! how sadly had that dream ended. He who had escaped the perils of the deep--he who had successfully battled with the tempest, and all the perils by sea and by land incidental to the life he had embarked in, had returned miserably to perish, almost within hearing of her for whom he had adventured so much.
The thought was maddening!
"And I live!" she said; "I can live after that! Oh, Mark--Mark--I did not love you well enough, or I could not have existed so long after the horrible certainly of your fate has been revealed to me. They may say what they will to try to make me calmer and happier, but I know that he is Todd's victim."
After this she sat for a time in a kind of stupor, and it was during that interval that Todd arrived home.
There was no light in the shop but what at times came from a little flickering flame, that would splutter into a moment's brief existence in the fire; but Todd, as he glared through the upper portion of the half-glass door at a spot where he knew the blind did not prevent him, could just see Johanna thus sitting.
"Humph!" he said. "The boy is quiet enough, and probably, after all, may suspect nothing; although I don't at all like his manner at times; yet it is safer to kill him before I go. It is absolute security. He shall help me to arrange everything to set the house on fire, and then when I have completed all my arrangements, it will be easy to knock him on the head."
With this he opened the door.
Johanna started.
"Well," said Todd, "well, any one been?"
"Only a man to be shaved, sir. I told him you would be home soon, but he could not wait, so he left."
"Let him leave and get shaved at the devil!" said Todd. "You are sure no one has been here peeping and prying, and asking questions which you would be quite delighted to answer, eh?"
"Peeping and prying, sir?"
"Yes, peeping and prying. You know the meaning of that. Don't put on a look of surprise at me. It won't do. I known what you boys are. Curse you all! Yes, I know what you are."
Johanna made no answer.
Todd took off his hat, and shook the rain from it violently. Then in a voice that made Johanna start again, he cried--
"Light the lamp, idiot!"
It was quite clear that the occurrences at the colonel's had not improved Todd's temper at all, and that upon very little pretext for it, he would have committed some act of violence, of which Johanna might be the victim. Anything short of that she could endure, but she had made up her mind that if even he so much as laid his hand upon her, her power of further patience would be gone, and she would be compelled to adopt the means of summoning aid which had been pointed out to her by Sir Richard Blunt--namely, by casting something through the window into the street.
She lit the shop-lamp as quickly as she could.
"A lazy life you lead," said Todd. "A lazy life, indeed. Well, well," he added, softening his tone, "it don't matter--I shall polish you off for all that, Charley. What a pretty boy you are."
"Sir?"
"I say what a pretty boy you are. Why, you must have been your mamma's pet, that you must. I was. Ha! ha! Look at me, now. I was fondled and kissed once, and called a pretty boy. Ha!"
Johanna shuddered.
"Yes," added Todd, as he wiped himself down with a soiled towel, "yes, my mother used to make quite a pet of me. I often used to wish I was strong enough to throttle her! Ha! ha! That I did!"
"Throttle her, sir?"
"Yes," added Todd, fiercely. "What the devil did she bring me into the world for her own gratifications, unless she had plenty of money to give me that I might enjoy myself in it?"
"I don't know, sir."
"You don't know? Who the devil supposed you did know? Answer me that, you imp! Well, well, Charley, you and I won't quarrel about such matters. Come, my boy, I want you to be of use to me to-night."
"To-night, sir?"
"Yes, to-night. Is it broad daylight? Is the sun shining? Is there no such thing as night, under cover of which black deeds are done? Curse you! why do you ask if to-night is the time for action?"
"I will do your bidding, sir."
"Yes; and--Ah! who is this?"
"Is this here keg of turpentine for you?" said a man, with it upon his shoulder. "Mr. Todd's this is, ain't it?"
"Yes--yes. Put it down, my good fellow. You ought to have something to drink."
"Thank you kindly, sir."
"But you must pay for it yourself. There is a public-house opposite."
The man went away swearing; and scarcely had he crossed the threshold, when a letter was brought by a lad, and handed to Todd. Before he could ask any questions, the lad was gone.
Todd held the letter in his hand, and glared at the direction. It was to him, sure enough, and written in a very clerk-like hand, too. Before he could open it, some one hit the door a blow upon the outside, and it swung open.
"Is this Todd's, the barber?"
"Yes," said Johanna.
"Then give him that letter, little chap, will you?"
"Stop!" cried Todd. "Stop. Where do you come from, and who are you? Stop, you rascal. Will you stop? Confound you, I wish I had a razor at your throat."
