The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.
"Yes. There is one of great size."
"Would it, do you think, hold two men?"
"Oh, yes. Perchance you, who are tall, might have to stoop a little; but
with that exception as to height, there is most ample space."
"That will do then. I cannot tell you, of course, the exact hour; but be
it when it may, the moment Todd leaves the shop to day to go upon any
business out of doors, two persons from me will come to hide themselves
in that cupboard."
"They will use the watch-word?"
"Yes, certainly; and you will so dispose any movable article in the
shop, as to take away any idea that the cupboard had been visited, or in
the slightest degree interfered with."
"That I can easily do."
"Well, here we are, then, in Fleet-street again; and mind all this that
I have planned has nothing to do with your proceedings to call for
assistance, if any special or unforeseen danger should occur to you."
Johanna, upon this, showed him the jagged stone she had in her pocket,
to cast through the window.
"Yes, that would do," said Sir Richard; "but I would gladly supply you
with arms. Do you think you could manage a pistol, if you had one?"
"Yes. I have often looked at some fire-arms that my father had in his
shop to sell once, and I have seen them used."
"I am glad of that," continued Sir Richard. "Here are two very small
pistols loaded. They may be thoroughly depended upon in a room; but they
would not carry any distance, in consequence of the shortness of the
barrel. If, however, you should be in any sudden and extreme danger from
Todd, anywhere else than in the shop, or there, if you are pushed for
time, one of these fired in his face will be tolerably effective. You
can keep them both in your pocket."
The magistrate, as he spoke, handed to Johanna a pair of very small, but
exquisitely made pistols, encircled with silver mounting, and she
carefully concealed them, feeling still more secure from any treachery
upon the part of Todd, now that she held his life as much, if not more,
in her hands, than he held hers in his.
She shook her kind friend warmly by the hand, and then hastened to the
barber's shop. As she got near to it, she saw the tall thin man who had
so perplexed Todd about the religious tract, come out, and Todd followed
him to the door, looking after him with such an expression of deadly
malice, that Johanna could not but pause a moment to look at him.
He suddenly turned his eyes towards her, and saw her. He beckoned with
his finger, and she entered the shop.
"Well, Charley," he said, with quite an affectation of good humour. "You
are a good lad."
"I am glad you think so, sir," she replied, seeing that Todd paused for
an answer.
"I cannot but think so. I shall have to look over some accounts in the
parlour this morning, and if anybody--any female, I mean--comes for me,
say I have gone to the city, and that, after that, I said I would call
in Bell Yard before I came home. You well remember that, Bell Yard. Be
vigilant and discreet, and you shall have the reward that I have all
along intended for you, and which you should not miss upon any account."
"I am much beholden to you, sir. But if any one should come to be shaved
while you are in the parlour, what shall I say to them?"
"You can say I have gone to the Temple to dress Mr. Block's new wig, if
you like, so that you got rid of them, for I must not be disturbed on
any consideration."
"Very well, sir."
"Put another turf on the fire, Charley, and make yourself quite
comfortable."
What inconsistent amenity this was upon the part of Todd. It seemed as
though he had turned over a new leaf completely, and intended to put an
end to all suspicions, if he had any, of Charley Green; and after
that--after that, Todd still preserved his kind intention of cutting his
throat with one of the razors.
"The very best thing you can do with people," muttered Todd to himself,
as he went into the parlour, "is to cut their throats as soon as they
cease to be useful to you, for from that moment, if you do not put them
out of the way, they are almost certain to be mischievous to you."
What a pleasant lot of maxims Todd had, and what a beautiful system of
moral philosophy his was, to be sure!
One thing was quite evident, and that was that he fully expected and
dreaded the visit of Mrs. Lovett upon money matters. It will be
recollected that ten o'clock was named as about the hour when that lady
was to bring in her little account in the partnership affair of Todd,
Lovett, & Co.; and as he (Todd) had for once in his life been fairly
bothered to make any further excuses to so pertinacious a creditor as
Mrs. Lovett, he had hit upon the plan of trying to put her off during
the day by one means or another, and at night he would, at an earlier
hour than he had before intended, be off and away.
Everything was in readiness, and he considered Mrs. Lovett his only
hindrance--a danger he scarcely thought her--for, at the very worst, he
could not conceive that even her passion would be sufficient to induce
her to sacrifice herself, for the sake of revenge upon him.
His house was prepared so that a match would at any moment suffice to
give the touch that would set it in a blaze; and then, as he said--"Who
shall say where the conflagration among the old well-dried wooden houses
of Fleet-street may reach to?"
His passage in the Hamburgh ship was secure--the fearful proceeds of his
life of rapine and murder were in her hold. How uncommonly safe Todd
thought himself, and how well he considered he had managed his affairs.
Short-sighted mortals that we are! How often we mistake the shifting
morass of difficulty for the _terra firma_ of prosperity, and how often
do we weep for those events, which, in themselves and their results,
form the ground-work of the happiness of a life! Truly we are
"Such things as air is made of."
If Todd now for one moment could have imagined that his plunder, which
he believed was so safe on board the Hamburgh ship, was actually, on the
contrary, at the office of Sir Richard Blunt, in Craven-street, what
would have been his sensations? Would he have laughed and sniggered over
the bumper of brandy he was holding to his lips in his parlour? No,
indeed.
If he could but have guessed that the ship in which he had intended to
embark, was then twenty-four hours on her route, and battling with the
surging waves of the German Ocean, how would he have felt!
Strange to say, he never had felt so confident of success and triumph as
upon that day. He could have said with Romeo in Mantua--
"My bosom's lord sits lightly on its throne,"
while, like Romeo, he was on the eve of a blow that at once was to
topple to the dust the very structure of all his hopes. He of course
fully expected a visit from Mrs. Lovett, but he did hope that she would
take an answer from Charley, and go away again. If she did not he
trusted to the inspiration of the moment to be able to say something to
her which might have the effect of producing that which he wanted only,
namely, delay.
CHAPTER XCIII.
SIR RICHARD BLUNT'S SUBTERRANEAN EXPEDITION.
While Todd is thus waiting anxiously for the arrival of his old ally in
iniquity, but who now he considered to be his most deadly foe, and his
worst possible hindrance to carry out his deeply--by far too
deeply--laid schemes, we shall have time to take a peep at some
proceedings of Sir Richard Blunt's, which are rather entertaining, and
decidedly important.
Johanna had not been long gone from the fruiterer's shop, before Sir
Richard said to the fruiterer--
"If you are ready we will go now to the church at once. I have left
quite a sufficient guard over the safety of Miss Oakley, and besides
this affair will not take us I daresay above a couple of hours."
"Not so long I think," replied the fruiterer. "I am quite ready, and no
doubt your men are in the church by this time. They are apt to be
punctual."
"They would not suit me for long if they were not," replied Sir Richard.
"Punctuality is the one grand principle which is the hinge of all my
business, and the secret of by far the larger portion of my success."
They walked rapidly up Fleet Street together, until they came opposite
to St. Dunstan's Church, and then they crossed the road and tapped
lightly at a little wicket in the great door of the building. The wicket
was immediately opened by a man who touched his hat to Sir Richard.
"All right?" asked the magistrate, "and every one here?"
"Yes, sir. Every one."
"That will do then. Be sure you fasten the door in the inside, so that
that troublesome beadle, if he should be smitten with a desire to visit
the church, cannot get in; and if he should come and be troublesome,
take him into custody at once, and shut him him up anywhere that may
keep him out of harm's way for the next twelve hours or so."
"Yes, sir."
This man, whose business it evidently was to stay by the door, carefully
fastened it, and Sir Richard Blunt with his friend from Fleet Street
advanced into the body of the church. He had not gone far before a pew
opened, and six persons came out. One of these was a well-dressed
elderly man, who said, as the magistrate approached him--
"I have made all the necessary observations, Sir Richard, and am quite
easy and confident that I can direct your men how to excavate directly
to Todd's house."
"Thank you Sir Christopher," said the magistrate. "I am very much
indebted to you for the trouble you have taken in this affair, which I
think is now near its climax."
"I hope so, Sir Richard. This way if you please."
The whole party now proceeded to the same slab of stone which the
magistrate had had before removed, for the purpose of making his
inquiries below the surface of the earth. The slab was standing on its
edge against a column of the nearest aisle, and the deep dark opening to
the vaults was before them.
"There is but little foul air," said Sir Christopher. "The stone has
been off they tell me many hours. Shall I go first, or will you, Sir
Richard?"
"Allow me," said the magistrate; "should there be any risks, it is my
duty first to encounter them."
"As you please, Sir Richard. As you please, sir. I willingly give place
to you, because I know, if there be any difficulty how much better
calculated you are than any one here to overcome it."
The magistrate made a slight bow to the compliment, and then taking a
link in his hand, he descended the stairs leading to the vaults of St.
Dunstan's.
It will be well recollected that he had been in those vaults before, and
that he had made certain discoveries, which to a vast extent implicated
Mrs. Lovett in the crimes of Sweeney Todd; but his object upon this
present visit was of a different character. In plain language, this was
an attempt to ascertain if there were any underground modes of
communication between Todd's house, and the vaults of old St. Dunstan's
church.
That there were some such subterraneous passages had become, after the
most mature consideration, a firm conviction upon the mind of Sir
Richard Blunt, and hence he had resolved upon such an exploration of the
spot as should confirm or dispel the idea for ever.
Those whom he had with him, were all persons upon whom he could
thoroughly depend; and the ancient architect, who had given his
services, was to point out the exact direction in which to proceed.
Upon reaching the foot of the stone steps, instead of traversing the
passage that led in the direction of Bell Yard, which he had formerly
done, Sir Richard turned directly the other way, saying as he did so--
"This, I presume, will be our direction?"