The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.
a mystery which, to all appearance, could not in any way concern her.
But Todd all this while was a prisoner in his own parlour, and it may
easily be imagined how he chafed and fumed over such a state of things.
If any convenient mode of taking the life of Mrs. Lovett had but
presented itself to him, how gladly he would have embraced it; but none
did; and after enduring the present state of affairs for about a quarter
of an hour, he coolly opened the parlour door and walked into the shop
as if nothing were amiss.
Mrs. Lovett was not at all taken by surprise at this proceeding. She
merely rose and took a step towards the door, as she said, in a cool
sarcastic tone--
"I am glad you have come home."
"Come home?" said Todd, with a well-acted look of surprise. "Come home?
What do you mean, my dear madam? I am particularly glad to see you, and
was particularly desirous to do so."
"Indeed!"
"Yes, to be sure. Really, do you know, I told the lad here, to deny me
to anybody but you."
"And he made the slight mistake of denying you to me only."
"Is it possible?--Can such things be? Oh, you careless rascal. Upon my
word, some employers would pull your ears--that they would. I'm ashamed
of you--that I am. Really, Mrs. Lovett, these boys are always annoying
one in some way or another; but walk in, if you please--walk in, and we
will soon settle our little affairs."
"Excuse me," said Mrs. Lovett, "I prefer the shop, Mr. Todd."
"You don't say so?"
"You hear me say so, and you might know by this time, that when I say
anything--I mean it."
"Of course, Mrs. Lovett, of course," said Todd; "I know you for a lady
of infinite powers of mind--of great susceptibility--of feeling--of
uncommon intellect and thrift. Please to step into the parlour, and I
will settle with you at once, for I believe you call for a small trifle
that you are entitled to from me, Mrs. Lovett."
"I do call for what I am entitled to, and I will have it here."
"Charley, just go to St. Dunstan's, my lad, and bring me word the exact
time; and then, you can do it all under one, you know, just walk down
Fleet-market, and see if you can find any love-apples, and if so, you
can ask the price of them, and let me know."
"Yes, sir," said Johanna.
In another moment she was gone. Mrs. Lovett took another step nearer to
the door, and actually laid her hand upon it to prevent it closing
thoroughly. She did not think that she would be safe if it were shut;
and then addressing Todd, she said--
"All disguise between you and I, is useless now, Todd. Give me my half
of the money that has been earned by blood. It may have the curse of
murder clinging to it, but I will have it--I say I will have it."
"Are you mad?"
"Not yet--not yet. But I shall be, and then it will be time for you to
beware of me."
"Mrs. Lovett--Mrs. Lovett, is it not a melancholy thing, that you and I,
who may be said to be at war with all the world, should begin to quarrel
with each other? If we are not true to one another, what can we expect
from others? Have we not for so long carried on our snug little business
in safety, merely because we were good friends?"
"No, Todd, no. We never were friends--you know that as well as I do. It
is a principal of human nature, that those who are associated together
for wicked purposes are never friends. You and I have not been
exceptions to the rule. We hate each other--we always did and will, you
know it."
"Dear, dear!" said Todd, lifting up his hands, and approaching a step
nearer to Mrs. Lovett. "This is afflicting--this is truly afflicting to
hear such words from you, Mrs. Lovett."
"Keep off--keep off, I say! Another step, and I will at once into the
street, and then to the passers-by scream out for public vengeance upon
Todd the murderer!"
"Hush!--hush! God of Heaven! woman, what do you mean by speaking of
murder in such a tone?"
"I mean, Todd, what I say; and what I threaten I will do. Keep off--keep
off! I will not have you another step nearer to me with that hang-dog
look."
"Moderate your tone, woman!" said Todd, as he stamped upon the floor of
the shop; "moderate your tone, woman, or you will destroy yourself and
me."
"I care not."
"You care not?--what do you mean by that? Have you gone mad in earnest?
What do you mean by you care not? Has the scaffold any charms for you?"
"It might have for once, with you for a companion on it, Sweeney Todd;
but if I am desperate and reckless, you have yourself to thank for it.
Well you know that, Todd. I have toiled, and sinned, and murdered, for
what you have done the same, for gold!--Gold was the God of my idolatry,
and it was yours. We both seized the same idea. We both saw how gold
alone was worshipped in the land. We saw how Heaven was affected to be
worshipped by all; but we found out that gold was the real divinity. We
saw that it was for the lucre of gain that the priest clothed himself in
the garments of his pretended ministry, and spake his mock prayers to
the people. We saw that it was for gold only that the rulers of the land
struggled and fought. We found that the love and the worship of gold was
the true religion of all; and we sought to possess ourselves of the
idol."
"Mad!--mad!" cried Todd.
"No, I speak sanely enough now. I say, we found out that by the
possession of gold in christian, canting, religious, virtuous England,
we should find many worshippers. We found out that thousands upon
thousands would bend the knee to us on that account, and on that account
only. If we were paragons of virtue, we might rot and starve; but if we
were monsters of vice, if we had but gold, and kept but by the side of
the law, we should be kings--emperors upon the earth."
"Bah! bah! bah!" cried Todd.
"Well, we took a royal road to our object. We murdered for it, Todd. You
dipped your hands in gore, and I helped you. Yes, I do not deny that I
helped you."
"Peace, woman!"
"I will not hold my peace. The time has come for you to hear me, and I
will make you do so. I will speak trumpet-tongued, and if you like not
that word murder, I will shriek it in your ears. If you like not the
word blood, I will on the house-tops proclaim and tell the people that
it is synonymous with Todd. Ha! ha! You shrink now."
CHAPTER XCVI.
THE BOAT ON THE RIVER.
Todd did shrink aghast. This wild vehemence of Mrs. Lovett's was
something that he did not expect. Every word that she uttered filled him
with alarm. He began really to think that she had gone mad, and that he
might have everything to dread from her wild vehemence, and that
probably he had gone too far in cheating her out of the result of her
labours.
"Peace," he said. "Peace, and you shall be satisfied."
"I will be satisfied."
"Well, well, of course you shall. But you cannot be if you destroy both
yourself and me, which your present conduct threatens."
"I tell you I joined with you in murder for the love of gold, and I will
have my recompense. Give me that which is mine own. I will have it, or I
will drag you with me to the halter. Do you understand that, Sweeney
Todd? I ask you, do you understand that?"
"It is plain enough," said Todd.
"Then give me my gold--gold for blood. Give it to me, and let me go."
"You are really so precipitate. Upon my word, Mrs. Lovett, you are quite
an altered woman, that you are. I certainly never did expect to hear
such language from you. Any one would think that you had an idea I meant
to cheat you."
Mrs. Lovett made an impatient gesture, but Todd continued--
"Now, anything more repugnant to my feelings than that could not
possibly be, I assure you; and I consider you fully entitled to £22,000
8s. 3d., which is precisely your half of the proceeds of the little
business."
"Give me the money."
"Now, do you suppose, Mrs. Lovett, that I am so green as to keep here in
the house no less a sum than £22,000 8s. 3d.? You really must think I
have taken leave of my senses, to dream for one moment of such a thing."
"Where is it, then?--where is it? I see you are bent upon driving me
mad."
"Why, really, Mrs. L., it would be insulting you to say that you were
perfectly in your right senses at this moment; but come, sit down, and
we will see what can be done. Sit down, and compose yourself."
"In the shaving chair"
"Ha--ha, that's a good joke. In the shaving chair! Ha--ha! No Mrs. L., I
don't exactly want to polish you off. Sit down where you like, but not
in the shaving chair, if you don't fancy it, Mrs. L. Pray sit down."
"For you to cut my throat?"
"What?"
"I say, for you to cut my throat? Do you think I am not sharp sighted
enough to see that razor partially hidden in your sleeve? No, Todd, I am
well aware that you are panting to murder me. I tell you I know it, and
it is useless your making the faintest attempt to conceal it. The fact
is broad and evident; but I am upon my guard, and I am armed likewise,
Todd."
"Armed?"
"Yes, Todd, I am armed, and you are terrified at the idea, as I knew you
would be. Nothing to you is so horrible as death. You who have sent so
many from the world, will yourself go from it howling with fright. I am
armed, but I do not mean to tell you how."
"You are wrong, Mrs. Lovett. What on earth would be the use of my taking
your life?"
"You would have all then."
"All? What do I want with all? I am not a young man now, and all I wish
is the means of enjoyment for the remainder of my days. That I can well
command with a less sum than my half of that which we have to divide
will come to. I have no one that I care to leave a sixpence to, and
therefore what need I trouble myself to hoard? You are quite mistaken,
Mrs. Lovett."
"Give me my money then."
"I will, of course; but I tell you it is at the banker's, Messrs. Grunt,
Mack, Stickinton, and Fubbs. Yes, that is the name of the highly
respectable firm in whose hands for the present both my money and yours
is deposited; and from the high character of the house, I should say it
could not possibly be in safer hands."
"My share will be quite safe with me, or if unsafe, you need not care. I
will have it."
"Step into the parlour, and I will write you an order for your half, and
you can get it in half an hour."
"No Todd. You will make the attempt to murder me if I step into the
parlour. I will not even come further into your shop, than here upon the
threshold of it, with the door in my hand. Why do you keep a razor
concealed in your sleeve?"
"Oh--I--It's a little habit of mine; but allow me to assure you how very
incorrect your suspicions are, Mrs. Lovett; and if you will not come in,
I will write the order, and bring it to you; or what do you say to my
going with you to the bankers, where you can yourself ask what is the
amount of the sum standing in my name there; and when you have
ascertained it, you can have half of it to a sixpence."
"Come, then. I confess, Todd, I am sufficiently suspicious of you, that
I would rather not lose sight of you."
"Dear me, how dreadful it is for friends to be in such a state of
feeling towards each other, to be sure. But the time will come, Mrs.
Lovett, when you will see my conduct in a different light, and you will
smile at the suspicion which you say you now entertain, but which
sometimes I cannot help thinking are not the genuine sentiments of your
heart."
"Come--come, at once."
"I must wait for the boy; I cannot leave the shop until the boy is here
to mind it in my absence.--Oh, here he is."
At this moment, Johanna, who had not troubled herself to go to the
market at all, came back.
"Well, what is the exact time," said Todd, "by St. Dunstan's?"
"A quarter-past eleven, sir."