The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.
ask himself what should be done with the shop.
"For a few hours yet," he said, "a few short hours, there must be no
disturbance and no commotion in this neighbourhood with which my name
may possibly be connected. After that, they may do what they like and
say what they like, but now all must be peace and silence. What shall I
do with this confounded shop, now? I wish I had not given so strong a
dose of the narcotic to you, old woman, left in charge by Mrs. Lovett.
Ah, what is that?"
The sound from the shop as of some one being violently sick, came upon
Todd's ears.
"Ah," he said, "so the narcotic has taken that effect, has it, upon Mrs.
Lovett's representative? Well, well, she will recover from it much
sooner than I thought she would, and that will now be all the better,
for it absolves me of my difficulty about the shop for the next few
hours."
He walked into the shop and found Mrs. Stag sitting up behind the
counter, and in rather a dubious condition as regarded the peace of her
stomach.
"Well, ma'am," said Todd. "How are you now?"
"The Lord have mercy upon us!"
"Amen! But how came you in this state, ma'am?"
"The pies, sir. The pies. You really have no idea of how very rich they
are, sir. It's all along of the pies, that's all, sir; but I am getting
better, though my head is none of the best."
"Yes," said Todd. "Of course it was the very rich pies. It could not
have been what you drank."
"Oh, no, no. Oh, dear no. That wasn't enough to hurt an infant, sir, as
you ought to know. What a mercy it is that Mrs. Lovett has not come
home, for she is rather a violent woman at times. It's really quite a
mercy."
"She won't be home just yet, I think," said Todd. "You will have time to
get completely to rights before you see her, and when you do see her I
would advise you to make your peace with the other world as quickly as
you can!"
Todd closed the parlour door; and as it was only the lock that had
given, it did not show much symptoms of what had happened to it; as that
in all likelihood Mrs. Stag, supposing that it was fast as she had first
found it, would not pay any attention to it or scrutinise it
sufficiently to be aware that it had been at all tampered with by any
one.
"Only a few hours after all," muttered Todd, "and then I don't care what
anybody thinks or says about this shop and its affairs, or about me in
connection with them. Ah, I had quite forgotten. I wonder what Mrs.
Lovett's cook is about?"
Todd paused, and gave some few moments' thought to the cook. He had an
idea of going down to the oven cellar, and killing him, so that he might
feel quite certain he was out of the way of perpetrating any mischief;
but a second thought determined him in the other way.
"No--no," he said. "What can he do? No doubt the house will be shut
after a time, and then he will starve to death. Ha!"
CHAPTER CII.
TAKES A SLIGHT GLANCE AT TOBIAS AND HIS INTENDED.
The idea of the cook being starved to death, had quite reconciled Todd
to the notion of leaving him alone; so he left the shop, and proceeded
to his own domicile in Fleet Street, and as nothing of great moment has
occurred during his absence, we will take the liberty of conducting the
reader to the house of Colonel Jeffery, and taking a slight peep at our
old friend Tobias, whom we left in rather a critical position.
Tobias had been in so delicate a condition, prior to the last outrage of
Todd at the colonel's house, that one might suppose such a thing would
go far towards terminating his mortal career, and so indeed it did; but
in youth there is such a tenacity to life that we may fairly look for
the most extraordinary things in the shape of clinging to the vital
principle, and in the way of getting over injuries. Poor Tobias was, to
be sure, thrown back by Todd's attack, but he was not destroyed. The
medical man gave it as his opinion, that the mental shock was by far
worse than the physical injury, and he said to the colonel--
"Some means must be devised to make him believe that he is quite free
from any further attack upon the part of Todd, or he will never recover.
He will awaken, it is true, from the trance he is now in, but it will be
to all the horrors and dread of some expected fresh attack from Todd."
"But I will assure him of my protection," said the colonel. "I will in
the most positive manner tell him that he shall here be perfectly safe
from that man."
"Excuse me, colonel," replied the surgeon, "but all that was done
before, and yet Tobias has found that Todd reached him, even in one of
the rooms of this house. You will find that he will be very sceptical
regarding your powers to protect him now from that bold and infamous
man. I hope I am not offending you, colonel, by my plain speaking?"
"Not at all my dear sir, not at all. Do not think of such a thing. Plain
speaking, when it is dictated by friendly feeling, is one of the most
admirable things in all the world, and no one can possibly admire it
more than I do. I feel, too, the full force of what you have said, and
that to the ears of Tobias it would sound like a farce for me to offer
to protect him from the further assaults of Sweeney Todd."
"But something may be done that is quite of a decisive character upon
the subject, colonel."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that to sick folks I say anything that I think will tend to
their recovery, even although I may feel that I am a little
transgressing the bounds of truth. We must consider what we say to
people in the position of Tobias, as so much medicine artfully
administered to him."
"I quite agree with you, and I feel that you have some important
suggestion to make to me regarding Tobias. What is it?"
"Then, colonel, if I were you, I should not hesitate for one moment to
tell him that Todd was dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes, that is the only thing that will thoroughly convince Tobias he has
nothing further to fear from him. I think it not only one of those
delusions that are in themselves harmless, but I think it a justifiable
dose of moral medicine."
"It shall be done," said the colonel. "It shall be done. I do not
hesitate about it for a moment. I thank you for the idea, and if that
will do Tobias any good, he shall have the full benefit of it at my
hands. Shall we seek him now?"
"Yes, I hope that he is in a state to fully comprehend what is said to
him, and in that case the sooner we say this from which we expect such
good results, the better it will be. I am most anxious to witness the
effect it will have upon his mind, colonel. If I mistake not, it will be
one far exceeding anything you can suppose."
Upon this they both went up stairs to the chamber in which poor Tobias
lay. The boy was upon a bed, lying to all appearance bereft of sense.
His breathing was rather laborious, and every now and then there was a
nervous twitching of the muscles of the face, which bespoke how ill at
ease the whole system was. At times too he would mutter some incoherent
words, during which both the medical man and the colonel thought they
could distinguish the name of Todd.
"Yes," said the surgeon, "that is the spectre that is ever present to
the imagination of this poor boy and we must speedily get rid of it from
him, or it will assuredly kill him. I would not answer for his life
another twenty-four hours, if his fancy were still to continue to be
tortured by an expectation of the appearance of Todd."
"Will you, or shall I, speak to him?"
"You, if you please, colonel; he knows your voice better no doubt than
he does mine."
Colonel Jeffery bent his head close down to Tobias's ear, and in a clear
correct voice spoke to him.
"Tobias, I have come to say something very important to you. It is
something which I hope will do you good to hear. Do you comprehend me,
Tobias?"
The sufferer uttered a faint groan, as he tossed one of his arms
uneasily about upon the coverlet.
"You quite understand me, Tobias? Only say that you do so, and I shall
be satisfied to go on, and say to you what I have to say."
"Todd, Todd!" gasped Tobias. "Oh, God! coming--he is coming."
"You hear," said the surgeon. "That is what his imagination runs upon.
That is proof conclusive."
"It is, poor boy," said the colonel. "But I wish I could get him to say
that he fully comprehends my words."
"Never mind that. I would recommend that you make the communication to
him at once, and abruptly. It will, in all likelihood, thus have more
effect than if you dilute it by any great note of preparation before it
reaches his ears."
The Colonel nodded his acquiescence; and then, once more inclining his
mouth to Tobias's ear, he said, in clear and moderately loud accents--
"Sweeney Todd is dead!"
Tobias at once sprang up to a sitting posture in the bed, and cried--
"No, no! Is it really so?"
"Yes," added the colonel. "Sweeney Todd is dead."
For a moment or two Tobias looked from the colonel to the surgeon, and
from the surgeon to the colonel, with a bewildered expression of
countenance, and then burst into tears.
"That will do," said the surgeon.
"It has succeeded?" whispered the colonel.
"Fully. It could not do better. He will recover full consciousness now
when those tears are over. All will go well with him; but do not, by
word or look, insinuate the remotest doubt of the truth of what you have
told him. It would be better to say the same thing to any of the
servants that may come about him."
"I will--I will; and particularly to his master, whom I would as soon
trust with a secret as I would with the command of a regiment of
cavalry."
Tobias wept for the space of about ten minutes, and then he looked up
with a face in which there was a totally different expression to what it
had borne but a short time previously, and with a faltering voice he
spoke--
"And so Todd is gone at last?"
"He has," replied the colonel; "and, therefore, you may now, Tobias,
make your mind quite easy about him."
"Oh, quite--quite!"
By the long breath that Tobias drew, it was evident what an exquisite
relief it was to him to be able to feel that the man who had been the
bane of his young life was no more. No assurance of protection from him
could have come near the feeling of satisfaction that he now felt in the
consciousness of such a release. But Todd being dead, settled the affair
at once. There was no drawback upon his satisfaction.
"Oh!" he said, "I do indeed feel that life is with me again, and that I
can be happy. Where is Minna?"
"She cannot remain here always," replied the colonel; "but she will be
in the house shortly, upon a visit to your mother, and you shall
yourself have the pleasure of communicating the welcome news of Todd's
death to her--news which to her bears as great a significance as it does
to you."
"Oh, yes," replied Tobias. "Minna will be pleased. We ought not to
rejoice at the death of any one; but then Todd was so very, very bad a
man, that his dying is a good thing, as it keeps him from loading his
soul with more wickedness."
"That," said the medical man, "is the proper view to take of the matter,
Tobias; but now you will permit me to say to you that you should not
talk too much, nor overtax your young strength. I will darken the room,
by closing the shutters; and it is highly desirable that you should
enjoy a few hours calm sleep, which now, with the conviction that Todd
is dead, I do not see any difficulty in your doing."
"Oh, no--no," said Tobias, with quite a bright expression upon his face.
"Oh, no. I shall sleep well now. Quite well, for what have I to fear
now?" These few words were spoken in such a tone of calm composure, that
the colonel had every reason to rejoice in the experiment he had tried,