The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.

"Do you call any witnesses," asked the junior counsel, "for the prosecution?" "No--no--no. Witnesses! Innocence is its own best safeguard." "I waive my right of reply, my lord," said the Attorney-General. Upon this, nothing remained for the judge to do but to sum up the evidence; and after arranging his notes, he proceeded to do so, in that clear and lucid style, for which some of our judges are so famous. "The prisoner at the bar, Sweeney Todd, stands charged with the wilful murder of Francis Thornhill. It appears that Francis Thornhill left a certain ship for the purpose of proceeding to a Miss Oakley in the City of London, with a String of Pearls, which had been confided to him to deliver to that lady by a Mr. Mark Ingestrie. "We have it in evidence, that Francis Thornhill on his route down or along the northern side of Fleet Street, went into the shaving shop, kept by the prisoner at the bar, and from that instant he is not again seen alive. The prisoner at the bar takes a String of Pearls, similar to those which were in the possession of Francis Thornhill, and raises upon them a considerable sum of money of a man named John Mundell. It appears then, that the hat of Mr. Francis Thornhill is taken from the premises of the prisoner by a dog; and it further appears, upon the clear testimony of respectable persons, that beneath the prisoner's shop is a contrivance by which people might be killed; and there or thereabouts contiguous to that contrivance, a certain bone is found, which is proved to be the thigh-bone of Francis Thornhill. "Gentlemen of the jury, the sequence of evidence by which it is attempted to bring this crime home to the prisoner at the bar, lies in a very small compass indeed. Firstly, there is the tracing of Francis Thornhill to the prisoner's shop, and his disappearance from thence. Then there is the hat found there or taken from there, and then there is the thigh-bone sworn to be that of Francis Thornhill, and certainly found in such contiguity to his premises, as to warrant a belief that he placed it there. "Gentlemen of the jury, the case is in your hands." This was a very short summing up, but the bar quite understood it to mean that the guilt of the prisoner was so clear and transparent, that it was not at all necessary for the judge to go elaborately through the evidence, but merely as a matter of form, leave the facts in evidence to the jury. And now came that awful moment to Todd, when the question of guilty or not guilty hovered on the lips of those twelve men, who were to decide upon his fate. The jury laid their heads together for a few moments only, and then they turned round and faced the court again. The clerk of the arraigns rose, and spoke-- "Gentleman of the jury. How say you? Do you find the prisoner at the bar guilty or not guilty of the crime laid to his charge in the indictment?" "Guilty!" said the foreman. A cheer burst from the auditors, and the judge raised his hand, saying-- "Officers, repress this unmanly exultation that a fellow-creature is found guilty of a dreadful crime. I beg that any person so offending may be brought before me at once." The officer could not or would not find anybody so offending, but the judge's words had the effect of calming the tumult at all events, and then all eyes were turned upon Sweeney Todd, who stood in the dock glaring at the foreman of the jury, as though he had only imperfectly heard what he had said, or if he had perfectly heard him, doubting the evidence of his own senses, as regarded the real, full, and true meaning of the dreadful word "guilty!" CHAPTER CXXXI. TODD MAKES AN ATTEMPT UPON HIS OWN LIFE. In the course of a few minutes the tumult in the court was effectually suppressed, and then as it was known that the judge would sentence Todd at once, all eyes were turned upon the criminal, to note the effect which that awful moment was likely to have upon him. The judge spoke. "Sweeney Todd, you have been by an impartial and patient jury, convicted upon the clearest evidence of the murder of Francis Thornhill. Have you anything to say why sentence of death, according to the law, should not be passed forthwith upon you?" Todd did not seem to understand the question, and the Governor of Newgate repeated it to him. He started then, and glared at the judge, as in a deep hollow voice, he said-- "Death! death!--Did you say death?" "Such says the law--not I. If you have anything to say why that sentence should not be pronounced against you, now is your only time in which to say it." Todd passed his hand twice across his brow before he spoke, and then, in a vehement voice, he said-- "It is false--all false. I did not kill the man. There is a vile conspiracy against me. I say I did not do it. Who saw me--what eye was upon me? I was at chapel--at prayers, when you say among you that I did it. It is a plot--nothing but a plot from first to last. You would make me the victim of it among you. Who saw me kill him? I know nothing of hidden places in the old house. It is not true, I say. A plot--a vile plot for my destruction." "Have you finished?" said the judge. "Have I not said enough? I know nothing of it. I am a poor man, and strive to get a living as best I might, and among you now you bring a bone from some churchyard to kill me with. You swear anything--I know you all well. If the man you say I killed be really dead, I here at this moment summon his spirit from another world, to come and bear witness for me that I did not kill him!" These last words Todd yelled out in such a tone of frantic passion, that everybody looked aghast; and more than once, more than commonly superstitious spectators thought that the appeal to the beings of a supernatural world might yet be answered in some way. There was a death-like stillness in the court for some few moments, and then the Governor of Newgate in a whisper, said to Todd-- "Have you finished?" "Finished what?" he cried, in a startling tone. "Finished what?--Finished pleading for my life? Yes, I have, for I know that they have made up their minds to murder me. I have no witnesses--they are all in the grave now. That woman, Lovett, who is dead, you tell me--I cannot say if she be dead or not, she is hard to kill--that woman could exculpate me; but, as I say, my witnesses are in the grave, and there is no truth in spirits visiting this world again, or she and the man you say I murdered would appear here, and yell in your ears, all of you, that I did not do it." The judge sat quite patiently. He was evidently resolved to hear quietly what Todd chose to say. It could but occupy a little more time; and as his fate was fixed, it did not matter. "If you have finished your observations, prisoner," said the judge, "it will now be my duty to proceed to pass upon you the sentence of the law." "But I have said I did not do it. I am not guilty." "It does not lie within my power to decide that question. The jury have found you guilty, and all I have to do in my capacity here is, in accordance with that finding, to sentence you according to law. If you could have stated any legal impediment to the passing of the sentence, it would have had effect; but now it is my painful duty to--" "Hold! I will, and can state a legal impediment." "What is it?" "I am mad!" The judge opened his eyes rather wider than usual at this statement, and the jury looked at each other in wonder and amazement. Among the spectators there was a general movement, too, of surprise. "Mad!" said the judge. "Yes," added Todd, holding up his arms, "I am mad--quite mad. Do you think any other but a madman would have done the deeds with which you charge me? I either did not do them, and am saved, or I did do all these murders, the consequences of which you would heap upon my head, and am mad. What is there in the wide world would compensate a man for acting as you say I have acted? Could he ever know peace again? What is madness but an affliction of providence? and dare you take the life of a man, who has acted in a certain way, in consequence of a disease with which the Almighty has thought proper to visit him? I tell you you dare not, and that I am mad!" This speech was uttered with a vehemence that made it wonderfully effective; and at its conclusion Todd still held up his arms, and glared upon the judge with the look of one who had advanced something that was utterly and completely unanswerable. The judge leant over to the recorder, and whispered something to him, and the recorder whispered to the judge. "Mad! Mad!" shrieked Todd again. The Attorney-General now whispered something to the judge, who nodded; and then addressing Todd, he said in calm and measured tones-- "However great the novelty of a plea of insanity, put in by the party himself, may be, it will yet meet with every attention. I shall now proceed to pass sentence of death upon you; and after you are removed to the jail of Newgate, certain physicians will see you, and report upon your mental condition to the Secretary of State, who will act accordingly." Todd dropped his arms. The judge put on the black cap, and continued-- "Sweeney Todd, you have been convicted of the crime of murder; and certain circumstances, which it would have been improper to produce before this court in the progress of your trial, lead irresistibly to the belief that your life for years past has been one frightful scene of murder; and that not only the unhappy gentleman for whose murder you now stand here in so awful a position has suffered from your frightful practices, but many others. It will be a satisfaction, too, to the court and the jury to know that the woman named Lovett, who you say would and could have proved your innocence, had she been in life, made, shortly before her death, a full confession, wherein she inculpated you most fearfully." "False! False!" cried Todd. The judge took not the slightest notice of the interruption, but continued his speech-- "It is now my painful duty to pass upon you the sentence of the law, which is, that you be hanged by the neck until dead, and may Heaven have mercy upon you, for you cannot expect that society can do otherwise than put out of life one who, like yourself, has been a terror and a scourge." "Quite mad!" cried Todd. "Quite mad!" "Officers, remove the prisoner," said the judge, who was much disgusted by the attempt of Todd upon their credulity, by stating that he was mad. The Governor of Newgate laid hold of him by the arm, but Todd raised his voice again, saying-- "One moment. Only one moment. Before I leave this court, I have a great desire to say something to Sir Richard Blunt." "If Sir Richard Blunt has no objection," said the judge, "the court can have none. Is that gentleman present?" "I am here," said Sir Richard, as he made his way towards the dock, in which Todd was. "What is it you have to say to me, Sweeney Todd?" "It is for your private ear." "Then, I decline to hear it. If you have anything to say to me, say it out, and openly. I decline any private communications." "Nay, but it really interests those whom you love. Come a little closer to me, and I will speak it." "Now," said Sir Richard, as he reached the front of the dock, "speak at once, and say what it is. The court is too indulgent to you." "Is it, really!" With the rapidity of thought, Todd drew a small table knife from the breast of his apparel, and made a stab at Sir Richard's neck with it; but the magistrate had had by far too long experience with such men as Todd to be so taken at unawares, and he dropped to the floor of the