The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.
"Only just let me find out now," said the clerk, "that this is something
about nothing, and won't I make a riot about it in the morning. To rouse
a fellow out of his bed, it is really too bad, as if any kind of thing
could not be just as well done in the day time as in the middle of
night. Now stupid, who are you?"
These last words he addressed to the person outside, by placing his
mouth close to the keyhole.
A voice responded something, the only recognisable word of which was
"donkey."
"What do you say?" cried the clerk, again. "You are--a--a--donkey, do
you say?"
"No," said the voice from the outside through the key-hole. "But you
are."
"Oh, am I, you infernal vagabond? I'll soon let you know what's what, I
will, you rascal."
With this the clerk began to open the door, and the moment he got the
key in the little lock, so that Mr. Lupin was thoroughly aware it was
the one he wanted, he sprung upon the unfortunate clerk, and dashing his
head against the door, which was heavily plated with iron, he knocked
him insensible in a moment.
To open the lock was the work of an instant, and the door creaked upon
its hinges.
"Who are you?" said Lupin.
"A messenger from the Secretary of State," said the man on the outside,
"and I shall report your insolence."
"Don't," said Lupin.
"Indeed, I shall."
"Then take that."
With the file he dealt him a frightful wound in the face, and then they
both rolled down the whole flight of steps together, for Mr. Lupin had
overbalanced himself with that blow. Todd sprang over them both, and
gained the open street, just as a watchman who was opposite began to
spring his rattle at seeing such a scuffle going on at the Governor's
door. The messenger from the Secretary of State, notwithstanding his
wound, grappled with Lupin, but that rascal got hold of him by his hair,
and knocked his head against the pavement until he was quite dead. Then
rising, he cried--
"Through Smithfield, Todd! Follow me."
"I will," said Todd, and off they both set, pursued by the single
watchman, who had happened to be the sole witness to the whole affair,
and who, finding himself outstripped by the two men, wisely stopped at
the corner of Giltspur Street to spring his rattle, which he did with a
vengeance that soon brought others to his assistance.
"An escape from Newgate!" the watchman kept crying--"An escape from
Newgate! There they go--through Smithfield; two men, one very big and
the other not so big! An escape from Newgate!"
These cries soon sent about a dozen persons on the trail of the
fugitives, and as the alarm was understood at the prison, four of the
most bold and skillful men upon the premises at once started in pursuit.
From the watchman who still stood at the end of Giltspur Street, they
heard in what direction the prisoners had gone, and they did not lose a
moment in dashing after them, calling out as they went--
"Fifty pounds reward for two prisoners escaped from Newgate! Fifty
pounds reward for them!"
These words summoned up many an idler who was trying to dream away the
night in the pens of Smithfield, and the officers soon got together a
rabble host for the pursuit of Todd and his villanous companion.
But these officers with their fifty pounds reward were rather late in
the field. It was the few persons who first heard the rattle and the
outcries of the watchman, who were close upon the heels of the men, and
they kept them well in sight right across Smithfield and so on towards
Barbican. Todd heard the shouts of the pursuers, but he did not look
back, for fear of losing time by so doing; and the fact was, that Mr.
Lupin was so fleet of foot that it required all the exertion of Todd to
keep up with him at all. Upon any less exciting occasion it is extremely
doubtful if Todd could have kept up such a race; but as it was, he
seemed to lose his wind, and then in some mysterious way to get on
without any at all. Mr. Lupin crossed Aldersgate Street, and dashed down
Barbican. He then turned down the first opening he came to on the right,
and he did so, not because he was making for any known place of safety,
but because he knew that a labyrinth of small streets were thereabouts,
amid the intricacies of which he hoped to baffle his pursuers; and it
was certainly under the circumstances very good policy in him to take
the course he did.
From the moment of so abruptly turning out of Barbican, they were both
out of sight of their pursuers, who had been able to keep them steadily
in view up to this; but although that was the case, they were not
without their perils, for a watchman met them both and aimed a blow at
Lupin's legs with his stick, crying in an Irish brogue--
"Stop that, my beauty--Stop that any way!"
Lupin sprang upon him like an enraged tiger, and turning the stick from
his hands, he laid him flat with one blow of it and on he rushed,
carrying it with him as a defence against the attack of any one else.
They now turned a corner and met a string of half-drunken gents of the
period, arm-in-arm, and occupying the whole breadth of the pavement.
Lupin avoided them by swerving into the road-way, but they caught hold
of Todd, crying--
"Here's the devil. Let's make him an offer for his tail!"
Certainly, Sweeney Todd was not at that moment disposed for trifling,
and he laid about him with his immense fists in such style that the
gents were all rolling in the kennel in a moment or two; and then,
however, before Todd could again reach Mr. Lupin so closely as he had
been, he heard a loud shout of--
"There's one of them. Come on!--Come on!"
That was no drunken shout, and Todd immediately felt that the danger was
imminent. He rushed on at increased speed, and just got up to Lupin at
the corner. They turned it together, and then Todd managed to say--
"They come--they come!"
"Officers?" said Lupin.
"Yes, I think so. On--on. Oh, push on!"
"This way."
Lupin crossed the road, and sprung down a narrow court; but even as he
did so, came that voice, crying--
"There they go. Stop them--stop them! There they go! Fifty pounds
reward!"
A frightful oath burst from Todd's lips, as he emerged from the court
still close upon the heels of Lupin. They were now in a tolerably wide
street, and they saw but one individual in it, and he was evidently, by
the curious manner in which he sometimes favoured the curb-stone by
walking upon it for a few paces, and then lumbered up against the house,
just a little gone in intoxication.
This individual, after some fumbling in his pocket, produced a latch
key, and having staggered up the steps of a house, he made some
ineffectual attempts to open the door.
"Hold!" said Todd to Lupin. "Anything is better than this race for life.
We can hide in the passage of that house until the pursuit is past.
Come."
"A good thought," said Lupin.
By this time the inebriated individual had succeeded in opening the
street-door with his latch-key, and he was so elated at having performed
the feat, that he stopped to laugh before he entered the house. The
moment, however, that he did get into the passage, Todd sprung up the
steps, and very adroitly placed his foot against the door, so that when
the person from within slammed it as he thought shut, it was a good two
inches off that condition. It was then amusing to hear him, with drunken
gravity and precision, as he thought, shooting the bolts into their
sockets, after which, often tumbling on his way, he went along the
passage, and up stairs.
Todd opened the door.
"Come," he said.
"All's right," said Lupin.
"Stop thief! Stop thief!" cried a chorus of voices at the corner of the
street.
"Indeed," said Lupin, "The Lord be good to you all."
He stepped into the house after Todd, and very quietly closed the door.
The passage was profoundly dark, and there they both stood, those two
convicted murderers, listening to what was taking place outside their
place of refuge. They heard the sounds of several voices, and it was
quite evident that just about that spot the pursuers were baffled, and
did not know now which course to take after the fugitives, who were so
snugly ensconced so near them.
CHAPTER CXXXVI.
TODD AND LUPIN ESCAPE TO CAEN WOOD.
"What's to be done?" said a voice.
"I'll be hanged if I know," said another, "and yet I feel sure that they
came this way. I thought how it would be when they took to all these
streets. Lord bless you, we might have passed them in some doorway easy
enough--a dozen times."
"So we might," said the other voice. "All we can do now, is to go round
to the different outlets of the city, and give an alarm."
"Well, I won't give it up yet," said a third person; "I feel quite sure
they are lingering somewhere about here, and I'll be on the watch yet
for a time, and hunt about quietly. You be off and give the notice to
the watch, and leave Johnson and I to do what we can."
"Very good--I wish you luck."
There was a scuffle of feet, and it was quite clear that some of the men
had gone off at a quick pace, leaving, no doubt, the two only in the
street.
"Well," whispered Lupin. "Well, my friend, what do you think of all
this?"
"I don't know what to think," said Todd. "I'm very tired."
"Ah, and so am I, but that can't be helped. I ain't used to such a run
as we have had. But it won't do us any harm. If we can get off, it will
be a world's wonder, I can tell you. It ain't now every day that a
fellow gives Newgate the go-by."
"No--no, and I must say that I did not myself expect it. But I was
prepared to cheat the hangman."
"Pho! That's a poor-enough look out."
"Yes, but it's a something. She did it."
"She? Who the deuce is she?"
"Mrs. Lovett."
"Oh, I recollect. I have heard of her--I have heard of her. She was the
nice creature who lived in Bell Yard, wasn't she, and accommodated the
folks with pies?"
"Yes," said Todd, and if Lupin had seen the horrible contortion of
visage with which he accompanied the word, even he, with all his nerve
in such matters, might well have been excused for a sudden accession of
terror. "Well," added Todd, after a pause, "you are a man of judgment
Mr. Lupin, and all I want to know now, is what you mean to do?"
"Get away from here as soon as possible. But it won't be quite safe to
try it yet. This house is very quiet, and no doubt everybody is in bed
and asleep, so I shall get a light and look about a little. It would be
quite a providential thing to find something to eat."
"Yes, and to drink," said Todd.
"Just so. I would give something handsome now, if I had it, for a good
glass of brandy. That run has made me first hot and then shivery all
over; but who knows what luck may be in store for us? Come now--here's a
light, and we shall soon, by the help of providence, see what sort of a
crib we have got into."
It was lucky for them both that Lupin had retained about him the means
of getting a light, for if he had not, they would have been left to
conjectures merely regarding their position. He ignited one of the
little pieces of wax-ends, and when the small flame rose and began to
burn steadily, he held up the piece of candle, so they both looked
curiously about them.
The hall of the house in which they were was well got up. A handsome
table and some old carved chairs were in it, with some crests upon the
backs, and upon numerous pegs hung hats, cloaks, and coats.
"Humph," said Lupin, "this is the very place for us, I shall take the
great liberty of making free with some gentleman's coat and hat, and I
think you had better do the same."
Todd at once practically acquiesced in the suggestion, by slipping on a