The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.
"Yes, sir, certainly."
Sweeney Todd then took the bundles which contained the costly apparel,
and retired into the parlour with them; and, as it was then seven
o'clock, Tobias correctly enough supposed that he had gone to dress
himself, and he waited with a considerable amount of curiosity to see
what sort of an appearance the barber would cut in his fine apparel.
Tobias had not to control his impatience long, for in less than twenty
minutes, out came Sweeney Todd, attired in the very height of fashion
for the period. His waistcoat was something positively gorgeous, and his
fingers were loaded with such costly rings, that they quite dazzled the
sight of Tobias to look upon; then, moreover, he wore a sword with a
jewelled hilt, but it was one which Tobias really thought he had seen
before, for he had a recollection that a gentleman had come to have his
hair dressed, and had taken it off, and laid just such a sword across
his hat during the operation.
"Remember," said Sweeney Todd, "remember your instructions; obey them to
the letter, and no doubt you will ultimately become happy and
independent."
With these words, Sweeney Todd left the place, and poor Tobias looked
after him with a frown, as he repeated the words--
"Happy and independent. Alas! what a mockery it is of this man to speak
to me in such a way--I only wish that I were dead!"
But we will leave Tobias to his own reflections, and follow the more
interesting progress of Sweeney Todd, who, for some reason best known to
himself, was then playing so grand a part, and casting away so large a
sum of money. He made his way to a livery-stables in the immediate
neighbourhood, and there, sure enough, the horses were being placed to a
handsome carriage; and all being very soon in readiness, Sweeney Todd
gave some whispered directions to the driver, and the vehicle started
off westward. At that time Hyde Park Corner was very nearly out of town,
and it looked as if you were getting a glimpse of the country, and
actually seeing something of the peasantry of England, when you got
another couple of miles off, and that was the direction in which Sweeney
Todd went; and as he goes, we may as well introduce to the reader the
sort of individual whom he was going to visit in so much state, and for
whom he thought it necessary to go to such great expense. At that period
the follies and vices of the nobility were somewhere about as great as
they are now, and consequently extravagance induced on many occasions
tremendous sacrifice of money, and it was found extremely convenient on
many occasions for them to apply to a man of the name of John Mundel, an
exceedingly wealthy person, a Dutchman by extraction, who was reported
to make immense sums of money by lending to the nobility and others what
they required on emergencies, at enormous rates of interest. But it must
not be supposed that John Mundel was so confiding as to lend his money
without security. It was quite the reverse, for he took care to have the
jewels, some costly plate, or the title-deeds of an estate, perchance,
as security, before he would part with a single shilling of his cash. In
point of fact, John Mundel was nothing more than a pawnbroker on a very
extensive scale, and, although he had an office in town, he usually
received his more aristocratic customers at his private residence, which
was about two miles off, on the Uxbridge Road. After this explanation,
it can very easily be imagined what was the scheme of Sweeney Todd, and
that he considered, if he borrowed from John Mundel a sum equal in
amount to half the real value of the pearls, he should be well rid of a
property which he certainly could not sufficiently well account for the
possession of, to enable him to dispose of it openly to the highest
bidder. We give Sweeney Todd great credit for the scheme he proposed. It
was eminently calculated to succeed, and one which, in the way he
undertook it, was certainly set about in the best possible style. During
the ride, he revolved in his mind exactly what he should say to John
Mundel, and, from what we know of him, we may be well convinced that
Sweeney Todd was not likely to fail from any amount of bashfulness in
the transaction; but that, on the contrary, he was just the man to
succeed in any scheme which required great assurance to carry it
through; for he was most certainly master of great assurance, and
possessed of a kind of diplomatic skill, which, had fortune placed him
in a more elevated position of life, would no doubt have made a great
man of him, and gained him great political reputation. John Mundel's
villa, which was called, by the by, Mundel House, was a large, handsome,
and modern structure, surrounded by a few acres of pleasure-gardens,
which, however, the money-lender never looked at, for his whole soul was
too much engrossed by his love for cash to enable him to do so; and, if
he derived any satisfaction at all from it, that satisfaction must have
been entirely owing to the fact, that he had wrung mansion, grounds, and
all the costly furnishing of the former, from an improvident debtor, who
had been forced to fly the country, and leave his property wholly in the
hands of the money-lender and usurer. It was but a short drive with the
really handsome horses that Sweeney Todd had succeeded in hiring for the
occasion, and he soon found himself opposite the entrance gates of the
residence of John Mundel. His great object now was that the usurer
should see the equipage which he had brought down; and he accordingly
desired the footman who accompanied him at once to ring the bell at the
entrance-gate, and to say that a gentleman was waiting in his carriage
to see Mr. Mundel. This was done; and when the money-lender's servant
reported to him that the equipage was a costly one, and that, in his
opinion, the visitor must be some nobleman of great rank, John Mundel
made no difficulty about the matter, but walked down to the gate at
once, where he immediately mentally subscribed to the opinion of his
servant, by admitting to himself that the equipage was faultless, and
presumed at once that it did belong to some person of great rank. He was
proportionally humble, as such men always are, and, advancing to the
side of the carriage, he begged to know what commands his lordship--for
so he called him at once--had for him?
"I wish to know," said Sweeney Todd, "Mr. Mundel, if you are inclined to
lay under an obligation a rather illustrious lady, by helping her out of
a little pecuniary difficulty?"
John Mundel glanced again at the equipage, and he likewise saw something
of the rich dress of his visitor, who had not disputed the title which
had been applied to him, of lord; and he made up his mind accordingly
that it was just one of the transactions that would suit him, provided
the security that would be offered was of a tangible nature. That was
the only point upon which John Mundel had the remotest doubt, but, at
all events, he urgently pressed his visitor to alight and walk in.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE GREAT CHANGE IN THE PROSPECTS OF SWEENEY TODD.
As Sweeney Todd's object, so far as regarded the money-lender having
seen the carriage, was fully answered, he had no objection to enter the
house, which he accordingly did at once, being preceded by John Mundel,
who became each moment more and more impressed with the fact, as he
considered it, that his guest was some person of very great rank and
importance in society. He ushered him into a splendidly-furnished
apartment, and after offering him refreshments, which Sweeney Todd
politely declined, he waited with no small degree of impatience for his
visitor to be more explicit with regard to the object of his visit.
"I should," said Sweeney Todd, "have myself accommodated the illustrious
lady with the sum of money she requires, but as I could not do so
without incumbering some estates, she positively forbade me to think of
it."
"Certainly," said Mr. Mundel, "she is a very illustrious lady, I
presume?"
"Very illustrious indeed, but it must be a condition of this
transaction, if you at all enter into it, that you are not to inquire
precisely who she is, nor are you to inquire precisely who I am."
"It's not my usual way of conducting business, but if everything else be
satisfactory, I shall not cavil at that."
"Very good; by everything else being satisfactory, I presume you mean
the security offered?"
"Why, yes, that is of great importance, my lord."
"I informed the illustrious lady, that, as the affair was to be wrapped
up in something of a mystery, the security must be extremely ample."
"That's a very proper view to take of the matter, my lord. I wonder,"
thought John Mundel, "if he is a duke; I'll call him 'your grace' next
time, and see if he objects to it."
"Therefore," continued Sweeney Todd, "the illustrious lady placed in my
hands security to a third greater amount than she required."
"Certainly, certainly, a very proper arrangement, your grace; may I ask
the nature of the proffered security?"
"Jewels."
"Highly satisfactory and unexceptionable security; they go into a small
space, and do not deteriorate in value."
"And if they do," said the barber, "deteriorate in value, it would make
no difference to you, for the illustrious person's honour would be
committed to your redemption."
"I don't doubt that, your grace, in the least; I merely made the remark
incidentally, quite incidentally."
"Of course, of course; and I trust, before going further, that you are
quite in a position to enter into this subject."
"Certainly I am, and, I am proud to say, to any amount. Show me the
money's worth, your grace, and I will show you the money--that's my way
of doing business; and no one can say that John Mundel ever shrunk from
a matter that was brought fairly before him, and that he considered
worth his going into."
"It was by hearing such a character of you that I was induced to come to
you. What do you think of that?"
Sweeney Todd took from his pocket, with a careless air, the string of
pearls, and cast them down before the eyes of the money-lender, who took
them up and ran them rapidly through his fingers for a few seconds
before he said--
"I thought there was but one string like this in the kingdom, and those
belonged to the Queen."
"Well," said Sweeney Todd.
"I humbly beg your grace's pardon. How much money does your grace
require on these pearls?"
"Twelve thousand pounds is their current value, if a sale of them was
enforced; eight thousand pounds are required of you on their security."
"Eight thousand is a large sum. As a general thing I lend but half the
value upon anything; but in this case, to oblige your grace and the
illustrious personage, I do not, of course, hesitate for one moment but
shall for one month lend you the required amount."
"That will do," said Sweeney Todd, scarcely concealing the exultation he
felt at getting so much more from John Mundel than he expected, and
which he certainly would not have got if the money-lender had not been
most fully and completely impressed with the idea that the pearls
belonged to the Queen, and that he had actually at length majesty itself
for a customer. He did not suppose for one moment that it was the queen
who wanted the money; but his view of the case was, that she had lent
the pearls to this nobleman to meet some exigency of his own, and that,
of course, they would be redeemed very shortly. Altogether a more
pleasant transaction for John Mundel could not have been imagined. It
was just the sort of thing he would have looked out for, and had the
greatest satisfaction in bringing to a conclusion, and he considered it