The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance.
"As I spoke I jumped out, and got two glasses of brandy and water, hot,
strong, and sweet, I had in about two minutes made, out of the house.
"'Here,' said I, 'drink--drink it all up--it will make your eyes start
out of your head.'
"I spoke the truth, for what with my recommendations, and his
nervousness and haste, he drank nearly half of it at a gulp.
"I shall never forget his countenance. Ha! ha! ha! I can't keep my mirth
to myself. Just imagine the girl inside a covered cart, all dark, so
dark that you could hardly see the outline of the shadow of a man, and
then imagine, if you can, a pair of keen eyes, that shone in the dark
like cat's eyes, suddenly give out a flash of light, and then turn round
in their sockets, showing the whites awfully, and then listen to the
fall of the glass, and see him grasp his throat with one hand, and
thrust the other hand into his stomach. There was a queer kind of voice
came from his throat, and then something like a curse and a groan
escaped him.
"'Damn it,' said I, 'what is the matter now?--you've upset all the
liquor--you are very nervous--you had better have another dose.'
"'No more--no more,' he said faintly and huskily, 'no more--for God's
sake no more. I am almost choked--my throat is scalded, and my entrails
on fire!'
"'I told you it was hot,' said I.
"'Yes, hot, boiling hot--go on. I'm mad with pain--push on.'
"'Will you have any water, or anything to cool your throat?' said I.
"'No, no--go on.'
"'Yes,' said I, 'but the brandy and water is hot; however, it's going
down very fast now--very fast indeed, here is the last mouthful;' and as
I said so, I gulped it down, returned with the one glass, and then paid
for the damage.
"This did not occupy five minutes, and away we came along the road at a
devil of a pace, and we were all right enough; my friend behind me got
over his scald, though he had a very sore gullet, and his intestines
were in a very uncomfortable state; but he was better. Away we rattled,
the ground rattling to the horse's hoofs and the wheels of the vehicle,
the young girl still remaining in the same state of insensibility in
which she had first been brought out. No doubt she had taken a stronger
dose of the opium than she was willing to admit. That was nothing to me,
but made it all the better, because she gave the less trouble, and made
it safer. We got here easy enough, drove slap up to the door, which was
opened in an instant, jumped out, took the girl, and carried her in.
When once these doors are shut upon any one, they may rest assured that
it is quite a settled thing, and they don't get out very easy, save in a
wooden surtout; indeed, I never lost a boarder by any other means; we
always keep one connection, and they are usually so well satisfied, that
they never take any one away from us. Well, well! I carried her indoors,
and left her in a room by herself on a bed. She was a nice girl--a
handsome girl, I suppose people would call her, and had a low, sweet,
and plaintive voice. But enough of this.
"'She's all right,' said I, when I returned to this room, 'It's all
right--I have left her.'
"'She isn't dead,' he inquired, with much terror.
"'Oh! no, no! she is only asleep, and has not woke up yet from the
effects of the laudanum. Will you now give me one year's pay in
advance?'
"'Yes,' he replied, as he handed the money, and the remainder of the
bonds. 'Now, how am I to do about getting back to London to-night?'
"'You had better remain here.'
"'Oh, no! I should go mad too, if I were to remain here; I must leave
here soon.'
"'Well, will you go to the village inn?'
"'How far is that off?'
"'About a mile--you'll reach it easy enough; I'll drive you over for the
matter of that, and leave you there. I shall take the cart there.'
"'Very well, let it be so; I will go. Well, well, I am glad it is all
over, and the sooner it is over for ever, the better. I am truly sorry
for her, but it cannot be helped. It will kill her, I have no doubt; but
that is all the better: she will escape the misery consequent upon her
departure, and release us from a weight of care.'
"'So it will,' said I 'but come, we must go at once, if going you are.'
"'Yes, yes,' he said hurriedly.
"'Well then, come along; the horse is not yet unharnessed, and if we do
not make haste, we shall be too late to obtain a lodging for the night.'
"'That is very good,' he said, somewhat wildly: 'I am quite
ready--quite.'
"We left the house, and trotted off to the inn at a good rate, where we
arrived in about ten minutes or less, and then I put up the horse, and
saw him to the inn, and came back as quick as I could on foot. 'Well,
well,' I thought, 'this will do, I have had a good day of it--paid well
for business, and haven't wanted for sport on the road.'
"Well, I came to the conclusion that if the whole affair was to speedily
end, it would be more in my pocket than if she were living, and she
would be far happier in heaven than here, Mr. Todd."
"Undoubtedly," said Mr. Sweeney Todd, "undoubtedly, that is a very just
observation of yours."
"Well, then, I set to work to find out how the matter could be managed,
and I watched her until she awoke. She looked around her, and seemed
much surprised and confused, and did not seem to understand her
position, while I remained at hand."
"She sighed deeply, and put her hand to her head, and appeared for a
time to be quite unable to comprehend what had happened to her, or where
she was. I sent some tea to her, as I was not prepared to execute my
purpose, and she seemed to recover, and asked some questions, but my man
was dumb for the occasion, and would not speak, and the result was, she
was very much frightened. I left her so for a week or two, and then, one
day, I went into her cell. She had greatly altered in her appearance,
and looked very pale.
"'Well,' said I, 'how do you find yourself, now?'
"She looked up into my face, and shuddered; but she said in a calm
voice, looking round her--
"'Where am I?'
"'You are here!' said I, 'and you'll be very comfortable if you only
take on kindly, but you will have a strait waistcoat put on you if you
do not.'
"'Good God!' she exclaimed, clasping her hands, 'have they put me
here--in--in--'
"She could not finish the sentence, and I supplied the word which she
did not utter, and then she screamed loudly--
"'Come,' said I, 'this will never do; you must learn to be quiet, or
you'll have fearful consequences.'
"'Oh mercy, mercy! I will do no wrong! What have I done that I should be
brought here?--what have I done? They may take all I have if they will
let me live in freedom. I care not where or how poor I may be. Oh,
Henry! Henry!--if you knew where I was, would you not fly to my rescue?
Yes, you would, you would!'
"'Ah,' said I, 'there is no Henry here, and you must be content to do
without one.'
"'I could not have believed that my brother would have acted such a base
part. I did not think him wicked, although I knew him to be selfish,
mean, and stern, yet I did not think he intended such wickedness; but he
thinks to rob me of all my property; yes, that is the object he has in
sending me here.'
"'No doubt,' said I.
"'Shall I ever get out?' she inquired, in a pitiful tone; 'do not say my
life is to be spent here!'
"'Indeed it is,' said I; 'while he lives, you will never leave these
walls.'
"'He shall not attain his end, for I have deeds about me that he will
never be able to obtain; indeed, he may kill me, but he cannot benefit
by my death.'
"'Well,' said I, 'it serves him right. And how did you manage that
matter? how did you contrive to get the deeds away?'
"'Never mind that; it is a small deed, and I have secured it. I did not
think he would have done this thing; but he may yet relent. Will you aid
me? I shall be rich, and can pay you well.'
"'But your brother,' said I.
"'Oh, he is rich without mine, but he is over-avaricious; but say you
will help me--only help me to get out, and you shall be no loser by the
affair.'
"'Very well,' said I. 'Will you give me this deed as a security that you
will keep your word?'
"'Yes,' she replied, drawing forth the deed--a small parchment--from her
bosom. 'Take it; and now let me out. You shall be handsomely rewarded.'
"'Ah!' said I; 'but you must allow me first to settle this matter with
my employers. You must really be mad. We do not hear of young ladies
carrying deeds and parchments about them when they are in their senses.'
"'You do not mean to betray me?' she said, springing up wildly and
rushing towards the deed, which I carefully placed in my breast
coat-pocket.
"'Oh dear no! but I shall retain the deed, and speak to your brother
about this matter.'
"'My God! my God!' she exclaimed, and then she sank back on her bed, and
in another moment she was covered with blood. She had burst a
blood-vessel. I sent for a surgeon and physician, and they both gave it
as their opinion that she could not be saved, and that a few hours would
see the last of her. This was the fact. She was dead before another half
hour, and then I sent to the authorities for the purpose of burial; and,
producing the certificate of the medical men, I had no difficulty, and
she was buried all comfortably without any trouble.
* * * * *
"'Well,' thought I, 'this is a very comfortable affair; but it will be
more profitable than I had any idea of, and I must get my first reward
first, and if there should be any difficulty, I have the deed to fall
back upon. He came down next day, and appeared with rather a long face.
"'Well,' said he, 'how do matters go on here?'
"'Very well,' said I, 'how is your throat?'
"I thought he cast a malicious look at me, as much as to imply he laid
it all to my charge.
"'Pretty well,' he replied; 'but I was ill for three days. How is the
patient?'
"'As well as you could possibly wish,' said I.
"'She takes it kindly, eh? Well, I hardly expected it--but no matter.
She'll be a long while on hand, I perceive. You haven't tried the
frightening system yet, then?'
"'Hadn't any need,' I replied, putting the certificate of her burial in
his hand, and he jumped as if he had been stung by an adder, and turned
pale; but he soon recovered, and smiled complaisantly as he said--
"'Ah! well, I see you have been diligent, but I should have liked to
have seen her, to have asked her about a missing deed; but no matter.'
"'Now about the two hundred pounds,' said I.
"'Why,' said he, 'I think one will do when you come to consider what you
have received, and the short space of time and all: you had a year's
board in advance.'
"'I know I had; but because I have done more than you expected, and in a
shorter time, instead of giving me more, you have the conscience to
offer me less.'
"'No, no, not the--the--what did you call it?--we'll have nothing said
about that,--but here is a hundred pounds, and you are well paid.'
"'Well,' said I, taking the money, 'I must have five hundred pounds at
any rate, and unless you give it me, I will tell other parties where a
certain deed is to be found.'
"'What deed?'
"'The one you were alluding to. Give me four hundred more, and you shall
have the deeds.'
"After much conversation and trouble he gave it to me, and I gave him
the deed, with which he was well pleased, but looked hard at the money,
and seemed to grieve at it very much.
"Since that time I have heard that he was challenged by his sister's
lover, and they went out to fight a duel, and he fell--and died. The
lover went to the continent, where he has since lived.
"Ah," said Sweeney Todd, "you have had decidedly the best of this
affair: nobody gained anything but you."