TODD GETS THE BETTER OF THE SHARPERS, AND TAKES A BOAT.
The girl brought Todd a plate of roast-beef, a loaf, and some brandy,
with which he regaled himself tolerably well; but he was uncomfortably
conscious that the two men were looking at him all the while.
"Gentlemen," he said, "it's a very odd thing, but my appetite continues
good notwithstanding all my infirmities. I eat well, and I drink well,
and the doctors say that that is what keeps me alive."
"I should not wonder," said one of the men drily.
"Yes," said the other, with a laugh, "you are like us, old gentleman; we
live by victuals and drink."
"Ah, I didn't mean that," said Todd; "you young people are so fond of
your jokes. Dear me, when I was young I used to be fond of my joke,
likewise, but now I am so old, that what with my winter cough, and the
gout, and all that sort of thing, my joking days are long since gone by.
I lost my poor wife, too, a little while ago--bless her heart! Ah, me!"
Todd had the greatest inclination in the world to make up one of his old
diabolical faces at this juncture; but he restrained himself, for he
felt the danger of doing so; and then affecting to wipe away a tear, he
added--
"But I find my consolation in religion. There's where, gentlemen, an old
man may look for comfort, and that strength of heart and soul, which in
this world is denied to him."
"Very true, sir--very true."
"Ah, gentlemen, it is true; and there's nothing in all the world like an
easy conscience. That's the sort of thing to make a man feel serene and
happy in this world, while he is preparing for the joys of the next."
"How delightful it is, sir," said one of the men, "for us to meet with a
gentleman who has the same opinion as ourselves. Will you join us in a
glass, sir, if you please?"
"Oh, yes--yes, with pleasure. What a shocking bad fire, they tell me,
has been in Fleet Street."
"Yes, it's the notorious Todd's house."
"In--deed!"
The man who had proposed the social glass rang the bell, and ordered
three tumblers of brandy-and-water, and then he said--
"Ah, sir! if you or I could only lay hold of Sweeney Todd it would be
rather a good day's work."
"Oh, dear, God forbid!" said Todd. "He would soon lay me low if I were
to try to lay hold of him, with, as I may say in a manner of speaking,
one foot in the grave. I am not, in the natural order of things, long
for this world, gentlemen, and it is not for me to lay hold of desperate
characters."
"That's true, sir; but do you know the reward that is offered for him by
the Secretary of State?"
"No! Is there really a reward for him?"
"Yes, a thousand pounds clear to any one who will lodge him in any jail.
A thousand pounds! Why, it makes a man's mouth water to think of it. One
might retire, Bill, mightn't one, and give up all sorts of--"
Bill gave his enthusiastic comrade rather a severe cautionary kick under
the table, and it seemed to have the effect of stopping the word
'thieving' from coming past his lips quite at unawares--at least that
was the way Todd translated it. He had not the smallest doubt but that
the public-house was a very indifferent one, and that the two men whom
he was in company with in it were two of the most arrant thieves in all
London.
Todd resolved to act accordingly, and he did not let them see that he
had the least suspicion of them; but he kept such a wary eye upon their
movements, that nothing they did or looked escaped him. They little
supposed that so keen an observer watched them as Sweeney Todd was.
The brandy-and-water that had been ordered soon made its appearance; and
Todd, while perpetrating a very well-acted fit of coughing, saw one of
the men just slightly wink at the other, and take a little way from his
waistcoat pocket a small bottle.
"Oh!" thought Todd, "my brandy-and-water will be prepared, I see; and if
I do not look sharp, these fellows will rob me of all that I have run so
much risk, and took so much trouble to get out of the old house."
After a moment's thought, he rose and said--
"I will only go and pay for what I have had at the bar, and you must
permit me likewise to pay for this."
"Oh, no--no!"
"Oh, yes, but I will--I will! I dare say that I have the most money,
after all, for I have been very careful in my time, and saved a trifle,
so you must permit me."
The two thieves were so delighted at getting rid of him for a few
moments, that although they declared it was too bad, they let him go.
The moment he was gone, one said to the other, with a grin--
"Bill, put a good dose into the old chap's glass. He has got a rare gold
watch in his pocket, and there's a ring on his finger, that if it isn't
a diamond, it's as near like one as ever I heard of. Give him a good
dose."
"Well, but you know that even a few drops will settle him?"
"Never mind that. It's all right enough; pour it in."
They put enough of some deadly drug into the glass of brandy-and water
that stood next to where Todd had been sitting to kill a horse; and then
he returned and sat down with a groan, as he said--
"It's quite a funny thing! There's a man at the bar inquiring for
somebody; and he's got a red waistcoat on."
"A red waistcoat!" cried both the the thieves, jumping up. "Did you say
a red waistcoat?"
"Why, yes; and I think he is what they call a Bow Street thingamy--Lord
bless my old brain! what do they call them--"
"A runner?"
"Ah, to be sure, a Bow Street runner, to be sure."
Both the thieves bundled out of the parlour in a moment, and Todd was
not idle while they were gone. The first thing he did was to decant his
own brandy-and-water--which had been drugged--into an empty glass. Then
he filled his glass with the contents of one of the thieves' glasses.
After that, he half filled that glass with the drugged spirit, and
filled it up from the other thief's glass, and that again he filled up
with the drugged spirit.
By this means, each of them had half from the glass they had--as they
thought--so very cleverly drugged for him, to drink from; and as they
had not scrupled to put in an over dose, it may be fairly presumed that
there was in each of their glasses quite enough to make them very
uncomfortable.
They both returned.
"There's nobody there now," said one. "Are you sure you saw him, sir? We
can't see any one."
"Didn't I tell you he was going away when I saw him? It was only the
latch of the door catching his top-coat that made me see his red
waistcoat; and it was a wonder then that I saw it, for I am not very
noticeable in those things. Oh, dear, how bad my cough is."
"Take some of your brandy-and-water, sir," said one of the thieves, as
he winked at the other. "It will do you good, sir."
"Not a doubt of it," said the other.
"Do you think so? Well--well, perhaps it may. Here's my friendship to
both of you, gentlemen; and I hope we shall none of us repent of this
happy meeting. I am much pleased, gentlemen, to see you both, and hope
the brandy-and-water will do us all a world of good. I will give you a
toast, gentlemen."
"Ah, a toast!--a toast!"
"But mind gentlemen, you must take a good draught, if you drink my
toast--Will you?"
"Will we? Ay, to be sure, if you will."
"I promise, gentlemen; so here's the toast--It's to the very cunning fox
who laid a trap for another, and caught his own tail in it!"
"What a droll toast!" said the two thieves. They paused a moment, but as
they saw their new friend drink at least one-half of his
brandy-and-water in honour of the toast, they did the same thing, and
looked at each other quite contented and pleased as possible that the
drugged spirit, at the very first pull, had been so freely partaken
of--for they had found, by experience, the victims they would have made
perceived a disagreeable taste, and would not drink twice.
"Hilloa!" said Todd.
"What's the matter, old gentleman?"
"Do you know, this is very good brandy-and-water?"
"Glad you like it."
"Like it?--I couldn't be off liking it. It's capital! Let's finish these
glasses, and have others at once."
As he spoke he finished his glass, and the two thieves were so delighted
that he had taken it all, that they at once finished theirs likewise;
and then they looked at him, and then at each other, until one said to
the other, as he made a wry face--
"I say, Bill, I--I don't much like my glass. How did yours taste, eh,
old fellow?"
"Very queer."
"How strange," said Todd; "mine was beautiful! I hope, gentlemen, you
have not made a mistake and put anything out of the way in your own
glasses instead of mine?"
"Oh, dear. Oh--oh! I am going, Bill."
"And so am I. Oh, murder! My head is going round and round like a
humming-top as big as St. Paul's."
"And so is mine."
"Then, gentlemen," said Todd, rising, "I shall have the pleasure of
bidding you good day, and I hope you have just sense enough left to
appreciate the toast of the 'cunning fox that laid a trap for another,
in which he caught his own tail,' and I have the further pleasure of
informing you that I am Sweeney Todd."
The two thieves, quite overcome by the powerful and death-dealing
narcotic they had placed in the liquor, fell to the floor in a state of
perfect insensibility, and Todd very calmly walked out of the
public-house.
[Illustration: Todd Turns The Tables On The Two Sharpers, And Escapes.]
"This will not do," he said, when he reached the west-end of Holywell
Street. "I must not run such risks as this. I must now be off. But where
to? That is the question. Out of London, of course. The river, I
think--ay, the river. That will be the best. I will house myself until
night, and then I will hire a boat and go to Gravesend. From there I
shall not find much difficulty in getting on board some foreign vessel,
and with what I have in my pockets I will bid adieu to England for a
little while, until I can sell my watches and jewels, and then I will
come back and have my revenge yet upon those whom I only live now to
destroy."
Full of these thoughts, Todd went down one of the narrow streets leading
to the Thames, and as he saw a bill in a window of lodgings to let, he
thought he should be safer there than in a house of public
entertainment. He resolved upon taking a lodging for a week at any cost,
and then leaving it in the evening after he should have had some rest at
it, which he might do for the remainder of the day, provided the people
would take him in, which he had very little doubt of them doing, as he
did not intend to object to their terms, and he did intend to pay in
advance.
Todd knocked at the door.
It was answered by a woman of the true landlady species, who, upon
hearing that it was the lodging Todd was after, was all smiles and
sweetness immediately.
"I have come up from the country, madam," said Todd, "and my luggage is
at an inn in Gracechurch Street. I intend to send for it in the morning;
and as I am weary, if you can accommodate me with a lodging, as I have
some business to transact for my son, the Deacon, in London, I shall be
much obliged."
"Oh, dear, yes sir; walk in. We have every accommodation. The
drawing-room floor, sir, at three guineas and a few extras."
"That will just do," said Todd. "Will you be so good as to show me the
rooms, madam?"
Todd saw the rooms, and of course admired them very much; and then he
said, in the blandest manner--
"I think the rooms very cheap, madam, and will take them at once, if you
please. The reference I will give you, is to the Principal of Magdalen
College, Oxford, the Reverend Peter Sly, madam. My own name is Bones,
and my son is the Reverend Archdeacon Bones. I will pay you now a week
in advance; and all I have to beg of you is, that you do yourself
justice as to charges. I will lie down and rest for a few hours, if you
please, madam."
"Oh, dear, sir! yes, certainly, Mr. Bones. There shall be no noise to
disturb you, and anything you want, if you will be so good as to ring
for, I will supply you with the greatest pleasure."
"Thank you, madam."
Thus then was it that Todd secured himself what appeared to be a
wonderfully safe asylum until night. He got into the bed with all his
clothes on; for he did not know how sudden the emergency might be that
might induce him to rise; and he soon fell into a deep sleep, for he had
undergone the greatest fatigues of late.