it was quite a provoking thing, and gall and wormwood to todd in a manner of speaking, to see those two boisterous men enjoying themselves in his parlour. there could be no doubt in the world, but that if he had had the means then and there to do so, he would have hurled destruction upon them both forthwith; but he could only look at them now, and wait for a better opportunity.
the fact was, that now, for the first time, todd found that the architecture of his old place of residence was far from being of the most convenient order; inasmuch as you could not reach the staircase leading to the upper part of the residence, without going through the parlour; so that he was a prisoner in the shop.
"i tell you what it is, bill," said one of the men, assuming quite a philosophical look. "that fellow, todd, as used to live here, after all, was some use to society."
"was he?"
"yes, to be sure. can't you guess?"
"not i. i can't see what use a fellow can be to society who cuts folks' throats."
"can't you?"
"no, nor you neither, if you come to that."
"yes i can. don't it make folks careful of going into a strange barber's shop, let me ask you that?"
"oh, you idiot. that's always the way with you. you begins with looking as wise as an owl as has found out something wonderful, and then when one comes to find out what it is, it's just nothing at all to nobody. i tell you what it is, old fellow, it strikes me you are getting a drop too much."
"no—no; but i have got something on my mind."
"it stands on a very small place, then. what is it?"
"just you listen and i'll tell you. i did think of not saying anything about it, because you see i thought, that is to say, i was afraid if i did, you would go off at once."
"off? off?"
"i don't mean dead—i mean out of this place, that's all, not out of this world; but now i feel as if i ought to tell you all about it, you know, and then you can judge for yourself. you know you slept here last night on that large sofa in the corner?"
"yes, in course."
"very good; you had had what one may call just the other drop you know, and so—"
"no i hadn't, but you had. i recollect quite well you dropped your light, and had no end of trouble to get it lighted again, and kept knocking your head against the mantel-shelf and saying 'don't' as if somebody was doing it to you."
"go along with you. will you listen, or won't you, while i tell the horrid anecdote?"
"horrid, is it?"
"above a bit. it's enough to make all your hair stand on end, like quills on a guinea hen, as the man says in the play; and i expect you'll dream of it all night; so here goes, and don't you interrupt me any more, now."
"go on. i won't."
"well, you know we had a pretty good fire here, as we have now; and as twelve o'clock went ding-dong by old st. dunstan's, we thought it was time to have some sleep, and you lay down on the sofa, saying as you could see by the fire light, while i took the candle to go up stairs to bed with, you know—old todd's bed, i suppose it is, on the second-floor, and rather damp and thin, you know."
"goodness, gracious! tell me something i don't know, will you? do you want to drive a fellow out of his mind?"
"well—well, don't be hasty! i'm getting on. i took the light, and shading it with one hand, for there's always a furious draught upon the stairs of this house; up i went, thinking of nothing at all. well, in course, i had to pass the first-floor, which is shut up, you know, and has all sorts of things in it."
"yes; go on—go on!"
"is it interesting?"
"it is; only you go on. i'll warrant now it's a ghost you are coming to."
"no, it ain't; but don't percipitate, and you shall hear all about it. let me see, where was i?—oh, on the first-floor landing: but, as i say, i was thinking of nothing at all, when, all of a sudden, i heard a very odd kind of noise in the front room of the first-floor."
"i wonder you didn't fall headlong down stairs with fright, candle and all."
"no, i didn't. it sounded like the murmur of people talking a long way off. then i began to think it must be in the next house; and i thought of going up to bed, and paying no attention to it, and i did get up two or three steps of the second-floor stairs, but still i heard it; and it got such a hold of my mind, do you know, that i couldn't leave it, but down i went again, and listened. i thought of coming to you; but, somehow, i didn't do so."
"now, go on!"
"well, after listening with my ear against the door for some time, i was certain that the sound was in the room; and i don't know how i screwed up courage enough to open the door very gently, and look in!"
"you did?"
"i did; and the very moment i did so, out went the light as clean as if you had taken your fingers and snuffed it out; but in the room there was a strange pale kind of light, that wasn't exactly like twilight, nor like moonlight, nor like any light that i ever saw, but you could see everything by it as plain as possible."
"well—well?"
"the room was crammed full of people, all dressed, and looking at each other; and some of them were speaking; and upon all their clothes and faces there was blood, sometimes more, and sometimes less; and all their eyes looked like the eyes of the dead; and then one voice more loud than the rest said—'all murdered!—all murdered by todd! the lord have mercy upon his soul!'"
"oh, gracious! what did you do?"
"i felt as if my breath was going from me, and my heart kept swelling and swelling till i thought it would burst, and then i dropped the candle; and the next time i come to my senses, i found myself lying on the bed in the second floor, with all my clothes on!"
"you dreamt it?"
"oh, no—no. it's no use telling me that. i only wish i thought so, that's all."
"but, i tell you, you did."
"you may tell me as much as you like; but in the morning when i came down, there was the candle on the first-floor landing, just as i had dropped it. what do you think of that? of course, after i drew out my head again from the first-floor front room i must have gone up stairs in the middle of my fright, and i dare say i fainted away, and didn't come to myself again till the morning."
"oh, stuff! don't try to make me believe in your ghost stories. if—if i thought it was true, i should bolt out of the house this minute."
"you would, really?"
"yes, to be sure; is a fellow to stay in a place with his hair continually standing on end, i should like to know? hardly. but it's all stuff. take another drop of brandy! now i tell you what, if you have the courage to go with me, i will take the light now and go up to the first-floor, and have a good look all about it! what do you say to that, now? will you do it?"
"i don't much mind."
"only say the word, and i am quite ready."
"well, i will. if so be they are there, they won't do us any harm, for they took no more notice of me than as if i had been nothing at all. but how you do shake!"
"i shake? you never were more mistaken in all your life. it's you that's shaking, and that makes you think i am. you are shaking, if you please; and if you don't like the job of going up stairs, only say so; i won't press it upon you!"
"oh, i'll go."
"you are sure of it, now? you don't think it will make you ill? because i shouldn't like that. come now, only say at once that you would rather not go, and there's an end to it."
"yes, but i rather would."
"come on, then—come on. courage, my friend, courage. look at me, and be courageous. you don't see me shivering and shaking and shrinking. keep up your heart, and come on!"
"you wretches," muttered todd. "it shall go hard with me, now, but i will play you some trick that shall go right to drive you out of your shallow wits. go! it is the very thing i would, of all others, have wished you to do."
it was quite clear that the man who had proposed going up stairs to explore the first-floor, was much the more alarmed of the two; and now that he had made the proposal, he would gladly have seized upon any excuse for backing out of it, short of actually confessing that his fears had got the better of him. no doubt he had been greatly in hopes that his companion, who had told the ghost story, would have shrunk from such an ordeal; but as he did not do so, there was no resource but to carry it out or confess that it was but a piece of braggadocio, which he wanted the firmness to carry out. he strove now to talk himself out of his fears.
"come on—come on! ghosts, indeed! there are no such things, of course, as any reasonable man knows; and if there are, why, what harm can they do us? i say, what harm can they do us?"
"i don't know!"
"you don't know? no, nor nobody else! come on, i say. of course providence is providence, and if there are ghosts, i respect them very much—very much indeed, and would do anything in the world to oblige them!"
the valiant proposer of the experimental trip to the first floor uttered these last sentences in a loud voice, no doubt with the hope that if any of the ghostly company of the first-floor were within hearing, they would be so good as to report the same to their friends, so that he might make his way there with quite a good understanding.
they trimmed the candle now; and having each of them fortified himself with a glass of brandy that todd had laid in for his own consumption, they commenced their exploit by leaving the parlour and slowly ascending the staircase that led to the upper portion of the house.
of course, todd knew well the capabilities of that house, and long before the two men had actually left the parlour he had made up his mind what to do. the door of communication between the shop and the parlour was not fastened, so that he could on open at the moment; and when the men left that latter room he at once entered it. todd's first movement, then, was to supply himself with a good dose of his own brandy, which he took direct from the bottle to save time.
"ah!" he whispered, drawing a long breath after the draught, "i feel myself again, now!"
in order to carry out his plan, he knew that he had no time to spare; for he did not doubt but that the two men would make their visit as short as possible to the first-floor; so—with cautious but rapid footsteps—he slipped into the passage and at once commenced the ascent of the staircase after them. the light they carried guided him very well. how little they imagined that any of its beams shone upon the diabolical face of sweeney todd!
"can't you come on?" said one of the men to the other. "damme, how you do lag behind, to be sure. any one would think you were afraid."
"afraid? me afraid! that is a good joke."
"well, come quicker, then."
"you will both of you," thought todd, "come down a little quicker, or i am very much mistaken indeed."
the distance was short, and the landing of the first floor was soon gained by the men. he who had seen, or dreamed that he had seen, the strange sight in the room upon a former occasion, was decidedly the most courageous of the two. perhaps, after all, he was the least imaginative.
"i think you said it was the front room?" said the other.
"oh, yes, i heard not a sound in the back one. here's the door. you hold the light while i listen a little."
"yes—i—i'll hold it. keep up your courage, and don't shake now. oh, what a coward you are!"
"well, that's a good one. you are shaking so yourself that you will have the light out, if you don't mind. do try and be a little steady with it; and your teeth chatter so in your head, that they are for all the world like a set of castanets."
"oh, how you do talk. come, listen at the door; i must say i don't hear anything; but i have the greatest respect for ghosts, i have. i never say one word against the dead—god bless 'em all!"
while this man held the light—or rather waved it to and fro in his agitation—the other, with his ear placed flat against the panel of the door, listened attentively. all was perfectly still in the first-floor, and he said—
"perhaps they haven't begun yet, you know."
"perhaps not;—shall we go away, now?"
"oh, no—no. there's no end of curious things in the room; and now that we are here, let's go in, at all events, and have a little look about us. don't be afraid. come—come."
"oh—i—i ain't exactly afraid, only, you see, i don't see much the use of going in, and—and, you know, we have already heard an odd noise in the shop, to-night."
"but that was nothing, for i looked, you know."
"yes—yes,—but—but i'm afraid the fire will go out below, do you know."
"let it go, then. if you are too much of a coward to come with me into this room, say so at once, and you can go down stairs while i have a look at it by myself. you can't have the candle, though, for it is no use my going in by myself."
"what! do you expect me to go in the dark? oh dear, no, i could not do that; open the door, and i will follow you in; i ain't a bit afraid, only, you see, i feel very much interested, that's all."
"oh, well, that's quite another thing."
with this, the most courageous of the two men opened the door of the front room on the first-floor, and peeped into it.
"all's right," he said. "there ain't so much as a mouse stirring. come on!"
highly encouraged by this announcement, the other followed him; and they allowed the door to creak nearly shut after them.
while this hesitation upon the stairs was going on, todd had been about half way up from the passage, crouching down for fear they should by chance look that way, and see him; but when he found that they had fairly gone into the front room, he made as much speed to the top of the stairs as was consistent with extreme caution, and laying his hand upon the handle of the lock of the door of the back room on that floor, he noiselessly turned it, and the door at once yielding, he glided in.
the two rooms communicated with each other by a pair of folding-doors, and the light that the men carried sent some beams through the ill-fitting junction of the two, so that todd could see very well about him.
