"The villain5!" he cried, "has he dared really to consummate6 an act I thought he could not have dreamt of for a moment? Is it possible that he can have presumed so far as to have searched the house?"
That Tobias, however, had presumed so far, the barber soon discovered, and when he went into his parlour and saw what had actually occurred, and that not only was every cupboard door broken open, but that likewise the door which led to the staircase and the upper part of the house had not escaped, he got perfectly7 furious, and it was some time before he could sufficiently calm himself to reflect upon the probable and possible amount of danger he might run in consequence of these proceedings8. When he did, his active mind at once told him that there was not much to be dreaded9 immediately, for that most probably Tobias, still having the fear before his eyes of what he might do as regarded his mother, had actually run away; and, "in all likelihood," muttered the barber, "he has taken with him something which would allow me to fix upon him the stigma10 of robbery, but that I must see to."
Having fastened the shop-door securely, he took the light in his hands, and ascended11 to the upper part of his house—that is to say, the first floor, where alone anything was to be found. He saw at once the open bureau, with all its glittering display of jewels, and as he gazed upon the heap, he muttered—
"I have not so accurate a knowledge of what is here as to be able to say if anything be extracted or not, but I know the amount of money, if I do not know the precise number of jewels which this bureau contains."
He opened a small drawer which had entirely12 escaped the scrutiny13 of Tobias, and proceeded to count a large number of guineas which were there.
"These are correct," he said, when he had finished his examination—"these are correct, and he has touched none of them."
He then opened another drawer, in which were a great many packets of silver done up in paper, and these likewise he carefully counted, and was satisfied they were right.
"It is strange," he said, "that he has taken nothing, but yet perhaps it is better that it should be so, inasmuch as it shows a wholesome15 fear of me. The slightest examination would have shown him these hoards16 of money; and since he has not made that slight examination, nor discovered any of them, it seems to my mind decisive upon the subject, that he has taken nothing, and perchance I shall discover him easier than I imagine."
Tobias Discovers The Barber's Hidden Plunder.
He repaired to the parlour again, and carefully divested18 himself of everything which had enabled him so successfully to impose upon John Mundel, and replaced them by his ordinary costume, after which he fastened up his house and sallied forth19, taking his way direct to Mrs. Ragg's humble20 home, in the expectation that there he would hear something of Tobias, which would give him a clue where to search for him, for search for him he fully14 intended; but what were his precise intentions perhaps he could hardly have told himself, until he actually found him. When he reached Mrs. Ragg's house, and made his appearance abruptly21 before that lady, who seemed somehow or another to be always ironing and always to drop the iron when any one came in, very near their toes, he said—
"Where did your son Tobias go after he left you to-night?"
"Lor! Mr. Todd, is it you? You are as good as a conjuror22, sir, for he was here; but bless you, sir, I know no more where he is gone to, than the man in the moon. He said he was going to sea, but I am sure I should not have thought it, that I should not."
"To sea!—then the probability is that he would go down to the docks, but surely not to-night. Do you not expect him back here to sleep?"
"Well, sir, that's a very good thought of yours; and he may come back here to sleep, for all I know to the contrary."
"But you do not know it for a fact?"
"He didn't say so; but he may come, you know, sir, for all that."
"Did he tell you his reason for leaving me?"
"Indeed no, sir; he really did not, and he seemed to me to be a little bit out of his senses."
"Ah! Mrs. Ragg," said Sweeney Todd, "there you have it. From the first moment that he came into my service, I knew and felt confident that he was out of his senses. There was a strangeness of behaviour about him, which soon convinced me of that fact, and I am only anxious about him, in order that some effort may be made to cure him of such a malady23, for it is a serious, and a dreadful one, and one which, unless taken in time, will be yet the death of Tobias."
These words were spoken with such solemn seriousness, that they had a wonderful effect upon Mrs. Ragg, who, like most ignorant persons, began immediately to confirm that which she most dreaded.
"Oh, it's too true," she said, "it's too true. He did say some extraordinary things to-night, Mr. Todd, and he said he had something to tell, which was too horrid24 to speak of. Now the idea, you know, Mr. Todd, of anybody having anything at all to tell, and not telling it at once, is quite singular."
"It is!—and I am sure that his conduct is such you never would be guilty of, Mrs. Ragg;—but hark! what's that?"
"It's a knock, Mr. Todd."
"Gracious goodness! it can't be him, for he would have come in at once."
"No; I slipped the bolt of the door, because I wished to talk to you without observation; so it may be Tobias, you perceive, after all. But let me hide somewhere, so that I may hear what he says, and be able to judge how his mind is affected26. I will not hesitate to do something for him, let it cost what it may."
"There's the cupboard, Mr. Todd. To be sure there is some dirty saucepans and a frying-pan in it, and of course it aint a fit place to ask you to go into."
"Never mind that—never mind that; only you be careful, for the sake of Tobias's very life, to keep secret that I am here."
The knocking at the door increased each moment in vehemence27, and scarcely had Sweeney Todd succeeded in getting into the cupboard along with Mrs. Ragg's pots and pans, and thoroughly28 concealed29 himself, when she opened the door; and, sure enough—Tobias, heated, tired, and looking ghastly pale—staggered into the room.
"Mother," he said, "I have taken a new thought, and have come back to you."
"Well, I thought you would, Tobias; and a very good thing it is that you have."
"Listen to me: I thought of flying from England for ever, and of never again setting foot upon its shores. I have altered that determination completely, and I feel now that it is my duty to do something else."
"To do what, Tobias?"
"To tell all I know—to make a clean breast, mother, and, let the consequences be what they may, to let justice take its course."
"What do you mean, Tobias?"
"Mother, I have come to a conclusion, that what I have to tell is of such vast importance, compared with any consequences that may arise from the petty robbery of the candlestick, which you know of, that I ought not to hesitate a moment in revealing everything."
"But, my dear Tobias, remember that that is a dreadful secret, and one that must be kept."
"It cannot matter—it cannot matter; and, besides, it is more than probable that by revealing what I actually know, and which is of such great magnitude, I may, mother, in a manner of speaking, perchance completely exonerate30 you from the consequences of that transaction. Besides, it was long ago, and the prosecutor31 may have mercy; but, be all that how it may, and be the consequences what they may, I must and will tell what I now know."
"But what is it Tobias, that you know?"
"Something too dreadful for me to utter to you alone. Go into the Temple, mother, to some of the chambers32 you attend to, and ask them to come to me, and listen to what I have got to say. They will be amply repaid for their trouble, for they will hear that which may, perhaps, save their own lives."
"He is quite gone," thought Mrs. Ragg, "and Mr. Todd is correct; poor Tobias is as mad as he can be!" "Alas33, alas, Tobias, why don't you try to reason yourself into a better state of mind! You don't know a bit what you are saying, any more than the man in the moon."
"I know I am half mad, mother, but yet I know what I am saying well; so do not fancy that it is not to be relied upon, but go and fetch some one at once to listen to what I have to relate."
"Perhaps," thought Mrs. Ragg, "if I were to pretend to humour him, it would be as well, and, while I am gone, Mr. Todd can speak to him."
This was a bright idea of Mrs. Ragg's, and she forthwith proceeded to carry it into execution, saying—
"Well, my dear, if it must be, it must be—and I will go; but I hope while I have gone, somebody will speak to you, and convince you that you ought to try to quiet yourself."
These words Mrs. Ragg uttered aloud, for the special benefit of Sweeney Todd, who, she considered, would have been there to take the hint accordingly. It is needless to say he did hear them, and how far he profited by them, we shall quickly perceive. As for poor Tobias, he had not the remotest idea of the close proximity34 of his arch enemy; if he had, he would quickly have left that spot, where he might well to conjecture35 so much danger awaited him; for although Sweeney Todd, under the circumstances, probably felt that he dared not take Tobias's life, still he might exchange something that could place it in his power to do so shortly, with the least personal danger to himself. The door closed after the retreating form of Mrs. Ragg, and as, considering the mission she was gone upon, it was very clear some minutes must elapse before she could return, Sweeney Todd did not feel that there was any very particular hurry in the transaction.
"What shall I do?" he said to himself. "Shall I await his mother's coming again, and get her to aid me, or shall I of myself adopt some means which will put an end to trouble on this boy's account?"
Sweeney Todd was a man tolerably rapid in thought, and he contrived36 to make up his mind that the best plan, unquestionably, would be to lay hold of Tobias at once, and so prevent the possibility of any appeal to his mother becoming effective. Tobias, when his mother left the place, as he imagined, for the purpose of procuring37 some one to listen to what he considered to be Sweeney Todd's delinquencies, rested his face upon his hands, and gave himself up to painful and deep thought. He felt that he had arrived at quite a crisis in his history, and that the next few hours could not surely but be very important to him in their results; and so they were indeed, but not certainly exactly in the way that he all along anticipated, for he thought of nothing but of the arrest and discomfiture38 of Todd, little expecting how close was his proximity to that formidable personage.
"Surely," thought Tobias, "I shall, by disclosing all that I know about Todd, gain some consideration for my mother, and after all, she may not be prosecuted39 for the robbery of the candlestick, for how very trifling40 is that affair compared to the much more dreadful things which I more than suspect Sweeney Todd to be guilty of. He is and must be, from all that I have seen and heard, a murderer, although how he disposes of his victims is involved in the most complete mystery, and is to me a matter past all human power of comprehension. I have no idea even upon that subject whatever."
This, indeed, was a great mystery; for, even admitting that Sweeney Todd was a murderer, and it must be allowed that as yet we have only circumstantial evidence of that fact, we can form no conclusion from such evidence as to how he perpetrated the deed, or how afterwards he disposed of the body of his victim. This grand and principal difficulty in the way of committing murder with impunity41, namely, the disposal of a corpse42, certainly did not seem at all to have any effect upon Sweeney Todd; for if he made corpses43, he had some means of getting rid of them with the most wonderful expedition as well as secrecy44.
"He is a murderer," thought Tobias. "I know he is, although I have never seen him do the deed, or seen any appearances in the shop of a deed of blood having been committed. Yet why is it that occasionally, when a better dressed person than usual comes into the shop, that he sends me out on some errand to a distant part of the town?"
Tobias did not forget, too, that on more than one occasion he had come back quicker than he had been expected, and that he had caught Sweeney Todd in some little confusion, and seen the hat, the stick, or perhaps the umbrella of the last customer quietly waiting there, although the customer had gone; and even if the glaring improbability of a man leaving his hat behind him in a barber's shop was got over, why did he not come back for it? This was a circumstance which was entitled to all the weight which Tobias, during his mental cogitations, could give to it, and there could be but one possible explanation of a man not coming back for his hat, and that was that he had not the power to do so.
"This house will be searched," thought Tobias, "and all those things, which of course must have belonged to so many different people, will be found, and then they will be identified, and he will be required to say how he came by them, which, I think, will be a difficult task indeed for Sweeney Todd to accomplish. What a relief it will be to me, to be sure, when he is hanged, as I think he is tolerably sure to be!"
"What a relief," muttered Sweeney Todd, as he slowly opened the door, unseen by Tobias—"what a relief it will be to me when this boy is in his grave, as he will be soon, or else I have forgotten all my moral learning, and turned chicken-hearted—neither of them very likely circumstances."
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1
iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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2
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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3
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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7
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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9
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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10
stigma
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| n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头 | |
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11
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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15
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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16
hoards
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| n.（钱财、食物或其他珍贵物品的）储藏，积存( hoard的名词复数 )v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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18
divested
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| v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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conjuror
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| n.魔术师，变戏法者 | |
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23
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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25
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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29
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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30
exonerate
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| v.免除责任，确定无罪 | |
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31
prosecutor
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| n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人 | |
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32
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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33
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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35
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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36
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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37
procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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38
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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39
prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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40
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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41
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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42
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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43
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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44
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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