"The sad story of her love."
It will be a hard case if, among so many councillors, she hits upon the worst—a most truly hazardous1 course of proceeding2; but then it is a fault of the young to mistake daring for ability, and to fancy that that course of proceeding which involves the most personal risk is necessarily the most likely to be successful. Colonel Jeffery was, of all Johanna Oakley's advisers3, the one who was most likely to advise her well, but unfortunately he had told her that he loved her, and from that time, with an instinctive5 delicacy6 of feeling which no one could have to greater perfection than Johanna, she had shunned7 him. And yet the reader, who knows the colonel well, knows that, quite irrespective of the attachment8 that had sprung up in his bosom9 for the beautiful and heart-stricken girl, he would have played the part of a sincere friend to her and stood manfully between her and all danger. But it was not to be. From the moment that he had breathed to her the secret of his attachment, a barrier was, in her imagination, raised between them. Her father evidently was not one who could or who would advise anything at all energetic; and as for Big Ben, the conversation she had had with him upon the subject had quite been sufficient to convince her that to take him out of the ordinary routine of his thoughts and habits was thoroughly10 to bewilder him, and that he was as little calculated to plot and to plan in any emergency as a child. She would indeed have trembled at the result of the confidential11 communication to Big Ben, if she had been aware of the frightfully imprudent manner in which he had thrown himself into communication and collision with Todd, the consequences of which glaring act of indiscretion he was only saved from by Sir Richard Blunt entering the shop, and remaining there until he (Ben) was shaved. Under all these circumstances, then, Johanna found herself thrown back upon her old friend Arabella Wilmot. Now, Arabella was the worst adviser4 of all, for the romantic notions she had received from her novel reading, imparted so strong a tone to her character, that she might be said in imagination to live in a world of the mind. It was, as the reader will recollect13, to Arabella Wilmot that Johanna owed the idea of going to Todd in boy's apparel—a measure fraught14 with frightful12 danger, and yet, to the fancy of the young girl, fascinating upon that very account, because it had the appearance as though she were doing something really serious for Mark Ingestrie. To Arabella, then, Johanna went, after Ben had left her, and finding her young friend within, she told her all that had occurred since they last met.
"What shall I do?" she said. "I tell my tale of woe15, and people look kind upon me, but no one helps me."
"Oh, Johanna, can you say that of me?"
"No, no. Not of you, Arabella, for you see I have come to you again; but of all others, I can and may say it."
"Comfort yourself, my dear Johanna. Comfort yourself, my dear friend. Come, now—you will make me weep too, if I see those tears."
"What shall I do?—what shall I do?"
"There, now, I am putting on my things; and as you are dressed, we will go out for a walk, and as we go along we can talk of the affair, and you will find your spirits improve by exercise. Come, my dear Johanna. Don't you give way so."
"I cannot help it. Let us go."
"We will walk round St. Paul's Churchyard."
"No—no. To Fleet Street—to Fleet Street!"
"Why would you wish to add to your sorrows, by again looking upon that shop?"
"I do not know, I cannot tell you; but a horrible species of fascination16 draws me there, and if I come from home, I seem as though I were drawn17 from all other places towards that one by an irresistible18 attraction. It seems as though the blood of Mark Ingestrie called aloud to me to revenge his murder, by bringing the perpetrators of it to justice. Oh, my friend—my Arabella, I think I shall go mad."
Johanna sunk upon her knees by a chair, and hid her fair face in her hands, as she trembled with excess of emotion. Arabella Wilmot began to be really alarmed at the consequences of her friend's excited and overwrought feelings.
"Oh, Johanna—Johanna!" she cried, "cheer up. You shall go when you please, so that you will not give way to this sorrow. You do not know how much you terrify me. Rise—rise, I implore20 you. We will go to Fleet Street, since such is your wish."
After a time, Johanna recovered from the burst of emotion that had taken such certain possession of her, and she was able to speak more calmly and composedly to her friend than she had yet done during that visit. The tears she had shed, and the show of feeling that had crept over her, had been a great relief in reality.
"Can you pardon me for thus tormenting21 you with my grief?" said Johanna.
"Do not talk so. Rather wonder how I should pardon you if you tell your griefs elsewhere. To whom should you bring them but to the bosom of one who, however she may err19 in judgment22 regarding you, cannot err in feeling."
Johanna could only press her friend's hand in her own, and look the gratitude23 which she had not the language to give utterance24 to. It being then settled that they were to go to Fleet Street, it next became a matter of rather grave debate between them whether they were to go as they were, or Johanna was to again equip herself in the disguise of a boy.
"This is merely a visit of observation, Johanna; I will go as I am."
"Very well, dear."
They accordingly set out, and as the distance from the house of Arabella Wilmot's father was but short to the shop of Sweeney Todd, they soon caught sight of the projecting pole that was his sign.
"Now be satisfied," said Arabella, "by passing twice; once up Fleet Street, and once down it."
"I will," said Johanna.
Todd's shop was closed as usual. There was never an open door to that establishment, so that it was, after all, but a barren satisfaction for poor Johanna to pass the place where her imagination, strengthened by many circumstantial pieces of evidence, told her Mark Ingestrie had met with his death; still, as she had said to Arabella before starting, a horrible sort of fascination drew her to the spot, and she could not resist the fearful attraction that the outside of Todd's shop had for her. They passed rather rapidly, for Arabella Wilmot did not wish Johanna to pause, for fear she should be unable to combat her feelings, and make some sort of exhibition of them in the open street.
"Are you content, Johanna?" she said. "Must we pass again?"
"Oh, yes—yes. Again and again; I can almost fancy that by continued looking at that place I could see what has been the fate of Mark."
"It may be so, but when the realities of life have become so hideously26 full of horrors, one may be excused for seeking some consolation27 from the fairy cave. Arabella, let us turn again."
They had got as far as Temple Bar, when they again turned, and this time Johanna would not pass the shop so abruptly28 as she had done before, and any one, to see the marked interest with which she paused at the window, would have imagined that she must have some lover there whom she could see, notwithstanding the interior of the shop was so completely impervious29 to all ordinary gazers.
"There is nothing to see," said Arabella.
"No. But yet—ha!—look—look!"
Johanna pointed30 to one particular spot of the window, and there was the eye of Sweeney Todd glaring upon them.
"We are observed," whispered Arabella; "it will be much better to leave the window at once. Come away—oh, come away, Johanna."
"Not yet—not yet. Oh, if I could look well at that man's face, I think I ought to be able to judge if he were likely to be the murderer of Mark Ingestrie."
Todd came to his door.
"Good God, he is here!" said Arabella. "Come away. Come!"
"Never. No! Perhaps this is providential. I will, I must look at this man, happen what may."
Todd glared at the two young girls like some ogre intent upon their destruction, and as Johanna looked at him, a painter who loved contrast, might have indeed found a study, from the wonderful difference between those two human countenances31. They neither spoke32 for some few moments, and it was reserved for Todd to break the silence.
"What do you want here?" he cried, in a hoarse33 rough voice. "Be off with you. What do you mean by knocking at the window of an honest tradesman? I don't want to have anything to say to such as you."
"Did what?" said Todd, advancing in a menacing attitude, while his face assumed a most diabolical35 expression of concealed36 hatred37. "Did what?"
"Stop him! Stop him!" cried a voice from the other side of the street. "Stop Pison, he's given me the slip, and I'm blessed if he won't pitch into that ere barber. Stop him. Pison! Pison! Come here, boy. Come here! Oh, lor, he's nabbed him. I knew'd he would, as sure as a horse's hind38 leg ain't a gammon o' bacon. My eyes, won't there be a row—he's nabbed the barber, like ninepence."
Before the ostler at the Bullfinch, for it was from his lips this speech came, could get one half of it uttered, the dog—who is known to the readers by the name of Hector, as well as his new name of Pison—dashed over the road, apparently39 infuriated at the sight of Todd, and rushing upon him, seized him with his teeth. Todd gave a howl of rage and pain, and fell to the ground. The whole street was in an uproar40 in a moment, but the ostler rushing over the way, seized the dog by the throat, and made him release Todd, who crawled upon all fours into his own shop. In another moment he rushed out with a razor in his hand.
Hector's Attack On Sweeney Todd.
Hector's Attack On Sweeney Todd.
"Where's the dog?" he cried. "Where's the fiend in the shape of a dog?"
"Hold hard!" said the ostler, who held Hector between his knees. "Hold hard. I have got him, old chap."
"Get out of the way. I'll have his life."
"No you won't."
"Humph!" cried a butcher's boy who was passing. "Why that's the same dog as said the barber had done for his master, and collected never such a lot of halfpence in his hat to pay the expenses of burying of him."
"Go to blazes!" said the boy. "Who killed the dog's master? Ah, ah! Who did it? Ah, ah!"
The people began to laugh.
"Do you?" said the ostler; "now, this here dog is a partickler friend of mine, so you see I can't have it done. What do you say to that now, old stick-in-the-mud? If you walk into him, you must walk through me first. Only just put down that razor, and I'll give you such a wolloping, big as you are, that you'll recollect for some time."
"Down with the razor! Down with the razor!" cried the mob, who was now every moment increasing.
Johanna stood like one transfixed for a few moments in the middle of all this tumult43, and then she said with a shudder—
"What ought I to do?"
"Come away at once, I implore you," said Arabella Wilmot. "Come away, I implore you, Johanna, for my sake as well as for your own. You have already done all that can be done. Oh, Johanna, are you distracted?"
"No—no. I will come—I will come."
They hastily left the spot and hurried away in the direction of Ludgate Hill, but the confusion at the shop door of the barber did not terminate for some time. The people took the part of the dog and his new master, and it was in vain that Sweeney Todd exhibited his rent garments to show where he had been attacked by the animal. Shouts of laughter and various satirical allusions44 to his beauty were the only response. Suddenly, without a word, Todd then gave up the contest and retired45 into his shop, upon which the ostler conveyed Pison over the way and shut him up in one of the stables of the Bullfinch. Todd, it is true, retired to his shop with an appearance of equanimity46, but it was like most appearances in this world—rather deceitful. The moment the door was closed between him and observation he ground his teeth together and positively47 howled with rage.
"The time will come—the time will come," he said, "when I shall have the joy of seeing Fleet Street in a blaze, and of hearing the shrieks48 of those who are frying in the flames. Oh, that I could with one torch ignite London, and sweep it and all its inhabitants from the face of the earth. Oh, that all those who are now without my shop had but one throat. Ha! ha! how I would cut it."
He caught up a razor as he spoke, and threw himself into a ferocious49 attitude at the moment that the door opened, and a gentleman neatly50 dressed looked in, saying—
"Do you dress artificial hair?"
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1
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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15
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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32
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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33
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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41
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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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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45
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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48
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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50
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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