While all these things were going on at Sweeney Todd's, in Fleet-street, Mrs. Lovett was not quite idle as regarded her own affairs and feelings. That lady's—what shall we say—certainly not affections, for she had none—passions is a better word—were inconceivably shocked by the discovery she had made of the perfidy of her flaunting and moustachied lover. It will be perceived, by this little affair of Mrs. Lovett's, how strong-minded women have their little weaknesses. The hour of the appointment, which she (Mrs. Lovett) had made with her military-looking beau, came round; and there she sat, looking rather disconsolate. "Am I never to succeed," she muttered to herself, "in finding one with whom I can make my escape from this sea of horrors that surrounds me? Am I, notwithstanding I have so fully accomplished all I wished to accomplish, by—by"—she shuddered and paused.—"Well, well, the time will come—I must go alone. Let Todd go alone, and let me go alone. Why should he wish to trammel my actions? He cannot surely think, for a moment, that with him I will consent to pass the remainder of my life!"
The scornful curl of the lip, and the indignant toss of the head, which accompanied these words, would have been quite sufficient to convince Todd, had he seen them, of the hopelessness of any such notion.
"No," she added, after a pause, "I shall be alone in the world, or, if I make ties, they shall be made in another country. There it is possible I may be—oh, no, no—not happy; but I may be powerful, and have cringing slaves about me, who, finding that I am rich, will tell me that I am beautiful, and I shall be able to drink deeply of the intoxicating cup of pleasure, in some land where prudery, or what is called propriety, has not set up its banner as it has in this land of outward virtue. As for Todd—I—I will try to be assured that he is a corpse before I breathe freely; and if I fail in that, I will hope that we shall be thousands of leagues asunder."
A shadow passed the window. Mrs. Lovett started to her feet.
"Ah! who comes? 'Tis he—no—God! 'tis Todd."
For a moment she pressed her hands upon her face, as though she would squeeze out the traces of passion from the muscles, and then her old set smile came back again. Todd entered the shop. For a few moments they looked at each other in silence, and then Todd said—
"Alone?"
"Quite," she replied.
He gave one of his peculiar laughs, and then glided into the parlour behind the shop. Mrs. Lovett followed him.
"News?" he said.
"None."
"Hem! The time is coming."
"The time to leave off this—"
"Yes. The time to quit business, Mrs. Lovett. All goes well—swimmingly. Ha! ha!"
She shuddered as she said—
"Do not laugh."
"Let those laugh who win," replied Todd. "How old are you, Sarah?"
"Old?"
"Yes, or to shape the question perhaps more to a woman's liking, how young are you? Have you yet many years before you in which to enjoy the fruits of our labours? Have you the iron frame which will enable you to say—'I shall revel for years in the soft enjoyments of luxury stolen from a world I hate?' Tell me."
Mrs. Lovett fell into a musing attitude, and Todd thought she was reflecting upon her age; but at length she said—
"I sometimes think I would give half of what is mine if I could forget how I became possessed of the whole."
"Indeed!"
"Yes, Todd. Has no such feeling ever crossed you?"
"Never! I am implacable. Fate made me a barber, but nature made me something else. In the formation of man there is a something that gives weakness to his resolves, and makes him pause upon the verge of enterprise with a shrinking horror. That is what the world calls conscience. It has no hold of me. I have but one feeling towards the human race, and that is hatred. I saw that while they pretended to bow down to God, they had in reality set up another idol in their heart of hearts. Gold! gold! Tell me—how many men there are in this great city who do not worship gold far more sincerely and heartily than they worship Heaven?"
"Few—few."
"Few? None, I say, none. No. The future is a dream—an ignis fatuus—a vapour. The present we can grasp—ha!"
"What is our wealth, Todd?"
"Hundreds of thousands."
He shaded his eyes with his hands, and peered from the parlour into the shop.
"Who is that keeps dodging past the window each moment, and peeping in at every convenient open space in the glass that he can find?"
Mrs. Lovett looked, and then, after an effort, she said—
"Todd, I was going to speak to you of that man."
"Ah!"
"Listen; I suspect him. For some days past he has haunted the shop, and makes endeavours to become acquainted with me. I did not think it sound policy wholly to shun him, but gave him such encouragement as might supply me with opportunities of judging if he were a spy or not."
"Humph!"
"I think him dangerous."
Todd's eyes glistened like burning coals.
"Should he come into your shop to be shaved, Todd—"
"Ha! ha!"
The horrible laugh rang through the place, and Mrs. Lovett's lover, with the moustache, sprung to the other side of Bell Yard, for the unearthly sound even reached his ears as he was peeping through the window to catch a glimpse of the charming widow.
"You understand me, Todd?"
"Perfectly—perfectly—I shall know him again. Ah, my dear Mrs. Lovett, how dangerous it is to be safe in this world. Even our virtue cannot escape detraction; but we will live in hopes of better times. You and I will show the world, yet, what wealth is."
"Yes—yes."
Todd crept close to her, and was about to place his arm round her waist, but she started from him, exclaiming—
"No—no, Todd—a thousand times no. Have we not before quarrelled upon this point. Do not approach me, or our compact, infernal as it is, is at an end. I have sold my soul to you, but I have not bartered myself."
The expression of Todd's countenance at this juncture was that of an incarnate fiend. He glared at Mrs. Lovett as though with the horrible fascination of his ugliness he would overcome her, and then slowly rising, he said—
"Her soul—ha! She has sold her sou............