Todd seized Johanna by the arm, and dragged her into the shop. He locked the door, and then confronting her, he said— "How kind it was of your friend, to take down the shutters for you, Charley Green."
"My friend, sir?"
"Yes, your friend who declined being shaved, you know, because you told him last night that he had better go to some other shop."
"Really, sir," said Johanna, "I don't know what you mean."
"Come, come, Charley, confess that you do know some one in London, as well as you know me. Confess, now, that people are so fond of interfering in other folk's affairs, that you have been set on to watch me. I shall not be at all angry, indeed, I shall not, I assure you. Not the least; only tell me the truth. That is all I ask of you, my boy, and you will find that it is no bad thing to make a friend of Sweeney Todd."
"If I had, sir, anything to confess," replied Johanna, "except that at times I do feel that I wish I had not run away from my mother-in-law at Oxford, I should soon tell it all to you."
"And so that is all, Charley?"
"All at present, sir."
"What a good lad. What an exemplary lad. Light the shop fire, if you please, Charley. Humph! I am wrong," muttered Todd to himself; "but yet I will cut his throat before I leave to-night. It will be safer and more satisfactory to do so, and besides, he has given me some uneasiness, and I hate him for his quiet gentle ways. I hate everybody. I would cut the throats of all the world if I could. Light the fire quickly, you young hound, will you?"
Johanna trembled. She felt that anything but a blow from Todd she could put up with, but in her pocket she kept a jagged piece of flint stone, which would go through the window in a moment; and she felt that through she must throw it, if he only so much as raised his hand against her.
The fire blazed up, and Todd at that moment had no further excuse for abusing Charley. With a sulky growl, he said—
"You can call me out if any one comes," and then he retired to his back parlour, closing and locking the door as usual.
The morning felt rather raw, and Johanna was glad to warm her hands at the fire in the shop, which soon burnt brightly; but she did not venture upon keeping up a bright blaze for long. Todd's mode of managing the fire, was always to keep a dry turf smouldering upon the top of it, from which ample heat enough was emitted to keep the shaving-pot upon the simmer. She now placed upon the fire one of those turfs, a small pile of which were always ready in the corner of the shop.
She had scarcely done so, when the shop door opened, and a man walked in.
"Is Mr. Todd in, my little man?" he said.
"Yes, sir. Do you wish to see him?" Johanna wished, if it were possible, to discourage visitors, but the man sat down at once in the shaving chair, and placed his hat upon the floor, adding as he did so—
"Yes, a right down good shave I want. As good as if St. Dunstan himself wanted one."
The manner in which the man pronounced the words St. Dunstan was so marked that Johanna felt convinced at once he was a friend, and she felt quite a gush of pleasure at the thought that Sir Richard Blunt had such a continual supervising eye upon her safety.
She felt that she must not look at this man otherwise than as a stranger. She felt that the least word of recognition might be fatal both to him and to her. She knew that Todd had some small orifice through which from his parlour he peeped into the shop, and that his eye was now upon her she did not doubt.
"I will call Mr. Todd, sir," she said in a moment. "He is close at hand."
"Thank you," replied the man. "I sit here as comfortable as St. Dunstan."
"Yes," said Johanna, as she heard the watch-word of safety and friendship once more uttered by that man who was in truth one of Sir Richard's most confidential and trustworthy officers.
She at once now proceeded to the door of the parlour, and tapped at it until Todd opened it, and popped his head out with a grim smile.
"Oh, Charley my dear," he said, "does a gentleman want me?"
"Yes, sir."
"A-hem! Good morning, sir," added Todd, as he advanced, tying on his apron. "A shave, I presume, sir? A close shave, sir? I do think of all the luxuries in life, sir, a good close shave—what I call a regular polish off, sir—is one of the greatest in a small way. Charley, ain't it near breakfast time, my good lad?"
"Yes, sir," said Johanna. "I daresay it is."
"Very good. The hot-water. Thank you my dear—you will take two pence from the till, Charley, and get yourself somewhere about the market a—Well now?"
A thin man in a cloak made his appearance at the door of the shop, and taking off his hat, made a bow, as he said—
"I believe I have the pleasure of speaking to the pious Mr. Todd?"
"My name is Todd, sir. What is it?"
"I am truly delighted," said the tall thin man sitting down upon the nearest seat, and placing his hat upon his knees. "I am truly delighted to see you. Pray go on shaving that gentleman, as I shall be some time."
"Some time about what?" almost screamed Todd.
"Finding the tract, from which I purpose reading to you a few extracts upon the all-important subject of the election of grace, and the insufficiency of works."
Todd stropped a razor, and glared at the intruder, who, fitting on his nose with great precision a pair of blue spectacles, began rummaging in his hat.
"Humph! this is it. No—this is not it. Well, I thought I had it here, and so I have. This is—no. This is an imaginary and highly religious discourse upon saints, and St. Dunstan in particular."
Johanna knew in a moment that this other man was a friend likew............