His teeth were set, and his breathing came short and laborious, just as a man sprung out at a shop-door and succeeded in laying hold of him.
'I have got you, have I?' he said.
Sweeney Todd uttered not a word, but, puffing forth an amount of strength that was perfectly prodigious, he seized the man by a great handful of his hair and by his clothes behind, and flung him through the shop-window, smashing glass, frame-work, and everything in his progress.
The man gave a shriek, for it was his own shop, and he was a dealer in fancy goods of the most flimsy texture, so that the smash with which he came down among his stock-in-trade, produced at once what the haberdashers are so delighted with in the present day, a ruinous sacrifice.
This occurrence had a great effect upon Sweeney Todd's pursuers; it taught them the practical wisdom of not interfering with a man possessed evidently of such tremendous powers of mischief, and consequently, as just about this period the defeat of the little lapidary took place, he got considerably the start of his pursuers.
But he was by no means yet safe. The cry of 'stop thief!' still sounded in his ears, and on he flew, panting with the exertion he made, until he heard a man behind him say,-
'Turn into the second court on your right and you will be safe. I'll follow you. They shan't nab you, if I can help it.'
Sweeney Todd had not much confidence in human nature - it was not likely he would; but, panting and exhausted as he was, the voice of anyone speaking in friendly accents was welcome, and, rather impulsively than from reflection, he darted down the second court to his right.
VIII. The Thieves' Home
In a very few minutes Sweeney Todd found that this court had no thoroughfare, and therefore there was no outlet or escape; but he immediately concluded that something more was to be found than was at first sight to be seen, and, casting a furtive glance beside him in the direction in which he had come, rested his hand upon a door which stood close by.
The door gave way, and Sweeney Todd hearing, as he imagined, a noise in the street, dashed in and closed the door, and then he, heedless of all consequences, walked to the end of a long, dirty passage, and, pushing open a door, descended a short flight of steps, to the bottom of which he had scarcely got, when the door which faced him at the bottom of the steps opened by some hand, and he suddenly found himself in the presence of a number of men seated round a large table.
In an instant all eyes were turned towards Sweeney Todd, who was quite unprepared for such a scene, and for a minute he knew not what to say; but, as indecision was not Sweeney Todd's characteristic, he at once advanced to the table and sat down.
There was some surprise evinced by the persons who were seated in that room, of whom there were many more than a score, and much talking was going on among them, which did not appear to cease on his entrance.
Those who were near him looked hard at him, but nothing was said for some minutes, and Sweeney Todd looked about to understand, if he could, how he was placed, though it could not be much of a matter of doubt as to the character of the individuals present.
Their looks were often an index to their vocations, for all grades of the worst of characters were there, and some of them were by no means complimentary to human nature, for there were some of the most desperate characters that were to be found in London.
They were dressed in various fashions, some after the manner of the city - some more gay, and some half military, while not a few wore the garb of country-men; but there was in all that an air of scampish, offhand behaviour, not unmixed with brutality.
'Friend,' said one, who sat near him, 'how came you here; are you known here?'
'I came here, because I found the door open, and I was told by someone to come here, as I was pursued.'
'Pursued!'
'Ay, someone running after me, you know.'
'I know what being pursued is,' replied the man, 'and yet I know nothing of you.'
'That is not at all astonishing,' said Sweeney, 'seeing that I never saw you before, nor you me; but that makes no difference. I'm in difficulties, and I suppose a man may do his best to escape the consequences.
'Yes, he may, yet there is no reason why he should come here; this is the place for free friends, who know and aid one another.'
'And such I am willing to be; but at the same time I must have a beginning. I cannot be initiated without someone introducing me. I have sought protection, and I have found it; if there be any objection to my remaining here any longer, I will leave.'
'No, no,' said a tall man on the other side of the table, 'I have heard what you said, and we do not usually allow any such things; you have come here unasked, and now we must have a little explanation, our own safety may demand it; at all events we have our customs, and they must be complied with.'
'And what are your customs?' demanded Todd.
'This: you must answer the questions which we shall propound unto you; now answer truly what we shall ask of you.'
'Speak,' said Todd, 'and I will answer all that you proposed to me if possible.'
'We will not tax you too hardly, depend upon it: who are you?'
'Candidly, then,' said Todd, 'that's a question I do not like to answer, nor do I think it is one that you ought to ask. It is an inconvenient thing to name oneself - you must pass by that enquiry.'
'Shall we do so?' enquired the interrogator of those around him, and, gathering his cue from their looks, he after a brief pause continued,-
'Well, we will pass over that, seeing it is not necessary; but you must tell us what you are, cutpurse, footpad, or what not?'
'I am neither.'
'Then tell us in your own words,' said the man, 'and be candid with us. What are you?'
'I am an artificial pearl-maker - or a sham pearl-maker, whichever way you please to call it.'
'A sham pearl-maker! that may be an honest trade for all we know, and that will hardly be your passport to our house, friend sham pearl-maker!'
'That may be as you say,' replied Todd, 'but I will challenge any man to equal me in my calling. I have made pearls that would pass with almost a lapidary, and which would pass with nearly all the nobility.'
'I begin to understand you, friend; but I would wish to have some proof of what you say: we may hear a very good tale, and yet none of it shall be true; we are not the men to be made dupes of, besides, there are enough to take vengeance, if we desire it.'
'Ay, to be sure there is,' said a gruff voice from the other end of the table, which was echoed from one to the other, till it came to the top of the table.
'Proof! proof! proof!' now resounded from one end of the room to the other.
'My friends,' said Sweeney Todd, rising up, and advancing to the table, and thrusting his hand into his bosom, and drawing out the string of twenty-four pearls, 'I challenge you or anyone to make a set of artificial pearls equal to these: they are my make, and I'll stand to it in any reasonable sum that you cannot bring a man who shall beat me in my calling.'
'Just hand them to me,' said the man who had made himself interrogator.
Sweeney Todd threw the pearls on the table carelessly, and then said, 'There, look at them well, they'll bear it, and I reckon, though there may be some good judges 'mongst you, that you cannot any of you tell them from real pearls, if you had not been told so.'
'Oh, yes, we know pretty well,' said the man, 'what these things are: we have now and then a good string in our possession, and that helps us to judge of them. Well, this is