The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 106: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE STRING OF PEARLS. et ee te een 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. _ | re ‘Tt is strange,” he said, “that he has taken nothing, but yet perhaps 16 1s || better that it should be so, inasmuch as it shows a wholesome fear of me. The || slightest examination would have shown him these hoards 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 L i shall discover him easier than I imagine.” : He repaired to the parlour again, and carefully divested hiniself of everything || which had enabled him so successfully to impose upon John Mandel, and replaced them by his ordinary costume, after which he fastened up_ his house and sallied | forth, taking his way direct to Mrs. Rage’s humble 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 fully intended ; but what were his precise intentions pethaps he could hardly have told himself, until he actually found him. || When he reached Mrs. Rage’s house, and made his appearance abruptly 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—. i “Where did your son Tobias go after he left you to-night ?” : “Lor! Mr. Todd, is is you? You are as good as a conjuror, sir, for he was || here ; but bless you, sir; I know no thore where he is gone to, than the man in the || | moon. He said he was going to sea; but L am sure 1 should not have thought it, || | that [ 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 f”’ i “Well, sity that’s a very good thought of yours; and he may come back here to || | sleep, for all £ know to the contrary.” j * But you do not know it for a fact ° hall ; “He didn’t say so ; but he may come, you know; sir, for all that.” “ Did he tell you his reason for leaving mer” | | Tndeed no, sir; he really did not, and he seemed to mé fo be a little bit out || | of his. serises.”’ . : | | : | “Ah! Mts, Rage,’’ said Sweeney Todd; “there you have it. From the first | moment that he came into my setvice, I knew and felt confident, that he was out of his senses. . There was a strangeness of behaviour about him, which soon coavinced || me of that fact; and £ am only anxious about him, in order that some effort may | be made to cure him of such a malady, for it is a serious, and a dreadful one, and | | oné which, unless taken in time; will be yet the death of Tobias.” ay Thesé words weré spoken with su¢h solemn seriousness, that they had a wonder- ' || | ful effect upon Mrs; Rage, who, like most ignorant persons, began immediately to | | confirm that which she most dreaded. | “Qh, it’s too true,” she said, “it's tuo true: He did.say some extraordinary | | things to-night; Mr. Todd, and he said he had something to tell, which was too }|| | horrid to speak of. Now the idea, you know; Mr. Todd, of anybody having any- ; | thing at all to tell, and not telling it at once, is quite singular.” Fy (| “Itis!—and I am sure that his conduct is such you never would be guilty of, ||, | Mrs. Rage ;—but hark! what’s that?” | i | | *]#s a knock, Mr. Todd.” “Hush, stop a moment—what if it be Tobias ?” i “Gracious goodness ! it can’t be him, for he would have come im 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 some- where,’ so thaf I may hear what he says, and be able to judge how his mind is affected. 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.” | ae ere aaa aay oe a = a i ee et + ee comicbooks.co Sy “~a m