The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

34 THE STRING OF PEARLS. ~ ©Tam no disposed to take that trouble, so [ shall bid you good night, and if yon ae itty Suaslh apathy, I would certainly advise you not fo be so wondsctiliy parti- cular where you get them.” Sweeney Todd strode towards the door, but the lapidary was not going to part with him so easy, so 4pringing over his counter with an agility one would not have expected from so old a man, he was at the door in a moment, and shouted at the his lungs =n oh hop thick ! Stop thief! Stop him! There he goes! The big fellow with the three-cornered hat! Stop thief! Stop thief!” These cries, uttered with great vehemence as they were, could not be totally ineffectual, but they roused the whole neighbourhood, and before Sweeney Todd had proceeded many yards 4 man made an attempt to collar him, but was repulsed by such a terrific blow in the face, that another person, who had raul half-way across the road with a similar object, turned and went back again, thinking it scarcely prudent to. risk his own safety in apprehending a criminal for the good of the public. Having got rid thus of one of his foes, Sweency Todd, with an inward determination to come back soine day and be the death of the old lapidary, looked anxiously about fot some court down which he could plunge, and so get out | of sight ofthe many pursuers who were sure to attack him in the public streets. His ignorance of the locality, however, was a great bar to such a proceeding, for | the great dread he had was, that he might get down some blind alley, and so be | completely caged, and at the mercy of those who followed him, He : pelted on at a tremendous speed, but it was quite astonishing to see how | the little old lapidary ran after him, falling down every now and then, and never stopping to pick himself up, as people say, but rolling on and getting | on his feet in some miraculous manner, that was quite wonderful to behold, | particularly in one so aged and so apparently unable to undertake any active | exertion, There was one thing, however, he could not continue doing, and that was | to ery “stop thief!” for he had lost his wind, and was quite incapable of | uttering a word. How long he would have continued the chase is doubtful, but | his cateer was suddenly put an end to, as regards that, by tripping his foot over a| projecting stone in the pavement, and shooting headlong down a cellar which was | open. But abler persons than the little old lapidary had taken up the chase, and | Sweeney Todd was hard pressed; and, although he ran very fast, the pro-| voking thing was, that in consequence of the eries and shouts of his pursuers, | new people took up the chase, who were fresh and vigorous and close to him, | There is something awful in seeing a human being thus hunted by his fellows ; and although we can have no sympathy with such @ man as Sweeney Todd, | because, from all that has happened, we begin to havé some very horrible sys. picion concerning him, still, as a general principle, it does not decrease the fact, | that it is a dreadful thine to see a human being hunted through the Streets, | On he flew at the top of his speed, striking down whoever opposed him, until at ast many who could have outran him gave up the chase, not liking to enc the knock-down blow which such a hand as his seemed capable of inflicting, Pi, ¢eeth were set, and his breathing became short and laborious, just as a man sprung out at a shop-door and succeeded in laying hold of him, “Thave got you have 1?” he said. Sweeney Todd uttered not a word, but, putting forth an amount of strength that was perfectly tg eae he seized the man by a great handful of his hair, and by his clothes be ind, and flung him through a shop-window, smashing glass, frame- work, and everything in its progress. ‘Ihe 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 delightedwith in the present day ,znamely,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 prossessed evidently of eae eS Reese ~ Comicbooks.com _