The Gift of the Sailor: The String of Pearls & Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street — page 353: what you’re looking at

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

“Never mind that. I would recommend that you make the communication to him at once, and abruptly. It will, in all likelihood, thus have more effect than if you dilate it by any great note of preparation before it reaches his ears.” The colonel nodded his acquiescence; and then, once more inclining his mouth to Tobias’s ear, he said, in clear and moderately loud accents— “Sweeney Todd is dead!” Tobias at once sprang up to a sitting posture in the bed, and cried— “No, no! Is it really so?” “Yes,” added the colonel. “Sweeney Todd is dead.” For a moment or two Tobias looked from the colonel to the surgeon, and from the surgeon to the colonel, with a bewildered expression of countenance, and then burst into tears. “That will do,” said the surgeon. “Tt has succeeded?” whispered the colonel. “Fully. It could not do better. He will recover full consciousness now when those tears are over. All will go well with him; but do not, by word or look, insinuate the remotest doubt of the truth of what you have told him. It would be better to say the same thing to any of the servants that may come about him.” “T will—I will; and particularly to his master, whom I would as soon trust with a secret as I would with the command of a regiment of cavalry.” Tobias wept for the space of about ten minutes, and then he looked up with a face in which there was a totally different expression to what it had borne but a short time previously, and with a faltering voice he spoke— “And so Todd is gone at last?” “He has,” replied the colonel; “and, therefore, you may now, Tobias, make your mind quite easy about him.” “Oh, quite—quite!” By the long breath that Tobias drew, it was evident what an exquisite relief it was to him to be able to feel that the man who had been the bane of his young life was no more. No assurance of protection from him could have come near the feeling of satisfaction that he now felt in the consciousness of such a release. But Todd being dead, settled the affair at once, There was no drawback upon his satisfaction. “Oh!” he said, “I do indeed feel that life is with me again, and that I can be happy. Where is Minna?” “She cannot remain here always,” replied the colonel; “but she will be in the house shortly, upon a visit to your mother, and you shall yourself have the pleasure of communicating the welcome news of Todd’s death to her—news which to her bears as great a significance as it does to you.” “Oh, yes,” replied Tobias. “Minna will be pleased. We ought not to rejoice at the death of any one; but then Todd was so very, very bad a man that his dying is a good thing, as it keeps him from loading his soul with more wickedness.” “That,” said the medical man, “is the proper view to take of the matter, Tobias; but now you will permit me to say to you that you should not talk too much, nor overtax your young strength. I will darken the room, by closing the shutters; and it is highly desirable that you should enjoy a few hours calm sleep, which now, with the conviction that Todd is dead, I do not see any difficulty in your doing.” “Oh, no—no,” said Tobias, with quite a bright expression upon his face. “Oh, no, I shall sleep well now. Quite well, for what have I to fear now?” These few words were spoken in such a tone of calm composure, that the colonel had every reason to rejoice in the experiment he had tried, upon the advice of the medical man. The latter closed the shutters of the room all but one, so that there was but a soft and chastened light in the room; and then, with a smile upon his face, Tobias—after hoping that they would arouse him when Minna should come, and receiving a promise that way—turned his face to his pillow, and composed himself to the first pure rest he had had since the attack that the villain Todd had made upon him in the colonel’s house. “Tt is not much of a deception,” said Colonel Jeffery to the surgeon, when the latter was leaving the house, “for I believe now that Todd’s hours are indeed numbered. He will be arrested to-night.” “T am glad to hear it,” replied the surgeon. “Such a notable villain ought to be as quickly as possible put out of the world.” “He ought, indeed; and from what I hear from Sir Richard Blunt, I believe that before twenty-four hours are gone over my head, the whole of London will ring with the name of Todd, and the story of his frightful criminality.” Tobias slept quietly, and securely for four hours, during which space of time he was twice visited by Minna Gray, who had arrived while he was in that state of repose. The colonel, although he felt the danger of letting Mrs. Ragg know was premature, felt no such scruple with regard to Minna. Indeed he considered that it would have been an insult to her judgment not to have told her exactly how the case stood. When she heard it all, and upon visiting Tobias’s bed-room, found what a sweet sleep he was in, and what a quiet gentle smile was upon his face, she tearfully acknowledged what a good thing the innocent deception was which had produced such a result. “Tt will save him,” she said. “Tt will,” replied the colonel; “and be sure that you keep sufficient guard over yourself to keep from betraying the secret.” “Oh, sir, trust me, I will.” “And remember that in this house, it is known only to you and to me. If Tobias should ask you anything about it, you had better CORniclooo S CO)