CHAPTER CLXXI.

A RATHER IMPORTANT DISCOVERY IS MADE.

The man, who appeared to be the only one at all--dead or alive--who was

preserved from the wreck of the ship off the coast of Sussex, was

carried to the house where all our friends were staying, and being taken

into the kitchen, was there placed in the care of a couple of medical

men, who were hastily sent for, and who quickly restored animation to

the seemingly drowned person. It was reported to Ingestrie that the

stranger was all right, and as he himself had by that time thoroughly

recovered, and had changed his saturated apparel for a dry suit, the

news gave him the liveliest satisfaction.

"Well," he said, "it is something that I have not gone through that

tremendous surf in vain."

"Yes, Mark," said Johanna, with the tears starting to her eyes, "but we

must, indeed, get away from the sea-coast, and then you cannot be

tempted to expose your life in such adventures. Only think of what might

be the consequences!"

"Yes," said the colonel. "It is hardly fair, although, at the moment,

one cannot help admiring the heroism of the act."

"I don't know how it can be avoided," said Ingestrie. "If you see a poor

fellow struggling for his life, and you feel that you may save him at a

little risk to yourself, it seems a strange thing not to do it."

"It does," said old Mr. Oakley, "and I should be the last to say no to

the noble impulse; only if there are to be many storms off his coast, I

shall second the resolution of Johanna that you ought to live somewhere

else."

"And so shall I," said Arabella.

"And I," said Tobias.

"He's better, they say," cried Ben, popping his head into the room. "The

doctors say he is better, and that, after he has had a sleep, he will be

all right."

"The sailor belonging to the ship you mean?" said the colonel, "What

sort of a person is he, Ben?"

"Haven't seen him yet, so can't tell; but they have made up a good fire

in the back kitchen, and he is lying on a sofa there, and going to

sleep, and the doctor says it will do him no good to disturb him, or

bother him by talking."

"It certainly will not," said Ingestrie. "It matters very little to us

who he is, poor fellow. He is saved--that is the principal thing."

"Yes," said Johanna, "that is everything; and, at all events, Mark,

there is one human being who through life, let his position and

prospects be what they may, must look upon you as his friend and

preserver."

"Ah!" said poor Tobias, "We should all be very happy if Sweeney Todd

were but in the hands of justice. It is very strange why I tremble so

to-day at the thought of him; and I did not tremble yesterday."

"You have no occasion to tremble to-day, nor yesterday either, Tobias,"

said Arabella. "Remember how surrounded you are by your best friends,

and remember, likewise, that, after all, Todd is but a man, and by this

time he must be but a poor, weak, dispirited one, and much more intent

upon devising means for his own safety, than in carrying out his

revenges."

"If, indeed, he lives," said the colonel.

"Just so," said Ingestrie. "My opinion will very much incline to the

idea that he is dead, if Sir Richard Blunt does not very shortly get

some news of him."

"That will be a pity," said Tobias, "unless it can be proved past all

dispute, for while it continues only a likely thing, the dread of him

will still cling to my heart, and I shall never be happy."

"Nay, Tobias," said the colonel, "you must pluck up a spirit. The

probability is now, that Sweeney Todd, let him be where he may, is much

more afraid of meeting you than you can possibly be of meeting him."

"I wish I thought so," said Tobias. "But only look now how sweetly the

sun is peeping out on the water after the storm there. This is very

beautiful."

Tobias walked to the window; and his praise of the beauty of the morning

caused the breakfast-table to be, in a very few minutes, completely

deserted. To be sure, the praise that the imaginative boy had lavished

upon the young day, was by no means misapplied; for a more lovely day

than that which broke over Brighton, after that terrific gale in the

Channel, could not be conceived. It seemed as if the good genii of

earth, sea, and sky, were striving to banish from the minds of all the

inhabitants of that place the recollections of the frightful storm that

had made the world dismal and terrific.

"Indeed, it is lovely," said Johanna, "Who, now, to look at that placid

sheet of water, with scarce a ripple upon its surface to reflect the

sunbeams, would think that only a few hours ago, it presented a scene of

such fury that it was a shuddering terror to look upon it?"

"And yet," said Ingestrie, "it is these varieties that make the great

world beautiful."

"Not a doubt of it; but they require more stern minds than mine, Mark,

to stand them."

The party now, finding that the day was so delightful, sallied out to

the beach to make some inquiry among the sailors and boatmen, concerning

the damage that the gale had done. The moment Mark Ingestrie appeared

with his friends, he was recognised as the person who had performed the

gallant exploit of going through the surf to the rescue of the

shipwrecked man, and he became immediately the observed of all

observers.

This sort of homage was at once flattering and embarrassing to Johanna.

She felt proud that it was her husband who was entitled to so much

popular consideration and respect, and yet, with her natural timidity of

disposition, she shrank from sharing it with him.

Some eager inquiries were made of Ingestrie now, regarding the man he

had saved, and it was a great gratification to him to be enabled to

state that he was doing well, although he had not himself seen him since

he grappled with him in the water, and brought him to the beach.

A few fragments only of the wreck had been washed to the shore, but

nothing that could in any way enable them to identify the vessel; so

that that was a species of information that must come from the man who

had been saved, whenever he should be able to go through the fatigue of

an interview with his friend and his deliverer.

After an hour's stroll upon the beach, the party, at a slow pace,

returned to the house they had hired during their stay at Brighton. The

moment they got to the door, the colonel's servant appeared with his

horse, which he had ordered to be ready for him at twelve o'clock.

"Just walk him up and down," said the colonel, to the man; "I shall be

ready in a few minutes. Hilloa! my friend, Hector, are you here?"

The dog was with the horse, and the man said, touching his hat--

"We were half a mind, sir, to let Hector loose last night during the

storm, for he is a famous fellow in the water; but knowing how much you

valued him, we were afraid to do so."

"I am glad you didn't," said the colonel. "You were quite right to keep

him shut up. I would not have him come to any mischief for any money."

The colonel entered the house, and when he and all his friends had got

into the drawing-room, they sent for a servant to inquire how the poor

wrecked man was getting on; and after a little time, one of the

domestics of the house came to say that he was up and sitting, dressed,

in the front kitchen, and would be happy to see, and to thank those who

had saved him from death in the raging sea.

"Shall we have him up here?" said the colonel.

"Yes, if you please," said Ingestrie; "and, I daresay, a glass of wine

won't hurt him, while he tells us the name of his ship, poor fellow, and

who and what he is."

"Certainly not," said Mr. Oakley. "I will get out the decanter."

"Allow me, my dear," said Mrs. Oakley. "You know you always break every

glass that you interfere with."

"Oh, stuff!"

"But I say, Mr. Oakley, that you do."

"Easy does it," said Ben, in his deepest bass voice. "Easy does it, I

say--Easy!"

"How cold I am," said Tobias.

"Cold, Tobias!" said Ingestrie. "My good fellow, we will have a fire if

you are cold."

"Oh, no--no. Not on my account, Mr. Ingestrie, I shall be better soon;

but I feel as if something were going to happen. My heart beats so

fearfully, and at the same time, I shake as if--as if--I know not what."

"Give him a glass of wine," said Ingestrie to Johanna.

Tobias took the glass of wine, and it evidently did him some good; but

yet he looked ill and uneasy. Orders were given that the shipwrecked man

should be shown up to the drawing-room, for they were all curious to

know to what ship he had belonged, and how many had fallen victims to

the frightful gale that had made the vessel such a complete wreck.

"He is coming, poor fellow," said the colonel. "I hear his footsteps on

the stairs. He comes slowly. No doubt he is weak yet."

"Poor fellow!" sighed Johanna. "Have the wine ready to give him at once,

mother. It will put some heart into him. What must be his feelings

towards you, Mark?"

"Come now," said Ingestrie; "don't plague him, any of you, about his

being saved by me, and all that sort of thing. Just say nothing about

it. Sailors are no great orators, at the best of times, and if he begins

to make a speech about his gratitude, you may depend he will never get

to the end of it."

"Yes; but he ought to know," said Mrs. Oakley, "who he owes his life to,

under providence."

"Hem!" said Ben. He never liked to hear Mrs. Oakley begin to use

religious phrases, as they had a tendency to remind him of the late Mr.

Lupin.

The door of the drawing-room opened, and all eyes were eagerly bent in

that direction. A servant came in, and said--

"The poor man is here, if you please. Is he to come in, now? He seems

rather timid."

"Oh, yes," said Ingestrie, "let him come in, by all manner of means,

poor fellow. He and I made acquaintance in the sea, and we ought to be

good friends, now."

A tall, gigantic figure marched three paces into the room.

"_Todd!_" shouted Tobias. "_It is Todd!_"

It was Sweeney Todd! With one glance round the room, he recognised an

enemy in every face. With a perfect yell of fear and rage, he turned,

and dashed down the staircase. The servant who had conducted him up to

the drawing-room, and whom he met in his way, he knocked down with one

blow, and in another moment he was in the street. The colonel's horse

was close to the door. Todd felled the man who held it by a blow on the

top of the head, that took him so suddenly, he could not guard against

it, and then springing upon the horse, the murderer raised another wild

unearthly kind of shout, and set off at a gallop.

[Illustration: Todd Seizes The Colonel's Horse, Mounts, And Makes

Another Escape.]

So sudden--so totally unexpected, and so appalling had been the presence

of Todd in the drawing-room, that if a spectre had appeared among the

people there assembled, and they had had no possible means of escaping

from the belief that it was a spectre, they could not have been more

confounded than they were upon this occasion.

Poor Tobias, after uttering the exclamation that we have recorded, fell

flat upon the floor. Ben swung backwards in his chair, and went with a

tremendous crash right away into a corner. Ingestrie and the colonel

rose together, and impeded each other in their efforts to follow Todd.

Johanna, shrieking, clung to Ingestrie, and Arabella made a vain attempt

to delay the colonel.

"By Heaven he is off!" cried the colonel, as he heard the clatter of the

horse's feet.

"No!" shouted Ingestrie; "it cannot be!"

"Easy does it," said Ben, from the corner into which he had fallen.

"Easy--Easy!"

"Johanna, unhand me, I implore you," cried Mark Ingestrie. "Do you wish

the murderer to be lost sight of? Come on, colonel--you and I must

engage in this pursuit. God of Heaven! the idea of me saving Todd from

the waves!"

The colonel and Ingestrie seized their hats, and rushed down the stairs,

tumbling over the servant in the hall. The next object they came across

was the groom who had had charge of the horse. They found him sitting on

the pavement, looking as confused as possible.

"Which way has he gone?" cried the colonel.

"The--the man. Round that corner, and Hector has gone after him, like

mad, sir. Oh, dear!"

"Hector? Then he will be taken, for I will back Hector to hang upon him

like grim death. Come with me to the nearest stable, Ingestrie, and let

us get horses! Come--come!"