CHAPTER XCII.

MR. OAKLEY'S ANXIETIES MUCH DIMINISH.

For some few moments after this meeting, neither Mr. Oakley nor Johanna

could speak. At length the old spectacle-maker was just able to say--

"Great God, I thank thee, that once again I hold my darling to my

heart."

"Father--father," said Johanna. "Did you think for one moment that I

could have left you?"

"No my dear, no; but I was bewildered by all I heard. I was half mad I

think until I was told all; and now we will go home, my pretty darling,

at once, and we will have no secrets from each other. Dear heart, what a

pretty boy you make to be sure. But come--come. I am in an agony until I

have you home again."

"Father, listen to me."

"Yes my child--my darling. Yes."

"If it had not been for Sir Richard Blunt I should now have been with

the dead, and you and I would never have met again, but in another

world, father. I owe him, therefore, you will say, some gratitude."

"Some gratitude, my darling? We owe him a world of gratitude. Alas, we

shall never be able to repay him, but we will pray that he may be as

happy as his noble heart deserves, my dear. God bless him!"

"And, father, we will do any little thing he asks of us."

"We will fly to obey his commands, my dear, in all things. Night or day,

he will only have to speak to us, and what he says shall be our law."

"Then, father, he asks of me, for the cause of public justice, that I

should go back to Todd's, and wear this dress for the remainder only of

to-day. Can we refuse him?"

"Alas! Alas!" said the old man, "more trouble--more anxiety--more

danger."

"No, father. No danger. He will watch over me, and I have faith that

Heaven is with me."

"Can I part with you again?"

"Yes, for such an object. Do not, father, say no to me, for you may say,

and I will obey you; but with your own free consent, let me go now, and

do the bidding of the great and the good man who has saved me to once

more rest upon your breast, and kiss your cheek."

The old man shook for a moment, and then he said--

"Go, go, my child. Go, and take with you my blessing, and the blessing

of God, for surely that must be yours; but, oh! be careful. Remember, my

darling, that upon your safety hangs my life; for if I were to hear that

anything had happened to you, it would kill me. I have nothing now but

you in the world to live for."

"Oh, father, you do not mean to tell me that my mother is no more?"

"No, my dear. No.--Ask me nothing now. You shall know all at another

time. Only tell me when I shall see you again."

"At sunset," said Sir Richard Blunt, as he stepped into the room at this

moment. "At sunset, I hope, Mr. Oakley; and in the meantime be assured

of her perfect safety. I offer my life as security for hers, and would

not hesitate to sacrifice it for her."

The manner of the magistrate was such that no one could for one moment

doubt that he spoke the genuine sentiments at his heart; and such words,

coming from such a quarter, it may be well supposed were calculated to

produce a great impression.

"I am satisfied," said Mr. Oakley. "I should be more than an

unreasonable man if I were not fully convinced now of the safety of

Johanna."

When she had got her father to say this much, Johanna was anxious to be

off, and she signified as much to Sir Richard Blunt, who fully

acquiesced in the propriety of the measure, for already her absence had

been quite long enough from the shop, and Todd might not be in the best

of humours at her return.

After one more embrace, Johanna tore herself from her father's arms, and

followed the magistrate from the fruiterer's house, by the same route

which had conducted her to it.

On their way, he explained to her some little matters of which she was

in ignorance, or at least concerning which she could only conjecture.

"Both the persons, whom you left in Todd's shop," he said, "belong to my

force; and the one only went for the protection of the other, as I, of

course, surmised that you would be at once sent out of the way upon some

real or mock errand, to give Todd opportunity of committing a murder. My

great object is to find out precisely how he does the deed; and the man

who came in to be shaved was to make what observations of the place he

could during the ceremony, while the other distracted Todd's attention."

"I understand," said Johanna. "I of course knew that they were friends

when they mentioned the watchword of St. Dunstan to me."

"Exactly. I gave them instructions to seize the very first opportunity

of letting you hear the watch-word. Are there any large cupboards in the

shop?"

"Yes. There is one of great size."

"Would it, do you think, hold two men?"

"Oh, yes. Perchance you, who are tall, might have to stoop a little; but

with that exception as to height, there is most ample space."

"That will do then. I cannot tell you, of course, the exact hour; but be

it when it may, the moment Todd leaves the shop to day to go upon any

business out of doors, two persons from me will come to hide themselves

in that cupboard."

"They will use the watch-word?"

"Yes, certainly; and you will so dispose any movable article in the

shop, as to take away any idea that the cupboard had been visited, or in

the slightest degree interfered with."

"That I can easily do."

"Well, here we are, then, in Fleet-street again; and mind all this that

I have planned has nothing to do with your proceedings to call for

assistance, if any special or unforeseen danger should occur to you."

Johanna, upon this, showed him the jagged stone she had in her pocket,

to cast through the window.

"Yes, that would do," said Sir Richard; "but I would gladly supply you

with arms. Do you think you could manage a pistol, if you had one?"

"Yes. I have often looked at some fire-arms that my father had in his

shop to sell once, and I have seen them used."

"I am glad of that," continued Sir Richard. "Here are two very small

pistols loaded. They may be thoroughly depended upon in a room; but they

would not carry any distance, in consequence of the shortness of the

barrel. If, however, you should be in any sudden and extreme danger from

Todd, anywhere else than in the shop, or there, if you are pushed for

time, one of these fired in his face will be tolerably effective. You

can keep them both in your pocket."

The magistrate, as he spoke, handed to Johanna a pair of very small, but

exquisitely made pistols, encircled with silver mounting, and she

carefully concealed them, feeling still more secure from any treachery

upon the part of Todd, now that she held his life as much, if not more,

in her hands, than he held hers in his.

[Illustration: Sir Richard Gives Johanna Pistols For Her Protection.]

She shook her kind friend warmly by the hand, and then hastened to the

barber's shop. As she got near to it, she saw the tall thin man who had

so perplexed Todd about the religious tract, come out, and Todd followed

him to the door, looking after him with such an expression of deadly

malice, that Johanna could not but pause a moment to look at him.

He suddenly turned his eyes towards her, and saw her. He beckoned with

his finger, and she entered the shop.

"Well, Charley," he said, with quite an affectation of good humour. "You

are a good lad."

"I am glad you think so, sir," she replied, seeing that Todd paused for

an answer.

"I cannot but think so. I shall have to look over some accounts in the

parlour this morning, and if anybody--any female, I mean--comes for me,

say I have gone to the city, and that, after that, I said I would call

in Bell Yard before I came home. You well remember that, Bell Yard. Be

vigilant and discreet, and you shall have the reward that I have all

along intended for you, and which you should not miss upon any account."

"I am much beholden to you, sir. But if any one should come to be shaved

while you are in the parlour, what shall I say to them?"

"You can say I have gone to the Temple to dress Mr. Block's new wig, if

you like, so that you got rid of them, for I must not be disturbed on

any consideration."

"Very well, sir."

"Put another turf on the fire, Charley, and make yourself quite

comfortable."

What inconsistent amenity this was upon the part of Todd. It seemed as

though he had turned over a new leaf completely, and intended to put an

end to all suspicions, if he had any, of Charley Green; and after

that--after that, Todd still preserved his kind intention of cutting his

throat with one of the razors.

"The very best thing you can do with people," muttered Todd to himself,

as he went into the parlour, "is to cut their throats as soon as they

cease to be useful to you, for from that moment, if you do not put them

out of the way, they are almost certain to be mischievous to you."

What a pleasant lot of maxims Todd had, and what a beautiful system of

moral philosophy his was, to be sure!

One thing was quite evident, and that was that he fully expected and

dreaded the visit of Mrs. Lovett upon money matters. It will be

recollected that ten o'clock was named as about the hour when that lady

was to bring in her little account in the partnership affair of Todd,

Lovett, & Co.; and as he (Todd) had for once in his life been fairly

bothered to make any further excuses to so pertinacious a creditor as

Mrs. Lovett, he had hit upon the plan of trying to put her off during

the day by one means or another, and at night he would, at an earlier

hour than he had before intended, be off and away.

Everything was in readiness, and he considered Mrs. Lovett his only

hindrance--a danger he scarcely thought her--for, at the very worst, he

could not conceive that even her passion would be sufficient to induce

her to sacrifice herself, for the sake of revenge upon him.

His house was prepared so that a match would at any moment suffice to

give the touch that would set it in a blaze; and then, as he said--"Who

shall say where the conflagration among the old well-dried wooden houses

of Fleet-street may reach to?"

His passage in the Hamburgh ship was secure--the fearful proceeds of his

life of rapine and murder were in her hold. How uncommonly safe Todd

thought himself, and how well he considered he had managed his affairs.

Short-sighted mortals that we are! How often we mistake the shifting

morass of difficulty for the _terra firma_ of prosperity, and how often

do we weep for those events, which, in themselves and their results,

form the ground-work of the happiness of a life! Truly we are

"Such things as air is made of."

If Todd now for one moment could have imagined that his plunder, which

he believed was so safe on board the Hamburgh ship, was actually, on the

contrary, at the office of Sir Richard Blunt, in Craven-street, what

would have been his sensations? Would he have laughed and sniggered over

the bumper of brandy he was holding to his lips in his parlour? No,

indeed.

If he could but have guessed that the ship in which he had intended to

embark, was then twenty-four hours on her route, and battling with the

surging waves of the German Ocean, how would he have felt!

Strange to say, he never had felt so confident of success and triumph as

upon that day. He could have said with Romeo in Mantua--

"My bosom's lord sits lightly on its throne,"

while, like Romeo, he was on the eve of a blow that at once was to

topple to the dust the very structure of all his hopes. He of course

fully expected a visit from Mrs. Lovett, but he did hope that she would

take an answer from Charley, and go away again. If she did not he

trusted to the inspiration of the moment to be able to say something to

her which might have the effect of producing that which he wanted only,

namely, delay.