"Yes, all, Tobias." "I will tell all I know. Come closer to me, Minna; I feel, when you are
near me, as though God had sent one of his angels to keep Todd from me. Oh, yes, I will tell all I know. How can he harm me now?" "How indeed, Tobias?" said Minna. Tobias still trembled. What a shock that bold, bad, unscrupulous man had
given to the nerves of that boy. His bodily health might be restored,
and his mind once more be brought back to sanity, but if Tobias Ragg
were to live to the age of a patriarch, the name of Todd would be to him
a something yet to shrink from, and the tone of his nervous system could
never be what it once was. Minna looked up in his face, and the colonel,
too, gazed fully upon him, so that Tobias found he was absolutely called
upon to say something. "Yes," he began, "I remember that people came to the shop, and--and that
they never went out of it again." "Can you particularise any instance?" "Yes, the gentleman with the dog." Colonel Jeffery showed by his countenance how much he was interested. "Go on," he said. "What about the gentleman with the dog?" "I don't know how it was," added Tobias, "but that circumstance seemed
to tell more upon my fancy than any other. I suppose it was the conduct
of the dog." "What sort of a dog was it?" "A large handsome dog, and Todd would not let it remain in the shop, so
his master made him wait outside." "Did he name the dog?" Tobias passed his hand across his brow several times, and then his
countenance suddenly brightening up, he said--

"Hector! Yes, Hector!" Colonel Jeffery nodded. "What then happened, Tobias?" said Minna. "Why, I think Todd sent me out upon some message, and when I came back
the gentleman was gone, but not the dog." "Now, Tobias, can you tell us what sort of a man the man with the dog
was?" "Yes, fresh-coloured, and good-looking rather, with hair that curled. I
should know him again." "Ah, Tobias," said the colonel, "I am afraid we shall none of us ever
see him again in this world." "Never!" said Tobias. "Todd killed him. How he did it, or what he did
with the body, I know not; but he did kill him, and many more, I am
certain as that I am now here. Many people came into the shop that never
left it again." "No doubt; and now, Tobias, how came you in the street by London Bridge
so utterly overcome and destitute?" "The madhouse." "Madhouse?" "Yes, I shall recollect it all. Where are you, mother?" "Bless us and save us!--here, to be sure," said Mrs. Ragg. "Did I not come to you at your room and find you ironing, and did I not
tell you that I had something to say about Todd, and ask you to fetch
somebody?" "To be sure." "Well, when you left, Todd came, and after once looking in his face, I
almost forgot what happened, except that there was a madhouse and a man
named Watson." "Watson?" said Colonel Jeffery, as he made a note of the name. "Yes," added Tobias, "and Fogg." "Good! Fogg, I have it. Now, Tobias, where did you encounter this Fogg
and Watson?" "That I cannot tell. I recollect trees, and a large house, and rooms,
and a kind of garden, and some dark and dismal cells, and then my mind
seems, when I think of all those things, like some large room full of
horrors, and anything comes before me just like some dreadful dream. I
recollect falling, I think, from some wall, and then running at my
utmost speed until I fell, and then the next thing that I remember was
hearing the voice of Minna in this house." "One thing," said Captain Rathbone, "is pretty certain, and that is,
that this madhouse, if it were one in reality, must be in the immediate
vicinity of London, or else the strength of Tobias would not have
enabled him to run so far as to London from it." "Mrs. Ragg, I believe Todd told you that he had placed Tobias in a
madhouse, did he not?" said the colonel. "Yes, sir, he did, the wagabone!" "Well, I am inclined to think that it was a madhouse--one of those
private dens of iniquity which are, and have been for many years, a
disgrace to the jurisprudence of this country." "If so, then," said the captain, "there will be no great difficulty in
finding it with the clue that Tobias has given us respecting the names." "I will not be satisfied until I have rooted out that den," said the
colonel, "but at present all our exertions must be directed to ascertain
the fate of poor Ingestrie. Every circumstance appears really to combine
in favour of the opinion of Johanna Oakley, to the effect that this
Thornhill and Mark Ingestrie were the same." "It does look marvellously probable," said the captain. "Do you recollect any more, Tobias?" said Minna. "Not clearly, Minna, and I am afraid that what I have recollected is not
very clear, but it was the dog that made an impression upon my memory. Many things are, however, now each moment crowding to my mind, and I
think that I shall soon be able to recollect much more." "Not a doubt, Tobias. Do not attempt to strain your memory too far now. Things will come back to you gently, and by degrees." "I have no doubt of that, sir, but--but--"

"But what, Tobias?" "Oh, sir, you are quite sure--"

"Sure of what?" "That when I least expect it, round the curtains of my bed, or from
behind some chair, or from some cupboard about twilight, I shall not see
the hideous face of Sweeney Todd, and feel his eyes glancing upon me?" Poor Tobias covered his eyes with both his hands, as he gave almost
frenzied utterance to these words, and both Colonel Jeffery and his
friend, the captain, looked on with aspects of deep commiseration. The
former, after the pause of a few moments, to allow the renewed
excitement of Tobias fully to subside, spoke to him in a kind but firm
voice. "Tobias, listen to me. Do you hear me?" "Yes, sir--oh, yes." "Then I have to tell you that it is impossible Sweeney Todd can now come
upon you in the way you mention, or in any other way." "Impossible, sir?" "Yes, quite. He is now watched by the officers of justice, day and
night. His house door is never lost sight of for a moment while he is
within it, and when he is abroad, he is closely followed and carefully
watched by men, any one of whom is more than a match for him; so be at
peace upon that head, for Sweeney Todd is more securely kept now than
any wild beast in his den." CHAPTER LVII. SIR RICHARD BLUNT'S ADVENTURES CONTINUED. All left Sir Richard Blunt, not in a critical situation, but in what may
be called an embarrassing one, inasmuch as he could not very well make
up his mind what to do next. He had heard much towards her enunciation
from the lips of Mrs. Lovett, and he had possessed himself of some
property, which he hoped would be authenticated as having belonged to
some of Todd's victims. He had likewise found out the mode of secret
communication with the ovens below, but whether or not to make any
further use of that information just then was a question. While he was
debating these matters in his mind, he saw that his little wax light was
expiring.