"I think now," said the judge "we may proceed to business. This riot has
been a most disgraceful one, and if the officers will bring any one
before me who has taken part in it, I will commit him to prison at
once." "They are all dispersed, my lord," said Sir Richard. "The court thanks you, sir," said the judge. "Let the proceedings
commence at once." Todd now glared about him, and his lips kept moving as though he were
repeating something to himself in a whisper. The Governor of Newgate
leant forward, and said--

"Do you wish to say anything?" "Yes. Where is _she_?" "Mrs. Lovett do you mean?" "I do. Why am I here, and she not? Where is she? If she be innocent, why
then so am I. I do not see her." "She will not be here." "Not here? How--why?" "She is dead." Todd nearly dropped to the floor, and from that moment a great portion
of his courage, small as it was, departed, and he looked like a ghost
rather than a living man. At times, he kept muttering to himself the
word--"Dead--dead--dead!" The usual formalities were gone through, and then Todd was roused up to
plead to the indictment, charging him with the murder of Francis
Thornhill. The governor touched him on the shoulder. "Plead to the indictment," he said. "Dead!" cried Todd. "Why is she dead?" "Prisoner at the bar," said the clerk of the arraign. "Do you plead
guilty or not guilty to the charge here made against you?" "Not guilty!" cried Todd, as he roused himself up, and glared at the
judge like an enraged tiger. Government had entrusted the prosecution to the Attorney General of the
time being, and that functionary was in court. He rose to open the case,
and spoke as follows, amid the most breathless silence--

"My lord, and gentlemen of the jury--

"The prisoner at the bar was originally indicted along with a female
named Lovett--"

"Where is she?" said Todd. "Prisoner," said the judge, "at the proper time you will have an
opportunity of making any observation you may think fit, but it is
scarcely necessary for me to inform you that this is not the time." "She is not dead!" cried Todd. "She has been let escape by some
juggling, in order that all the vengeance of the law might be directed
against me. It is not true that she is dead. Some of you are chargeable
with allowing that woman to escape. I tell you that she is a fiend and
not a woman. But she has had gold at her disposal, and she has bribed
you all--I say she has bought you all." "Prisoner," said the judge, "this cannot be permitted. You only deeply
prejudice your own case by this conduct." "That is impossible. I know that you are all in one large conspiracy
against me, and you have let that woman escape, in order that the last
drop should not be wanting to fill my cup of bitterness to the
overflowing." "It will be impossible," said the Attorney-General, "to proceed with the
case, if the prisoner at the bar continues these interruptions." "Prisoner," said the judge, "I, and all here present, are disposed to
give any allowance and indulgence to a man in your situation; but let me
beg of you to be silent." "I am done," said Todd, "but it is false to say that she is dead. That
fiend cannot die. She is a devil, I tell you all, and if there be any
here who fancy that she is dead, I tell them that they are mistaken. She
cannot be killed. I know that well. Go on with what you call your
proceedings; I have no more to say to you." CHAPTER CXXVII. THE TRIAL OF SWEENEY TODD CONTINUED. This ebullition of feeling upon the part of Sweeney Todd was by some of
the spectators looked upon as a vague indication of insanity, while some
of the members of the bench looked very mysterious, and asked themselves
if it were not the first step in the direction of some very clever
defence. But then they were gentlemen who never exactly saw anything as
the world in general agrees to see it. The judge shook his head as if he rather doubted Sweeney Todd's implicit
promise that he would not again interrupt the proceedings; and among the
whole of the spectators of that most extraordinary trial, the most
intense interest was evidently rather on the increase than the
diminution. The judge finding that Todd did not again say anything for a few
moments, slightly inclined his head to the Attorney-General, as much as
to say--"Pray get on, now that there seems an opportunity of so doing;"
and that personage, learned in the law, accordingly rose again, and
having adjusted his gown, addressed himself again to the case before
him, with his usual skill. "My lords, and gentlemen of the jury--

"If this were only some ordinary everyday proceeding, I should not sit
so calmly under the indecorous interruptions of the prisoner at the bar;
but when I feel, in common with all here present, that that person has
so great a stake as his life upon the issue of this investigation, I am
disposed in all charity to allow a latitude of action, that otherwise
would not, and could not, be endured. "Gentlemen of the jury, I yet hope that these unseemly interruptions are
over, and that I shall be permitted in peace to make those remarks to
you, which it is my duty to make on behalf of the crown, who prosecutes
in this serious case. "Nothing can be further from my wish than to heighten by any strength of
phraseology or domestic detail the case against the prisoner at the bar. I shall confine myself to a recital of the bare facts of the case,
feeling that, while I cannot detract from them, they are of such a
character of horror, as to require no adventitious aid from the art of
the orator. "Gentlemen, it appears that the prisoner at the bar is arraigned for the
wilful murder of Francis Thornhill. From what information we have been
able to collect, the prisoner, Sweeney Todd, is a native of the north of
England. He came to London about eighteen years ago, and was in very
great poverty, when he opened a small barber's shop in Crutched Friars. He remained in that shop about seventeen months, and then paid one
hundred and twenty-five pounds for the lease of a house in Fleet Street,
for which he was thus only to pay a rental to the Skinners' Company of
seventeen pound ten per annum, he consenting to keep the premises in
ordinary repair. "The lower part of this house had been a small hosier's; but the
prisoner at the bar altered it into a barber's shop, and he has there
continued to reside until his arrest upon the serious charge which we
are brought here to investigate. "What were the pursuits of the prisoner during his occupancy of that
house, it is not our province just now to inquire, as all our attention
must be directed to a consideration of the one charge, to answer to
which he stands at the bar of this court; and I shall, therefore,
proceed to detail the evidence upon which the prosecution founds that
charge:--

"It appears that upon the third day of August last, a ship of 400 tons
burthen, called the Star, arrived in the London Docks. On board of that
ship was the captain, and a crew of nine seamen, and two boys.