The absolute dread with
which that bold impious bad man had inspired the boy, had been the sole
cause of keeping him in so delicate a state. His dreams had been all of
Todd; but now that word Newgate, in conjunction with Todd's name, was a
spell that brought with it peace and security. Tobias, as he sat with the hand of the young and fair girl who had
pleased his boyish fancy in his own, was now truly happy. When Johanna got home, after being escorted from Sir Richard Blunt's
house in Craven Street by Colonel Jeffery, she found her mother at home,
and not a little surprised was she to find herself suddenly clasped in
that mother's arms, a most unwonted process for Mrs. Oakley to go
through. "Oh, my child, my dear child!" sobbed the now repentant woman. "Can you
forgive me as your father has done?" "Forgive you, mother? Oh, do not speak to me in such a way as that. It
is quite a joy to find you--you are really my mother?" "You might well doubt it, my dear child; but the future is before us
all, and then you will find that it was only when I could not have been
in my right mind, that I preferred any place to my own home." Old Oakley wiped his eyes as he said to Johanna--

"Yes, my darling, your mother has come back to us now in every sense of
the word, and all the past is to be forgotten, except such of it as will
be pleasant to remember. Your good friend, and I may say the good friend
of us all, Sir Richard Blunt, sent us a letter to say that you would be
here to-night, and God bless him my child, for watching over you as he
did." "Oh, how perilous an enterprise you went upon, my darling," said Mrs.
Oakley. The door of the adjoining room was partially open, and from it now
stepped forward Arabella, saying--

"It is I who ought to ask pardon of you all for advising that step; and
you will grant me that pardon I am sure, if upon no other ground, upon
that that I have suffered greatly for my folly and precipitation." "My dear Arabella," said Johanna, "you must not blame yourself in such a
way. How pleased I am to find you here, my dear friend. Ah! at one time
how little did we ever expect to meet all thus, in this little room!" Johanna and Arabella embraced each other, and while they were so
occupied, big Ben came out of the room from whence Arabella had
proceeded, and flinging his arms round them both, he made a great
roaring noise, in imitation of the largest of the bears in the Tower
collection. At the moment, Johanna was alarmed, and could not conceive what it was;
but Arabella, who knew that Ben had been in the room, waiting for some
opportunity of coming out in a highly practical manner, only laughed,
and then Johanna knew in a moment who it was, and she cried--

"Ben, it is you!" "Yes, it's me," said Ben, "and I'm only astonished at you two girls
fancying I was going to be quiet, and see all that kissing and hugging
going on, and not come in for any of it. Don't kick now, for I must kiss
you both, and there's an end of it. It's no use a-kicking." To the credit of both Arabella and Johanna we may state, that they
neither of them kicked, but very quietly let Ben kiss them both. "Well," said Ben as he plumped himself down upon a chair after the
salute. "Well!--Murder! Where am I going to now?" "Dear me," said Mrs. Oakley. "All four legs of the chair are broken off,
and Ben is on the floor." "Really, Ben," said Mr. Oakley, "you ought to be perfectly careful when
you sit down." "Easy does it," said Ben. "I really thought I was going to kingdom come. Pull me, Johanna, my dear. Pull me up." Johanna shook her head, and declined the Herculean attempt, so that Ben
had to scramble to his feet the best way he could, and then as he sat
down upon the sofa which was sufficiently strong to withstand any
shocks, Mrs. Oakley asked him what it was he had been upon the point of
saying, when the chair had so very unceremoniously given way with him;
but Ben had quite forgotten it, only he said he recollected something
else that was quite as good, and that was that he ordered to come about
that hour a foaming tankard of mulled wine, and then he winked at Mrs.
Oakley and hoped she had no medicine in the house to put in it. "Oh, no, Ben," she said, "and if there isn't a knock at the door; and if
you ordered it at the Unicorn's Tail, you may depend that's it." "Very good," said Ben, and then he proceeded to the door and found that
it was the boy from the Unicorn's dorsal appendage with the spiced wine;
and after whispering to bring a similar quantity in half an hour, and to
keep on at it every half hour until further orders, Ben took it into the
parlour, and a happier party than was there could not have been found in
all London. CHAPTER CXIX. THE CRIMINALS IN NEWGATE.--TODD'S ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE. It is grievous to turn from the contemplation of so pleasant and
grateful a scene as that that was taking place at the old
spectacle-maker's house, to dive into the interior of Newgate. But
thither it is that now we would conduct the reader. The state of mind that Todd was in after his arrest, was one that such a
man with such strong passions as he had was exceedingly unlikely to come
to. It is difficult to describe it, but if we say that he was mentally
stunned, we shall be as near the mark as language will permit us to be. He walked, and looked, and spoke very much like a man in a dream; and it
is really doubtful whether, for some hours, he comprehended the full
measure of the calamity that had befallen him on his apprehension. At Newgate they are quite accustomed to find this unnatural calmness in
great criminals immediately after their arrest, so they take their
measures accordingly. Sir Richard Blunt had given some very special instructions to the
Governor of Newgate concerning his prisoner, when he should arrive and
be placed in his custody, so everything was ready for Todd. How little
he suspected that for two days and two nights the very cell he was to
occupy in Newgate had been actually pointed out, and that the irons in
which his limbs were to be encompassed were waiting for him in the
lobby! He was placed in a small stone room that had no light but what came from
a little orifice in the roof, and that was only a borrowed light after
all, so that the cell was in a state of semi-darkness always. Into this place he was hurried, and the blacksmith who was in the habit
of officiating upon such occasions, riveted upon him, as was then the
custom, a complete set of irons. All this Todd looked at with seeming indifference. His face had upon it
an unnatural flush, and probably Todd had never looked so strangely well
in health as upon the occasion of the first few hours he spent in
Newgate. "Now, old fellow," said one of the turnkeys, "I'm not to be very far
off, in case you should happen to want to say anything; and if you give
a rap at the door, I'll come to you." "In case I want to say anything?" said Todd. "Yes, to be sure. What, are you asleep?" "Am I asleep?"