Johanna shuddered. "Yes," added Todd, as he wiped himself down with a soiled towel, "yes,
my mother used to make quite a pet of me. I often used to wish I was
strong enough to throttle her! Ha! ha! That I did!" "Throttle her, sir?" "Yes," added Todd, fiercely. "What the devil did she bring me into the
world for her own gratifications, unless she had plenty of money to give
me that I might enjoy myself in it?" "I don't know, sir." "You don't know? Who the devil supposed you did know? Answer me that,
you imp! Well, well, Charley, you and I won't quarrel about such
matters. Come, my boy, I want you to be of use to me to-night." "To-night, sir?" "Yes, to-night. Is it broad daylight? Is the sun shining? Is there no
such thing as night, under cover of which black deeds are done? Curse
you! why do you ask if to-night is the time for action?" "I will do your bidding, sir." "Yes; and--Ah! who is this?" "Is this here keg of turpentine for you?" said a man, with it upon his
shoulder. "Mr. Todd's this is, ain't it?" "Yes--yes. Put it down, my good fellow. You ought to have something to
drink." "Thank you kindly, sir." "But you must pay for it yourself. There is a public-house opposite." The man went away swearing; and scarcely had he crossed the threshold,
when a letter was brought by a lad, and handed to Todd. Before he could
ask any questions, the lad was gone. Todd held the letter in his hand, and glared at the direction. It was to
him, sure enough, and written in a very clerk-like hand, too. Before he
could open it, some one hit the door a blow upon the outside, and it
swung open. "Is this Todd's, the barber?" "Yes," said Johanna. "Then give him that letter, little chap, will you?" "Stop!" cried Todd. "Stop. Where do you come from, and who are you? Stop, you rascal. Will you stop? Confound you, I wish I had a razor at
your throat." CHAPTER LXXXVI. TODD RECEIVES TWO EXTRAORDINARY LETTERS, AND ACTS UPON THEM. Todd looked the picture of amazement. "Two letters!" he muttered, "two letters to me, who seldom receive any? To me who have no acquaintances--no relations? Bah! It must be some
mistake, or perhaps, after all, some infernal nonsense about the
parish." He tore open the last received one, and read as follows:--

"Colonel Jeffery informs Sweeney Todd that, although from a variety of
reasons he may not think proper to prosecute him for his recent outrage
at his house, he will, upon a repetition of such conduct, at once hand
him over to the police." Todd's countenance, during the perusal of this brief note, betrayed a
variety of emotions; and when he had concluded it, he let it drop from
his hands, and knitting his brows, he muttered--

"What does this mean?" That there was--that there must be something much more than met the eye
in this boasted clemency of the colonel towards him, he felt quite
convinced; but what it was, he was puzzled to think for a time. At
length, brightening up, he said--

"Yes, I have it. It is Tobias--it is Tobias. He cannot rid himself from
the idea that I have some mysterious power of injuring his mother; and
perhaps, after all, he may have made no disclosures to the colonel
injurious to me." Comforted by this wide supposition, Todd picked up the letter again, and
put it in his pocket carefully. "It is as well," he said, "for I shall not now be hurried. No, I shall
not be at all hurried now, which I might have been.--Charley." "Yes, sir." "Trim the lamp." Johanna did so; and while the process was going on, Todd opened the
other letter, it was as follows:--

    "Sir,--We beg to inform you that our Hamburgh vessel in which you
    have done us the favour to take passage, will not sail until
    to-morrow night at four, God willing, and that consequently there
    will be no occasion for your coming on board earlier.--We are, sir,

    "Your obedient servants,

    "BROWN, BUGGINS, MUGGS, AND SCREAMER." "To Mr. S. Todd." Todd ground his teeth together in a horrible manner. He dashed the
letter to the floor, and stamped upon it. "Curse Brown and Buggins!" he cried. "I only wish I could dash out Muggs
and Screamer's brains with Brown and Buggins's skulls. Confound them and
their ships. May they all go to the bottom when I am out of them, and be
smashed and d--d!" Johanna was amazed at this sudden torrent of wrath. She could not
imagine what had produced it, for Todd had read the letter in a
muttering tone, that effectually prevented her from hearing any of it. Suddenly he rose and rushed into the back room, and bolted the door upon
himself. He went to think what was best to be done. When he was alone he read both the letters again, and then he burst out
into such a torrent of wrath against the ship-owners, that it was a
mercy Johanna's ears were spared the dreadful words that came from his
lips. Suddenly he saw a postscript at the foot of the ship-owner's letter,
which he had at first overlooked. "P. S.--The ship is removed to Crimmins's Wharf, but will be at her
    old moorings at time mentioned above." "D--n Crimmins and his wharf, too!" cried Todd. He flung himself into a chair, and sat for a time profoundly still. During that period he tried to make up his mind as to what it would be
best for him, under the circumstances, to do. Many plans floated through
his imagination. He could not for a long time bring himself to believe
that the letter of the colonel's was anything but a feint to throw him
off his guard in some way. At length he got into a calmer frame of mind. "Shall I leave at once, or stay till to-morrow night, that is the
question?" He argued this with himself, pro and con. If he left he would have to secret himself somewhere all the following
day, and the fact of his having left would make an active search, safe
to be instituted for him, which would possibly be successful. Besides,
how was he to conveniently set fire to his house, unless he was off on
the moment that the flames burst forth? Then if he stayed he had Mrs. Lovett to encounter, but that was all; and
surely he could put her off for a few hours? Surely she, of all people
in the world, was not to run to a police-office and destroy both him and
herself, just because she did not get some money at ten o'clock that he
had promised to hand to her. "She shall be put off," he said, suddenly, "and I will stay over
to-morrow. I am safer here than anywhere else, of that I feel assured. If there are any suspicious whisperings about me at all, they will grow
to loud clamours the moment I am gone, and then they may reach the ears
of these ship-owners, and they may say at once, 'Why we have such a man
with a passage taken in one of our Hamburgh ships.' Let them say that
when the ship is some twenty hours gone with me on board, and I don't
care; but with me on land, and the ship only to sail, instead of having
actually sailed, it is quite a different matter." He rose from his seat. His mind was made up. He had not quite decided
what he should say to Mrs. Lovett, but he had decided upon staying.