"I am certain I heard something," said a voice, and then the
parlour-door was opened, and a broad flash of light came into the shop. "I am quite sure I heard an odd noise." "Oh, nonsense," said some one else. "Nonsense." "But I did, I tell you." "Yes, you fancied it half-an-hour ago, and it turned out to be nothing
at all. Lord bless you, if I were to go on fancying things out of what I
have heard since I have been in this house, minding it for Sir Richard
Blunt, I should have been out of my mind long before this, I can tell
you." "But it was very odd." "Well, the shop is not so large: you can soon see if Todd is in it. Ha! ha! ha!" "No, no, I don't expect to see Todd there exactly, I confess; it would
not be a very likely place in which to find him." "Well, is there anything now?" "No--no. It all seems much as usual, and yet I thought I did hear a
noise; but I suppose it was nothing, or a rat, perhaps, for there are
lots, they say, below. It might have been a rat. I did not think that
before, and I feel all the easier now at the idea." "Then, come and finish our game." "Very good--all's right. You make a little drop of brandy-and-water, and
we will just have this game out before we go to rest, for I am getting
tired and it's late." "Not quite twelve yet." "Ain't it? There it goes by St. Dunstan's clock." Todd counted the strokes of the clock, and by the time they ceased to
reverberate in the night air, the man who most unquestionably had heard
a noise in the shop, had gone into the parlour again, half satisfied
that it was a rat, and sat down to the game at cards that had been
interrupted. These were two men that had been put into the house to mind it, until
the authorities should determine what to do with it, by Sir Richard
Blunt. They were not officers of any skill or repute, although they were
both constables; but then Sir Richard did not consider that anything in
the shape of great intelligence was required in merely taking care of an
empty house--for the idea of Todd ever visiting that place again, had
certainly been one that did not even enter the far-seeing brain of the
magistrate. "It's my deal," Todd heard one of them say, "but you go on, while I mix
the brandy-and-water." "Indeed!" muttered Todd, as he gathered up his gaunt form from under the
bench. "Indeed! So there are two of you, are there? Well, if there is
another world, you can keep each other company on your road to it, for I
am not going to let your lives stand in the way of my projects. No--no,
I shall yet polish off somebody in my old place, and it is a pleasure
that it should be two friends of that man Blunt, whom I so hate, that I
have no words in which to express it!" Todd crept up to the parlour door with the long knife in his hand that
he had bought at the cutler's in Camden Town, and putting his eyes close
to the pane of glass in the door, he looked in at the two men. They really seemed to be quite comfortable, those two men. A bright fire
was burning in the grate, and a kettle was singing away upon the hob at
a great rate. A pack of cards, some pipes, and some glasses, were upon
the table that they had dragged up close to the fire-side; and they
were, take them altogether, about as comfortable as anybody could well
expect to be in that gloomy parlour of Todd's, at his house of murder in
Fleet Street. They were stout strong men though, and as Todd looked, he thought to
himself, that with all his strength, and with all his desperate fighting
for life, as he would do, it was not a desirable thing for him to come
into personal contact with them. "Cunning," he muttered, "will do more than strength. I must bide my
time--but I will kill them both if they are in my way, and that they
will be, is nearly past a doubt!" "There," said the man who was mixing the brandy-and-water, "there, you
will find that a stiff comfortable glass; lots of brandy, and lots of
sugar, and only water enough to make it hot and steamy." "You know how to mix, Bill," said the other, as he took a drop and then
was obliged to cough and wink again, it was so strong and hot. "Ah!" thought Todd, "if it would only choke you!" The other man then took his drink at the brandy, and he too coughed and
winked, and then they both laughed and declared how precious strong it
was, and one of them said--

"The fun of it is, that it was old Todd's; and when he laid in such good
stuff as this, he little thought that we would be enjoying it. I wonder
where he is?" "Oh, he's far enough off by this time, poking about at some of the
sea-ports to try to get away, you may depend." "Is he," muttered Todd; "you will find, my kind friend, that I am near
enough to cut your throat, I hope." CHAPTER CXLV. TODD HAS A NARROW ESCAPE, AND HAS A BIT OF REVENGE. It was quite a provoking thing, and gall and wormwood to Todd in a
manner of speaking, to see those two boisterous men enjoying themselves
in his parlour. There could be no doubt in the world, but that if he had
had the means then and there to do so, he would have hurled destruction
upon them both forthwith; but he could only look at them now, and wait
for a better opportunity. The fact was, that now, for the first time, Todd found that the
architecture of his old place of residence was far from being of the
most convenient order; inasmuch as you could not reach the staircase
leading to the upper part of the residence, without going through the
parlour; so that he was a prisoner in the shop. "I tell you what it is, Bill," said one of the men, assuming quite a
philosophical look. "That fellow, Todd, as used to live here, after all,
was some use to society." "Was he?" "Yes, to be sure. Can't you guess?" "Not I. I can't see what use a fellow can be to society who cuts folks'
throats." "Can't you?" "No, nor you neither, if you come to that." "Yes I can. Don't it make folks careful of going into a strange barber's
shop, let me ask you that?" "Oh, you idiot. That's always the way with you. You begins with looking
as wise as an owl as has found out something wonderful, and then when
one comes to find out what it is, it's just nothing at all to nobody. I
tell you what it is, old fellow, it strikes me you are getting a drop
too much." "No--no; but I have got something on my mind." "It stands on a very small place, then. What is it?" "Just you listen and I'll tell you. I did think of not saying anything
about it, because you see I thought, that is to say, I was afraid if I
did, you would go off at once." "Off? Off?" "I don't mean dead--I mean out of this place, that's all, not out of
this world; but now I feel as if I ought to tell you all about it, you
know, and then you can judge for yourself. You know you slept here last
night on that large sofa in the corner?" "Yes, in course." "Very good; you had had what one may call just the other drop you know,
and so--"

"No I hadn't, but you had.