I was for a moment preaching; but here is the door
open, and now I beg that you will tread as though you trod upon a mine,
for we do not know what persons in this portion of this confounded
building may be upon the alert." "Oh, that we were only in the open air!" said Todd. "Hush! hush!" The villain Lupin, almost as bad in his way as Todd was in his, now
shaded the little light with his hands, and crept on slowly and
cautiously, until he reached the staircase, which was nicely empanelled,
and up that he slowly took his way. Before he got to the top of it, he
blew out the light, and waiting there until Todd was close to him, he
said, in the smallest possible whisper--

"Follow me, and be careful, I am afraid the light might gleam through
some key-hole, and betray us. Come on, and recollect that a slip or a
stumble may be fatal. Think that the rope is about your neck." "I will," said Todd. "I will. I almost seem to feel it actually. Oh,
yes, I will be very careful." "Hush! hush! Are you mad to go on talking so?" Todd said no more, and Lupin crept on until he got right to the top of
the stairs. Then holding by a balustrade that was continued along the
landing, he reached the head of another flight of steps, which led
directly down to the hall or passage of the Governor's house. Lupin was
terribly afraid that Todd would come upon these second stairs at
unawares, and stumble down some of them, so he waited at the head of
them, until Todd touched him, and then he whispered the one word,
"Stairs." "Yes," replied Todd, and then Lupin commenced the descent, followed by
his trembling companion, and for the matter of that, Lupin himself shook
now like an aspen leaf. The steps were fourteen in number, and then, by the feel of a mat at the
foot of them, Lupin was satisfied that he had actually gained the hall
of the Governor's house. Todd was close behind him. "Stop!" whispered Lupin, and Todd stopped as suddenly as though he had
been some piece of machinery that could be in a moment arrested in its
progress. Lupin well knew now that without a light it would be folly to attempt
opening the door of the Governor's house, which, as a matter of course,
was well secured; and very reluctantly he lit another match, and ignited
the wax candle-end again. He placed Todd in such a position on the mat
at the foot of the stairs, that his bulky tall form acted as a screen
against the rays of the light ascending the staircase, and then, with
something of his old nervousness and abject fear of manner and
expression, he narrowly scrutinized the door. "Curses on all these precautions!" he muttered. "We may be detained here
until morning." In good truth, the door of the Governor's house was very well fastened
up, and Mr. Lupin might well feel a little staggered at the sight of it. A chain that was up across it, he easily removed, and the bolts offered
no obstacles; but what was the most serious consisted of a small, but
exquisitely made lock that was on the door, and the key of which, no
doubt, at such an hour was under the Governor's pillow. Todd at that moment would have given anything to be able just to say--

"How are you getting on?" but in such a place, with, for all he knew to
the contrary, the Governor of Newgate within a dozen yards of him, he
dared not open his lips. And now Lupin brought all his old skill to bear upon that one little
lock upon the Governor's door, and yet it resisted him. One five
minutes' attempt to pick it was to him pretty conclusive evidence that
it was not to be done. He had the chisel in his pocket, and in despair he inserted it between
the door and the post. It broke short off by the handle. Lupin uttered a
groan, which was echoed by Todd, and then they both stood glaring at
each other in solemn silence. Todd crept towards Lupin, and leaning
forward he whispered faintly--

"It can't be done?" "No," said Lupin, "that lock stops us." "Lost--lost!" said Todd. "We are lost, then?" "Hush. Let me think. The key of this lock is with the Governor, of
course. Now, Todd, you are a man of strong nerves, you know, or else it
would have been quite impossible for you to have gone through life in
the way you have done. What do you say to going and trying to get the
key?" "I--I?" "Yes, to be sure. I have, up to this moment, you know, done all the
work, and if this lock had not baffled me, I would have done the
remainder cheerfully; but could you not take one of these files--the end
of it is very sharp--and persuade the Governor to give up the key?" "Kill him, you mean?" "You may call it killing." "If I thought it could be done with anything like a certainty of result,
I would make no more of the life of the Governor than--than--"

Todd was at a loss for a simile, and Lupin helped him out of the
difficulty by saying--

"Giving a man a clean shave for one penny, or eating a veal pie." Todd nodded. "Now, hark you," continued Lupin, speaking in the same very low whisper,
indeed, that he had conducted the conversation in. "It is quite a
maddening thing, you see, to find that there is nothing between us and
liberty but this door. Every moment is of the greatest possible
importance. Will you do it?" "Are you mad?" "No. I am quite sane, I confess, though that I have not the pluck to do
it. You ought to be a man of courage. What is it to you, if you were to
murder everybody in this house, so that you got this door open? That is
the great object, the only object; and to you, you know, three or four
more deaths will not make much consequence." "My friend," said Todd, with a sickly smile, "I am afraid you believe
the calumnies that have been heaped upon my innocent head. But, if
nothing can be done, but what you say, I will make the attempt. There
are two files, though, and they are equally sharp. Do you take one, and
I will take the other." "You want me with you?" "I do, most, surely." "Well--well; if it must be so, it must. I will come. Let us set about it
at once, and--"

Before Mr. Lupin could say another word, there came a sharp rap at the
door from the outside with the knocker; and so sudden and so utterly
unexpected was the sound at such an hour, that Lupin and Todd fell on
each other in their hurry to escape, they knew not where. CHAPTER CXXXV. THE CHASE THROUGH SMITHFIELD, AND THE MURDER. They were afraid to speak, were those two murderers, as they now stood
trembling in the passage of the Governor's house in Newgate. They could
only be conscious of each other's presence by the hard breathing which
their fears gave rise to, and as Lupin had extinguished the little
light, the most intense darkness reigned around them. Bang--bang--bang! went the knocker upon the door of the Governor's house
again. "Lost--lost!" said Todd. If Lupin was not the most hardened villain of the two, he was certainly
at that moment the most courageous. He aimed a blow at Todd in the dark
to give effect to his admonition for silence; but it did not take
effect.