Several of the cupboards in the room yielded at once to his hands, and
in them he found nothing remarkable; but there was one that he could not
open; so, without a moment's hesitation, he had recourse to the bar of
iron again, and broke its lock, when the door swung open,--and to his
astonishment there tumbled out of this cupboard such a volley of hats of
all sorts and descriptions, some looped with silver, some
three-cornered, and some square, that they formed quite a museum of that
article of attire, and excited the greatest surprise in the mind of
Tobias, at the same time that they tended very greatly to confirm some
other thoughts and feelings which he had concerning Sweeney Todd. This
was the only cupboard which was fast, although there was another door
which looked as if it opened into one, but when Tobias broke that down
with the bar of iron, he found it was the door which led to the
staircase conducting to the upper part of the house--that upper part
which Sweeney Todd, with all his avarice, would never let, and of which
the shutters were kept continually closed, so that the opposite
neighbours never caught a glimpse into any of the apartments. With
cautious and slow steps, which he adopted instantaneously, although he
knew that there was no one in the house but himself, Tobias ascended the
staircase. "I will go to the very top rooms first," he said to himself, "and so
examine them all as I come down, and then if Todd should return
suddenly, I shall have a better chance of hearing him, than as if I
began below and went upwards." Acting upon this prudent scheme, he went up to the attics, all the doors
of which were swinging open, and there was nothing in any of them
whatever. He descended to the second floor with the like result, and a
feeling of great disappointment began to creep over him at the thought
that, after all, the barber's house might not repay the trouble of
examination. But when he reached the first floor he soon found abundant
reason to alter his opinion. The doors were fast, and he had to burst
them open; and, when he got in, he found that those rooms were partially
furnished, and that they contained a great quantity of miscellaneous
property of all kinds and descriptions. In one corner was an enormous
quantity of walking-sticks, some of which were of a very costly and
expensive character, with gold and silver chased tops to them, and in
another corner was a great number of umbrellas--in fact, at least a
hundred of them. Then there were boots and shoes lying upon the floor,
partially covered up, as if to keep them from dirt; there were thirty or
forty swords of different styles and patterns, many of them appearing to
be very firm blades, and in one or two cases the scabbards were richly
ornamented. At one end of the front and larger of these two rooms, was
an old-fashioned-looking bureau of great size, and with as much
wood-work in it as seemed required to make at least a couple of such
articles of furniture. This was very securely locked, and presented more
difficulties in the way of opening it than any of the doors had done,
for the lock was of great strength and apparent durability. Moreover it
was not so easily got at, but at length by using the bar as a sort of
lever, instead of as a mere machine to strike with, Tobias succeeded in
forcing this bureau open, and then his eyes were perfectly dazzled with
the amount of jewellery and trinkets of all kinds and descriptions that
were exhibited to his gaze. There was a great number of watches, gold
chains, silver and gold snuff-boxes, and a large assortment of rings,
shoe-buckles, and brooches. These articles must have been of great
value, and Tobias could not help exclaiming aloud--

"How could Sweeney Todd come by these articles, except by the murder of
their owners?" This, indeed, seemed but too probable a supposition, and the more
especially so, as in a further part of this bureau a great quantity of
apparel was found by Tobias. He stood with a candle in his hand, looking
upon these various objects for more than a quarter of an hour, and then
as a sudden and a natural thought came across him of how completely a
few of them even would satisfy his wants and his mother's for a long
time to come, he stretched forth his hand towards the glittering mass,
but he drew it back again with a shudder, saying--

"No--no, these things are the plunder of the dead. Let Sweeney Todd keep
them to himself, and look upon them, if he can, with eyes of enjoyment. I will have none of them; they would bring misfortune along with every
guinea that they might be turned into." As he spoke, he heard St. Dunstan's clock strike nine, and he started at
the sound, for it let him know that already Sweeney Todd had been away
an hour beyond the time he said he would be absent, so that there was a
probability of his quick return now, and it would scarcely be safe to
linger longer in his house. "I must be gone--I must be gone. I should like to look upon my mother's
face once more before I leave London for ever perhaps. I may tell her of
the danger she is in from Todd's knowledge of her secret; no--no, I
cannot speak to her of that; I must go, and leave her to those chances
which I hope and trust will work favourably for her." Flinging down the iron bar which had done him such good service, Tobias
stopped not to close any of those receptacles which contained the
plunder that Sweeney Todd had taken most probably from murdered persons,
but he rushed down stairs into the parlour again, where the boots that
had fallen out of the cupboard still lay upon the floor in wild
disorder. It was a strange and sudden whim that took him, rather than a
matter of reflection, that induced him, instead of his own hat, to take
one of those which were lying so indiscriminately at his feet; and he
did so. By mere accident it turned out to be an exceedingly handsome
hat, of rich workmanship and material, and then Tobias, feeling
terrified lest Sweeney Todd should return before he could leave the
place, paid no attention to anything, but turned from the shop, merely
pulling the door after him, and then darting over the road towards the
Temple like a hunted hare; for his great wish was to see his mother, and
then he had an undefined notion that his best plan for escaping the
clutches of Sweeney Todd would be to go to sea. In common with all boys
of his age, who know nothing whatever of the life of a sailor, it
presented itself in the most fascinating colours. A sailor ashore and a
sailor afloat, are about as two different things as the world can
present; but, to the imagination of Tobias Ragg, a sailor was somebody
who was always dancing hornpipes, spending money, and telling wonderful
stories.