"Nearly?" "Reether, but here I is. I got out and crept up stairs as soon as I
could, cos, says I, the governor will wonder what the deuce has become
of me." "I did, indeed." "Just as I thought. Sir Richard, just listen to me! I've got a fancy for
Todd." "A fancy for Todd?" "Yes, and I want to stay here a few hours--yes, go and let them as is
outside know all's right, and leave me here, I think somehow I shall
like to be in this crib alone with Todd for an hour or two. You have got
other business to see to, you know, so just leave me here; and mind yer,
if I don't get here by six in the morning, just consider as he's got the
better of me." "No, Crotchet, I cannot." "Can't what?" "Consent to leave you here alone." "Bother! what's the row, and where's the danger, I should like to know? Who's Todd? Who am I? Gammon!" Sir Richard shook his head, although Crotchet could not very well see
him shake it, and after a pause he added--

"I don't suppose exactly that there is much danger, Crotchet, but, at
all events, I don't like it said that I brought you into this place and
then left you here." "Bother!" "You go and leave me." "A likely joke that. No, I tell yer what it is, Sir Richard. You knows
me and I knows you, so what does it matter what other folks say? Business is business I hope, and don't you believe that I'm going to be
such a flat as to throw away my life upon such a fellow as Todd. I think
I can do some good by staying here; if I can't I'll come away, but I
don't think, in either case, that Todd will see me. If he does I shall,
perhaps, be forced to nab him, and that, after all, is the worst that
can come of it." "Well, Crotchet, you shall have your own way." "Good." "I will return to the attic as soon as I conveniently can, and, let what
will happen to you, remember that you are not deserted." "I knows it." "Good bye. Take care of yourself, old friend." "I means it." "I should be indeed afflicted if anything were to happen to you." "Gammon." Sir Richard left him his own pistols, in addition to the pair which he,
Crotchet, always had about him, so that he was certainly well-armed, let
what would happen to him in that house of Sweeney Todd's, which had now
become something more than a mere object of suspicion to the police. Well, they knew Todd's guilt--it was the mode in which he was guilty
only that still remained a mystery. The moment Sir Richard Blunt reached
the attic again, he held his arm out at full length from the window, and
waved to and fro the little lantern as a signal to the officers in the
street that he was safe. This done, he would not return to the room he
had hired of the bootmaker, but he resolved to wait about ten minutes
longer in case anything should happen in the house below that might
sound alarming. After that period of time, he resolved upon leaving for
an hour or two, but he, of course, would not do so without apprising his
officers of Crotchet's situation. During the time that had been passed
by Crotchet and Sir Richard Blunt in Sweeney Todd's house, the shoemaker
and his wife had had an adventure which created in their minds abundance
of surprise. It will be recollected that the shoemaker's wife had
decided upon what was to be done regarding the new lodger--namely, that
under the pretence that a Mr. Jones was a more satisfactory lodger, he
was to be asked to be so good as to quit the attic he had so strangely
taken. The arrival of Mr. Crotchet with so different a story from that
told by Sir Richard Blunt certainly had the effect of engendering many
suspicions in the minds of Sir Richard's new landlord and landlady. "Well, my dear," said the shoemaker, "if you are willing to come up
stairs, I will say what you wish to this man, particularly as his
pretended friend don't seem to be coming down stairs again." "Very well, my dear; I'll take the kitchen poker and follow you, and
while I am behind you, if I think he is a pleasant man, you know, and we
had better let him stay, I will give you a slight poke." "A-hem! Thank you--yes." Armed with the poker, the lady of the mansion followed her husband up
the staircase, and perhaps we may fairly say that curiosity was as
strong a feeling with her as any other in the business. To tell the
truth, the shoemaker did not half like the job; but what will a man, who
is under proper control at home, not do to keep up the shallow treaty of
peace which his compliance produces between him and his better half? Is
there anything which a hen-pecked husband dares say he will not do, when
the autocrat of his domestic hearth bids him do it? Up--up the long dark
staircase they went! Our ancestors, as one of their pieces of wisdom,
had a knack of making steep dark staircases; and, to tell the truth,
there are many modern architects equally ingenious. At length the attic
landing was reached. The shoemaker knew the localities of his house
better than to make such a mistake as Crotchet had done; so the old
lady, with her feet in the pan of water, was saved such another
interruption as had already taken place into her peaceful domains. "Now, my dear, knock boldly," said the lady of the mansion. "Knock like
a man." "Yes, my love." The shoemaker tapped at the door with about the energy of a fly. The
soft appeal produced no effect whatever, and the lady growing impatient,
then poised the poker, and dealt the door a blow which induced her
husband to start aside, lest the lodger should open it quickly, and rush
out in great wrath. All was profoundly still, however; and then they
tried the lock, and found it fast. "He's gone to bed," said the shoemaker. "He can't," said the lady, "for there are no sheets on the bed. Besides,
they have not both gone to bed. I tell you what it is. There's some
mystery in this that I should like to find out. Now, all the keys of all
the attics are alike. Just wait here, and I'll borrow Mrs. Macconikie's." The shoemaker waited in no small amount of trepidation, while this
process of key-borrowing from the old lady who enjoyed a pan of water,
took place upon the part of his wife. CHAPTER XL. CROTCHET ASTONISHES MR. TODD. The key was soon procured, but it will be recollected that Crotchet had
fastened the door rather too securely for it to be opened by any such
ordinary implement as a key, and so disappointment was the portion of
the shoemaker's wife. "Don't you think, my love," said the shoemaker, "that it will be just as
well to leave this affair until the morning, before taking any further
notice of it?" "And pray, then, am I to sleep all night, if I don't know the rights of
it, I should like to know? Perhaps, if you can tell me that, you are a
little wiser than I think you. Marry, come up!" "Oh, well, I only--"

"You only! Then only don't. That's the only favour I ask of you, sir, is
to only don't."