But then, steeped in blood guiltiness as
Todd was, the taking the life of any one always seemed to him to be the
readiest way of solving any difficulty connected with them. It was his
motive to consider that that was the shortest and easiest mode of
settling the affair, if any one became at all troublesome; and he was
not all likely to make an exception in favour of such a personage as Mr.
Lupin. "All ready?" said Lupin. "Are you rested now?" "Yes," said Todd, as he rose. "Ah, dear me, yes, as much as I can
expect, until I get a regular night's repose, you know, friend Lupin. But I don't expect that very soon." "Oh, who knows? We are continually, in this world, getting what we don't
expect, and not getting what we do; so you may rest easy enough, Todd,
much sooner than you expect. Come, lean on my arm if you feel fatigued." "Oh, no, thank you. Lend me the stick, it will help me on the best, for
it seems just about my height." Lupin could not very well refuse Todd's request with any prospect of
keeping him in good humour at the same time, so he gave him the stick,
although it must be confessed he did not do so with the very best grace
in the world. But Todd did get it, and that satisfied him. "Is it far off?" said Lupin. "Oh dear, no. Quite close at hand--quite close. There's a small
chesnut-tree, and a large chesnut-tree, and there's a small fir-tree and
a large fir-tree, and a large oak-tree and a small oak-tree, and then
there is a blackberry bush and a little stream of water." "Good gracious, is there anything else?" said Lupin. "No, my dear friend, that is all." "Well. I must confess, that your description would not have very
materially assisted me in finding the spot." "Indeed, I thought nothing could possibly be more clear." "Clear to you, Mr. Todd, it may be, but not to any one else; but that
don't matter a bit as you are here yourself to point out the exact spot. Are we near it now?" "Yes, you see that cluster of bushes?" "Yes, oh yes." "Well, the money lies hidden right in there, and you cannot miss it if
you scramble in." "Lend me the stick to clear away the brambles and the nettles, and I
will creep in." "My dear friend, I shall fall down if I lend you the stick. There is no
difficulty in getting in. Don't you see there is a gap that you have
only to push through, and there you are?" "Well--well," said Lupin. "That's enough; I will get through. Come on,
let us secure the gold." Lupin stooped to push his way through the gap in the hedge, for the
bushes grew so close together just there, that they resembled an
enclosure carefully planted on purpose. Then Todd took the heavy stick
that had been cut from the sycamore tree in both hands, and swinging it
in the air, he brought it down with a stunning crack on the back of
Lupin's head, just at the juncture of the neck. "God!" said Lupin, and it was the first time in his life that, with true
sincerity, he had pronounced that sacred name. He then turned and sunk
to the ground, with his face towards Todd. He could not speak now, but
the look that he gave to his murderer was awful in the extreme. The
injury he had received had quite paralysed him, and his hands hung
helplessly. But the quality of mercy belonged not to Todd's composition. Again the huge stick was raised, and this time it fell upon the top of
Lupin's head. The wretched man uttered one faint sigh and expired at
once. "Dead!" said Todd, as he stood gaunt and erect before his victim, with
the stick stretched out in his hand. "Dead--quite dead. Ha!" [Illustration: Todd Kills The Murderer, Lupin.] Todd made one of his old faces. He must at that moment have fancied
himself engaged upon his ancient business in the cellars beneath his
house in Fleet Street, or he never could have made the sort of face
which had become so very incidental to him in that locality. The body fell huddled up, and the change that rapidly took place in the
countenance, was something truly awful to behold; but it had not much
effect upon Todd. He had struck many a man down to rise no more, against
whom he had no cause of suspicion or of dread; and it was not likely
that he would scruple to do so to one whom he both feared and hated as
he did Mr. Lupin. "That is done!" said Todd, as he slowly let his arm droop until the
stick touched the ground; and then relinquishing his grasp of it, he let
it fall entirely. "That is done!" A slight noise close at hand made the murderer start, and caused the
blood to turn cold around his heart from very abject fear that there had
been some witness to his crime. "What was that?" he said, "what was that?" All was still again. It was but some wild bird taking flight from a low
branch of a neighbouring tree, not liking the vicinity of man, and
especially such a man as Mr. Todd; for we may well suppose even those
little feathered fragile things are gifted with some of that
physiognomical power that seems to be an attribute or an instinct of all
animals, with regard to the human race. "It was nothing," said Todd very gently. "It was nothing at all. This
has been an easily done deed, and a safe one. Nearly noiseless, too. It
may be many a long day ere the body be discovered. I will drag it in
among the bushes, so as to hide it for as long a space as may be, else
if it were found early it would be a kind of index to my route, and
would, at all events, show that I had been here." Full of this idea, Todd laid hold of the body and turned it back
upwards. He even did not like to look in the face more than he could
help. Then seizing the corpse by the collar of his coat, he dragged it
into the hollow space among the bushes, and cast it down, saying as he
did so--

"Rest you there, Mr. Lupin. I have only saved the hangman, after all,
the trouble of taking your life, for I can feel well assured, that such
would have been your end. You thought yourself a clever fellow, but
after all you were nothing to me. Rest there; you were useful up to the
moment that we reached the wood, and were in comparative safety. After
that, you became an encumbrance, and so I have got rid of you, as I am
in the habit of doing all such encumbrances to my views." Sweeney Todd then crept out from among the bushes, and after having cast
the stick with which he had done the murder in among the bushes on top
of the body, he walked rapidly away to another part of the wood. Ever and anon he stopped to listen if he could catch the slightest
indication of the presence of any one else in the wood; but all was
still, save now and then the song of some wild bird, as it lit for a few
moments upon the branch of some tree, to warble a few notes, and then
dart off again into the fresh and fragrant air. "I am safe here," muttered Todd, "I am safe here for the present, and
until nightfall I will remain; but between this time and sunset, I must
determine what I shall do, and it must be done quickly, for on the
morrow the pursuit will be of a wider, as well as of a closer character
than what it has been to-day."