Come in; I am so glad you have come." "And so am I," said Mark Ingestrie, making his appearance in the hall;
"for here is Johanna starting at every little noise, and I do believe if
a mouse were now to run across the floor she would fancy that it was
that old rascal, Sweeney Todd." "Ah! but, my dear boy," said Mr. Oakley; "you really don't seem to have
any idea of what a dreadful man he is--you don't, indeed." "I don't care either, father; but I only wish one thing, and that is,
that he would be so good as to trust himself, for about half a minute,
within arms-length of me, that's all." "Heaven forbid!" cried Mrs. Oakley. "My dear son, you don't know he used
to--to--what did he call it, Johanna?" "Polish people off, ma." "Ah, to be sure." "Well, it's no use talking," said Mark; "but if ever I get hold of him,
I'll polish him off to some purpose. But you have just come in time for
me to say a very serious thing to you, mother, indeed." "Oh, what is it?" cried Mrs. Oakley. "Don't agitate us," said old Mr. Oakley, putting on his spectacles
upside-down. "Don't agitate us, my boy, but tell us at once what the
dreadful thing is." "Why, pa," said Johanna, "Mark did not say it was a dreadful thing he
was going to say." "Well, then, my dear, what is it?" "Ah, that, indeed, I don't know; but I would wager--yes, I would wager
anything, that it is something not dreadful at all. Come, Mark, what is
it?--Speak out." "Then, it's just this," said Mark. "We are going out of London, and I
want you both to come with us, for I know very well if you don't, that
you will be as miserable as possible, thinking of Johanna, and that
Johanna will be in much the same state thinking of you, and that you
will dream every night of Todd." The old couple looked at each other with surprise and gratification. Mr.
Oakley took off his spectacles, and said--

"My dear boy, do you know, I was just going to say that--that--"

"That, in fact," put in Mrs. Oakley, "we would be glad to go with you,
if you would let us, for Sir Richard said he would advise you both to go
out of London, and leave him to find out and hang Todd at his leisure,
you know." "Yes, that was it," said the old man. "That was the very thing that
brought us over here, my dears; so if you will only be so good--"

"Come, come," said Mark, "it is, you must be so good. I asked you first,
you know, so you do us the favour. Is not that it, Johanna? Of course it
is." "You are very, very good and kind, Mark." "Oh, stuff! not at all; I say what I like, that's all, and when I say
that it would please me mightily to have your father and mother with us,
Johanna, where we are going, I mean it from my heart, as you know well." "I know you do, Mark. And poor Tobias, father, is to be with us
likewise. You have heard all about poor Tobias?" "Oh, yes--yes." "Well, then, Sir Richard Blunt told us that it would be the death of the
poor lad if he should be in London and hear that Todd has escaped from
Newgate. So we gladly agreed to take him with us, for he--more than any
one--has suffered deeply from Todd's wickedness." "Hilloa!" cried Mark, as he glanced from the window. "If here is not
another coach at the door!" "Oh, who is it?" said Mrs. Oakley. "It's Todd, of course, come to kill
us all!" "I hope it is," said Mark. "I'll soon set you all at rest about him. But
only look! If it ain't the colonel, and Arabella, and Tobias. Well, if
Todd wants to be down upon us all at once, now is his time certainly to
do so." In a few moments, the colonel and Arabella were shown into the room, and
they were quite surprised to see the Oakleys there; but while Johanna
and Arabella were embracing each other, Mark Ingestrie went up to the
colonel, and pointing slightly to Tobias, he whispered--

"Does he know?" "Oh, no--no." "Very good; but he had better, I am convinced, for it will be sure to
slip out in conversation, some time or another, and then the poor lad
will think much more of it than as if it were told to him in a quiet
manner by his friends, for he will think that there is more to conceal
than there really is. I am convinced that such will be the case." "Then we will take an opportunity of telling him, but not just now. I
want to speak to Johanna." "There she is, then." "And what does he want to say to me?" said Johanna, as she shook hands
with the colonel. "Why, a--the fact is that--that, in fact, Sir Richard told me he would
advise you to go out of town; and as I am pretty well aware that you set
sufficient store by his advice to follow it, I think it is very likely
you will go out of town." "And so, dear," put in Arabella, "and so, dear, in a word, we want to go
with you, if you think that such an arrangement will not be disagreeable
to you." "Now, that is the unkindest thing you have said, Arabella, for a long
time. How could you suppose that it would be other than most agreeable
to me to have with us such valued friends?" "There, I told you that," said the colonel. "Of course it will be all
right, and we shall make quite a merry party, I'll be bound; so that's
as good as settled, and a very satisfactory thing it is, and the sooner
we all set off the better. Here's Tobias quite delighted with the idea
of his little excursion." "Ah, yes," said Tobias, "and it is so kind and good of you, colonel, and
of all of you; but you know I leave my heart in London still, let me go
where I may." "Never mind, Tobias," said Johanna. "I feel quite sure that you will
find it in good keeping when you do come back again; so now we will make
preparations at once for departure, and I hope we shall be quite
delighted with where we are going. It is one of the pleasantest places,
they tell me, on the coast, and will in time be a place of great
importance." "Well," said the colonel, with a laugh, "it's quite a pleasant thing to
hear that it is on the coast, for that is something towards a knowledge
of where it is." "Ah, my dear--By-the-by," said Mrs. Oakley, "I should like to know where
you really intend to take us all." "To the little fishing village of Brighthelmstone, for it is nothing
more; but then it lies pleasantly between the hills, and you can see the
Channel opening fairly before you, and there is an air upon the Downs
that is full of life and joy. You will be sure to like it, mother, and
so will you, father, and you, colonel, and you, my dear Arabella." "You don't mention me," said Mark. "Oh, that is because you know you are of no sort of consequence at all. You are nobody." "Thank you!" "Well now, my dears," said Mrs. Oakley, "don't begin to quarrel now, I
beg of you, for that is the worst thing you can do; and so long as we
get out of the way of having all our throats cut by that horrid Todd, I
don't care where I go to or how many inconveniences I put up with, so
long as it is a great way off; and I do hope that Sir Richard will soon
catch him again, and regularly hang him, as he deserves, the wretch,
that I do."