"You care not?--what do you mean by that? Have you gone mad in earnest? What do you mean by you care not? Has the scaffold any charms for you?" "It might have for once, with you for a companion on it, Sweeney Todd;
but if I am desperate and reckless, you have yourself to thank for it. Well you know that, Todd. I have toiled, and sinned, and murdered, for
what you have done the same, for gold!--Gold was the God of my idolatry,
and it was yours. We both seized the same idea. We both saw how gold
alone was worshipped in the land. We saw how Heaven was affected to be
worshipped by all; but we found out that gold was the real divinity. We
saw that it was for the lucre of gain that the priest clothed himself in
the garments of his pretended ministry, and spake his mock prayers to
the people. We saw that it was for gold only that the rulers of the land
struggled and fought. We found that the love and the worship of gold was
the true religion of all; and we sought to possess ourselves of the
idol." "Mad!--mad!" cried Todd. "No, I speak sanely enough now. I say, we found out that by the
possession of gold in christian, canting, religious, virtuous England,
we should find many worshippers. We found out that thousands upon
thousands would bend the knee to us on that account, and on that account
only. If we were paragons of virtue, we might rot and starve; but if we
were monsters of vice, if we had but gold, and kept but by the side of
the law, we should be kings--emperors upon the earth." "Bah! bah! bah!" cried Todd. "Well, we took a royal road to our object. We murdered for it, Todd. You
dipped your hands in gore, and I helped you. Yes, I do not deny that I
helped you." "Peace, woman!" "I will not hold my peace. The time has come for you to hear me, and I
will make you do so. I will speak trumpet-tongued, and if you like not
that word murder, I will shriek it in your ears. If you like not the
word blood, I will on the house-tops proclaim and tell the people that
it is synonymous with Todd. Ha! ha! You shrink now." CHAPTER XCVI. THE BOAT ON THE RIVER. Todd did shrink aghast. This wild vehemence of Mrs. Lovett's was
something that he did not expect. Every word that she uttered filled him
with alarm. He began really to think that she had gone mad, and that he
might have everything to dread from her wild vehemence, and that
probably he had gone too far in cheating her out of the result of her
labours. "Peace," he said. "Peace, and you shall be satisfied." "I will be satisfied." "Well, well, of course you shall. But you cannot be if you destroy both
yourself and me, which your present conduct threatens." "I tell you I joined with you in murder for the love of gold, and I will
have my recompense. Give me that which is mine own. I will have it, or I
will drag you with me to the halter. Do you understand that, Sweeney
Todd? I ask you, do you understand that?" "It is plain enough," said Todd. "Then give me my gold--gold for blood. Give it to me, and let me go." "You are really so precipitate. Upon my word, Mrs. Lovett, you are quite
an altered woman, that you are. I certainly never did expect to hear
such language from you. Any one would think that you had an idea I meant
to cheat you." Mrs. Lovett made an impatient gesture, but Todd continued--

"Now, anything more repugnant to my feelings than that could not
possibly be, I assure you; and I consider you fully entitled to £22,000
8s. 3d., which is precisely your half of the proceeds of the little
business." "Give me the money." "Now, do you suppose, Mrs. Lovett, that I am so green as to keep here in
the house no less a sum than £22,000 8s. 3d.? You really must think I
have taken leave of my senses, to dream for one moment of such a thing." "Where is it, then?--where is it? I see you are bent upon driving me
mad." "Why, really, Mrs. L., it would be insulting you to say that you were
perfectly in your right senses at this moment; but come, sit down, and
we will see what can be done. Sit down, and compose yourself." "In the shaving chair"

"Ha--ha, that's a good joke. In the shaving chair! Ha--ha! No Mrs. L., I
don't exactly want to polish you off. Sit down where you like, but not
in the shaving chair, if you don't fancy it, Mrs. L. Pray sit down." "For you to cut my throat?" "What?" "I say, for you to cut my throat? Do you think I am not sharp sighted
enough to see that razor partially hidden in your sleeve? No, Todd, I am
well aware that you are panting to murder me. I tell you I know it, and
it is useless your making the faintest attempt to conceal it. The fact
is broad and evident; but I am upon my guard, and I am armed likewise,
Todd." "Armed?" "Yes, Todd, I am armed, and you are terrified at the idea, as I knew you
would be. Nothing to you is so horrible as death. You who have sent so
many from the world, will yourself go from it howling with fright. I am
armed, but I do not mean to tell you how." "You are wrong, Mrs. Lovett. What on earth would be the use of my taking
your life?" "You would have all then." "All? What do I want with all? I am not a young man now, and all I wish
is the means of enjoyment for the remainder of my days. That I can well
command with a less sum than my half of that which we have to divide
will come to. I have no one that I care to leave a sixpence to, and
therefore what need I trouble myself to hoard? You are quite mistaken,
Mrs. Lovett." "Give me my money then." "I will, of course; but I tell you it is at the banker's, Messrs. Grunt,
Mack, Stickinton, and Fubbs. Yes, that is the name of the highly
respectable firm in whose hands for the present both my money and yours
is deposited; and from the high character of the house, I should say it
could not possibly be in safer hands." "My share will be quite safe with me, or if unsafe, you need not care. I
will have it." "Step into the parlour, and I will write you an order for your half, and
you can get it in half an hour." "No Todd. You will make the attempt to murder me if I step into the
parlour. I will not even come further into your shop, than here upon the
threshold of it, with the door in my hand. Why do you keep a razor
concealed in your sleeve?" "Oh--I--It's a little habit of mine; but allow me to assure you how very
incorrect your suspicions are, Mrs. Lovett; and if you will not come in,
I will write the order, and bring it to you; or what do you say to my
going with you to the bankers, where you can yourself ask what is the
amount of the sum standing in my name there; and when you have
ascertained it, you can have half of it to a sixpence." "Come, then. I confess, Todd, I am sufficiently suspicious of you, that
I would rather not lose sight of you." "Dear me, how dreadful it is for friends to be in such a state of
feeling towards each other, to be sure.