This is Lupin, Todd's prison companion, and
the companion in his escape." Crotchet nodded. "I went to Newgate," he said, "and had a good look at him, so that I
should know him, sir, dead or alive; so I'll just turn him over, and
have a good look at his face." With this, Crotchet carefully--by the aid of his foot--turned over the
body, and the first glance he got at the dead face satisfied him. "Yes, your worship," he said, "Lupin it is, and Todd has killed him. You
may take your oath of that." "Not a doubt of it: such is the result of the association of such men. Todd has found him, or fancied he should find him, an encumbrance in the
way of his own escape, and has sought this wood to take his life." "That's about it, sir." "And now, Crotchet, we may make certain of one thing, and that is, that
Todd is not in this wood, nor in this neighbourhood either. I should
say, that after this deed, the first thing he would do would be to fly
from this spot." "Not a doubt of that, your worship; but the deuce of it is to find out
which way he has gone." "We must be guided in that by the same mode of inquiry, Crotchet, that
brought us here. We were successful in tracing him to this wood, and we
may be equally successful in tracing him from it. We must go into the
village of Hampstead, and give information about this dead body; and we
will make there what inquiries we can." They were neither of them very anxious to remain in Caen Wood, after
discovering how it was tenanted; and in a very short time they were
mounted again, and went along the lane until they emerged upon Hampstead
Heath, and so took the road to the village, where Sir Richard gave
information to the authorities concerning the finding of the body of
Lupin. There, too, he heard that a man answering the description of Todd had
passed through the village, and refused to partake some questionable
brandy, at a public-house, on its outskirts. This man was evidently
proceeding to London. Crotchet heard this information with great
attention; and when he and Sir Richard Blunt were alone, he said--

"I tell you what it is, sir--the country will never suit Todd." "How do you mean, Crotchet?" "I mean, sir, that, in my opinion, he has gone back to London again. The
country, sir, ain't the sort of place for such men as he is. You may
depend upon it, he only came to the little wood to get rid of Lupin, and
he has gone back to try and hide in London till the row is over." "You really think so?" "I do, sir; and if we want to find him, we must go, too." "Well, Crotchet, of one thing I am pretty well convinced, and that is,
that he is not in this part of the country, for after the murder in the
wood, which he will be in continual fear of being discovered, it is not
likely he would stay about here; and so, as we have traced him a little
on the road to London, we may as well, for all we know to the contrary,
assume that he has gone there at once." "Come on, then, sir," said Crotchet; "I feel's what you call's a sort of
a--Oh, dear me, what is it? A presentment--"

"A presentiment, Crotchet." "Ah, sir, that's it. I feel that sort of thing that old Todd will try
and hide himself in some old crib in London, and not at all trust to the
country, where everybody is looked at for all the world as though he
were a strange cat. Lord bless you, sir, if I had done anything and
wanted to hide, I should go into the very thick of the people of London,
and I ain't quite sure but I'd take a lodging in Bow Street." Sir Richard Blunt was himself very much of Crotchet's opinion regarding
Todd's proceedings, for his experience of the movements of malefactors
had taught him that they generally, after their first attempt to try to
get away, hover about the spot of their crimes; and it is a strange
thing, that with regard to persons who have committed great crimes,
there is a great similarity of action, as though the species of mind
that could induce the commission of murder from example, were the same
in other respects in all murderers. To London, then, with what expedition they could make, Sir Richard Blunt
and Crotchet went, and although they made what inquiry they could, they
found no news of Todd. And now we must leave them for awhile, thrown
completely out in all their researches for the escaped criminal, while
we once more proceed to the house in Fleet Street, where we left Todd in
rather an uncomfortable situation. It will be recollected that, locked in the grasp of the officer, Todd
and that individual had gone down with the chair through the opening in
the floor of his shop. This was the first time that Todd had undertaken that mode of getting
into the cellars of his house; and when he found the chair going, he
gave himself up for lost, and uttered a cry of horror. It seemed to him
at that moment as if that were the species of retribution which was to
come over him--death by the same dreadful means that had enabled him so
often to inflict it upon others. No doubt Todd's anticipations of being dashed to destruction upon the
stones below would have been correct had he gone down alone, or had
there been no one already immediately beneath the trap-door in the shop
flooring; but as it was, he fell, fortunately for him, uppermost, and
they both, he and the officer, fell upon the other man who had gone down
only a short time previous. That saved Todd; but he was terribly shaken,
and so was the officer, and it was a few moments before either of them
recovered sufficiently to move a limb. The lives of those two depended upon who should recover his strength and
energies first. Todd was that man. Hate is so much stronger a passion
than every other, and it was under the influence of that feeling that
Todd was the first of the two to recover; and the moment he did so, the
yell of rage that he uttered really might have been heard in Fleet
Street. It was very indiscreet of Todd, but at that moment he thought of
nothing but revenge. His own safety became a secondary consideration
with him. He grasped the officer by the throat! At the moment that, by the feel only, for that place was in the most
profound darkness, Todd felt sure that he had the officer by the throat,
he knew that his triumph was certain. It would have been as vain a thing
to attempt to escape the chances of destiny, as to dream of avoiding the
grasp of that iron hand that now closed upon the throat of the
unfortunate officer. It was just then, though, that the officer began to recover a little
from the shock of his fall. It was only to recover to die. Better for
him would it have been had he slept on in insensibility to the pangs
that were awaiting him; but that was not to be. "Ah, wretch!" shrieked Todd, "so you thought you had me? Down--down to
death!--Ha!--ha!" The officer struggled much, and dashed about his feet and arms, but all
was in vain. "Ha!--ha!" laughed Todd, and that hideous laugh awakened as hideous an
echo in the dismal place. "Ha!--ha! I have you now. Oh!