The valiant proposer of the experimental trip to the first floor uttered
these last sentences in a loud voice, no doubt with the hope that if any
of the ghostly company of the first-floor were within hearing, they
would be so good as to report the same to their friends, so that he
might make his way there with quite a good understanding. They trimmed the candle now; and having each of them fortified himself
with a glass of brandy that Todd had laid in for his own consumption,
they commenced their exploit by leaving the parlour and slowly ascending
the staircase that led to the upper portion of the house. Of course, Todd knew well the capabilities of that house, and long
before the two men had actually left the parlour he had made up his mind
what to do. The door of communication between the shop and the parlour
was not fastened, so that he could on open at the moment; and when the
men left that latter room he at once entered it. Todd's first movement,
then, was to supply himself with a good dose of his own brandy, which he
took direct from the bottle to save time. "Ah!" he whispered, drawing a long breath after the draught, "I feel
myself again, now!" In order to carry out his plan, he knew that he had no time to spare;
for he did not doubt but that the two men would make their visit as
short as possible to the first-floor; so--with cautious but rapid
footsteps--he slipped into the passage and at once commenced the ascent
of the staircase after them. The light they carried guided him very
well. How little they imagined that any of its beams shone upon the
diabolical face of Sweeney Todd! "Can't you come on?" said one of the men to the other. "Damme, how you
do lag behind, to be sure. Any one would think you were afraid." "Afraid? Me afraid! that is a good joke." "Well, come quicker, then." "You will both of you," thought Todd, "come down a little quicker, or I
am very much mistaken indeed." The distance was short, and the landing of the first floor was soon
gained by the men. He who had seen, or dreamed that he had seen, the
strange sight in the room upon a former occasion, was decidedly the most
courageous of the two. Perhaps, after all, he was the least imaginative. "I think you said it was the front room?" said the other. "Oh, yes, I heard not a sound in the back one. Here's the door. You hold
the light while I listen a little." "Yes--I--I'll hold it. Keep up your courage, and don't shake now. Oh,
what a coward you are!" "Well, that's a good one. You are shaking so yourself that you will have
the light out, if you don't mind. Do try and be a little steady with it;
and your teeth chatter so in your head, that they are for all the world
like a set of castanets." "Oh, how you do talk. Come, listen at the door; I must say I don't hear
anything; but I have the greatest respect for ghosts, I have. I never
say one word against the dead--God bless 'em all!" While this man held the light--or rather waved it to and fro in his
agitation--the other, with his ear placed flat against the panel of the
door, listened attentively. All was perfectly still in the first-floor,
and he said--

"Perhaps they haven't begun yet, you know." "Perhaps not;--shall we go away, now?" "Oh, no--no. There's no end of curious things in the room; and now that
we are here, let's go in, at all events, and have a little look about
us. Don't be afraid. Come--come." "Oh--I--I ain't exactly afraid, only, you see, I don't see much the use
of going in, and--and, you know, we have already heard an odd noise in
the shop, to-night." "But that was nothing, for I looked, you know." "Yes--yes,--but--but I'm afraid the fire will go out below, do you
know." "Let it go, then. If you are too much of a coward to come with me into
this room, say so at once, and you can go down stairs while I have a
look at it by myself. You can't have the candle, though, for it is no
use my going in by myself." "What! do you expect me to go in the dark? Oh dear, no, I could not do
that; open the door, and I will follow you in; I ain't a bit afraid,
only, you see, I feel very much interested, that's all." "Oh, well, that's quite another thing." With this, the most courageous of the two men opened the door of the
front room on the first-floor, and peeped into it. "All's right," he said. "There ain't so much as a mouse stirring. Come
on!" Highly encouraged by this announcement, the other followed him; and they
allowed the door to creak nearly shut after them. While this hesitation upon the stairs was going on, Todd had been about
half way up from the passage, crouching down for fear they should by
chance look that way, and see him; but when he found that they had
fairly gone into the front room, he made as much speed to the top of the
stairs as was consistent with extreme caution, and laying his hand upon
the handle of the lock of the door of the back room on that floor, he
noiselessly turned it, and the door at once yielding, he glided in. The two rooms communicated with each other by a pair of folding-doors,
and the light that the men carried sent some beams through the
ill-fitting junction of the two, so that Todd could see very well about
him. CHAPTER CXLVI. THERE IS A FIRE IN FLEET STREET AFTER ALL.--TODD ESCAPES. When once he had gained that back room, Todd considered that his design
against the peace of mind of the two men was all but accomplished; and
it was with great difficulty that he kept himself from giving a hideous
chuckle, that would at once have opened their ears to the fact that some
one was close at hand, who, whether of this world or the next, was a
proficient in horrid noises. He controlled this ebullition of ill-timed mirth, however, and listened
attentively. "There don't seem much else beside lots of clothes," said one of the
men, "and hats, and sticks, and umbrellas." "Ah!" said the other, "and they all belong to the murdered men that Todd
cut up to make pies of!" "Horrible!--horrible!" "You may say that, old friend. It's only a great pity that Sir Richard
has so expressly forbid anything to be touched in the old crib, or else
there's some nice enough things here, I should say, that would make a
fellow warm and comfortable in the winter nights." "Not a doubt of that. Here's a cloak, now!" "A beauty--quite a beauty, I say. He can't know what is really here. Do
you think he can?" "What, Sir Richard?" "Yes." "Oh, don't he. I wouldn't venture to touch so much as an old hat here,
for I should feel, as sure as fate, he'd find it out." "Oh, nonsense, he couldn't; and as for the ghosts, they don't seem at
all likely to interfere in the matter, for there's not one of them to be
seen or heard of to-night." "No, I defy the ghosts--a-hem! I begin to think, do you know, that
ghosts are all a sham. Why here we are, two men as brave as lions, or we
should not have come here, and yet the deuce a ghost is to be seen. I
tell you what I'd do if one was to come. I'd say, 'Old fellow, was this
your cloak?'