They made an unavailing call at the
watch-house of the district, being informed there that no such person,
nor any one answering the description of Mr. Thornhill had been engaged
in any disturbance, or apprehended by any of the constables; and this
only involved the thing in greater mystery than ever, so they went back
to try and recover the dog, but that was a matter easier to be desired
and determined upon than executed, for threats and persuasions were
alike ineffectual. Hector would not stir an inch from the barber's door. There he sat with
the hat by his side, a most melancholy and strange-looking spectacle,
and a most efficient guard was he for that hat, and it was evident, that
while he chose to exhibit the formidable row of teeth he did
occasionally, when anybody showed a disposition to touch it, it would
remain sacred. Some people, too, had thrown a few copper coins into the
hat, so that Hector, if his mind had been that way inclined, was making
a very good thing of it; but who shall describe the anger of Sweeney
Todd, when he found that he was so likely to be so beleaguered? He doubted, if, upon the arrival of the first customer to his shop, the
dog might dart in and take him by storm; but that apprehension went off
at last, when a young gallant came from the Temple to have his hair
dressed, and the dog allowed him to pass in and out unmolested, without
making any attempt to follow him. This was something, at all events; but
whether or not it insured Sweeney Todd's personal safety, when he
himself should come out, was quite another matter. It was an experiment, however, which he must try. It was quite out of
the question that he should remain a prisoner much longer in his own
place, so, after a time, he thought he might try the experiment, and
that it would be best done when there were plenty of people there,
because if the dog assaulted him, he would have an excuse for any amount
of violence he might think proper to use upon the occasion. It took some time, however, to screw his courage to the sticking-place;
but at length, muttering deep curses between his clenched teeth, he made
his way to the door, and carried in his hand a long knife, which he
thought a more efficient weapon against the dog's teeth than the iron
bludgeon he had formerly used. "I hope he will attack me," said Todd, to himself as he thought; but
Tobias, who had come back from the place where they sold the preserved
figs, heard him, and after devoutly in his own mind wishing that the dog
would actually devour Sweeney, said aloud--

"Oh dear, sir; you don't wish that, I'm sure!" "Who told you what I wished, or what I did not? Remember, Tobias, and
keep your own counsel, or it will be the worse for you, and your mother
too--remember that." The boy shrunk back. How had Sweeney Todd terrified the boy about his
mother! He must have done so, or Tobias would never have shrunk as he
did. Then that rascally barber, who we begin to suspect of more crimes than
fall ordinarily to the share of man, went cautiously out of his shop
door: we cannot pretend to account for why it was so, but, as faithful
recorders of facts, we have to state that Hector did not fly at him, but
with a melancholy and subdued expression of countenance he looked up in
the face of Sweeney Todd; then he whined piteously, as if he would have
said, "Give me my master, and I will forgive you all that you have done;
give me back my beloved master, and you shall see that I am neither
revengeful nor ferocious." This kind of expression was as legibly written in the poor creature's
countenance as if he had actually been endowed with speech, and uttered
the words themselves. This was what Sweeney Todd certainly did not expect, and, to tell the
truth, it staggered and astonished him a little. He would have been glad
of an excuse to commit some act of violence, but he had now none, and as
he looked in the faces of the people who were around, he felt quite
convinced that it would not be the most prudent thing in the world to
interfere with the dog in any way that savoured of violence. "Where's the dog's master?" said one. "Ah, where indeed?" said Todd; "I should not wonder if he had come to
some foul end!" "But I say, old soap-suds," cried a boy; "the dog says you did it." There was a general laugh, but the barber was by no means disconcerted,
and he shortly replied. "Does he? he is wrong then." Sweeney Todd had no desire to enter into anything like a controversy
with the people, so he turned again and entered his own shop, in a
distant corner of which he sat down, and folding his great gaunt-looking
arms over his chest, he gave himself up to thought, and if we may judge
from the expression of his countenance, those thoughts were of a
pleasant anticipatory character, for now and then he gave such a grim
sort of smile as might well have sat upon the features of some ogre. And now we will turn to another scene, of a widely different character. CHAPTER IV. THE PIE-SHOP, BELL-YARD. Hark! twelve o'clock at mid-day is cheerily proclaimed by St. Dunstan's
church, and scarcely have the sounds done echoing throughout the
neighbourhood, and scarce has the clock of Lincoln's-inn done chiming in
with its announcement of the same hour, when Bell-yard, Temple-bar,
becomes a scene of commotion. What a scampering of feet is there, what a laughing and talking, what a
jostling to be first; and what an immense number of manoeuvres are
resorted to by some of the throng to distance others! And mostly from Lincoln's-inn do these persons, young and old, but most
certainly a majority of the former, come bustling and striving, although
from the neighbouring legal establishments likewise there came not a
few; the Temple contributes its numbers, and from the more distant
Gray's-inn there came a goodly lot. Now Bell-yard is almost choked up, and a stranger would wonder what
could be the matter, and most probably stand in some doorway until the
commotion was over. Is it a fire? is it a fight? or anything else sufficiently alarming and
extraordinary to excite the junior members of the legal profession to
such a species of madness? No, it is none of these, nor is there a fat
cause to be run for, which, in the hands of some clever practitioner,
might become quite a vested interest. No, the enjoyment is purely one of
a physical character, and all the pacing and racing--all this turmoil
and trouble--all this pushing, jostling, laughing, and shouting, is to
see who will get first to Lovett's pie-shop. Yes, on the left-hand side of Bell-yard, going down from Carey-street,
was at the time we write of, one of the most celebrated shops for the
sale of veal and pork pies that ever London produced. High and low, rich
and poor, resorted to it; its fame had spread far and wide; it was
because the first batch of these pies came up at twelve o'clock that
there was such a rush of the legal profession to obtain them.