"But why not come to me and get my signature?" "There--really--was--not--time," said Todd, dropping his words out one
by one, with a _staccato_ expression. "That is too absurd." Todd shrugged his shoulders, as though he would have said--"Well, if you
will have it so, I cannot help it;" and then he said--

"I was in the City. I heard the rumour of the instability of Brown. I
flew into a shop. I wrote the order like a flash of lightning. I went to
Brown's like an avalanche, and I brought away the money, as if Heaven
and earth were coming together." There was not the ghost of a smile upon Todd's face as he made use of
these superlatives. Mrs. Lovett began to be staggered. "Then you have it here?" "No, no!" "You have. Tell me that you have, and that this Mr. Black you mentioned
is a mere delusion." "Black may be no colour, but it is not a delusion." "You trifle with me. Beware!" "In a word then, my charming Mrs. Lovett, I dreaded to bring the money
here. I thought my house the most unsafe place in the world for it. I
and you stand upon the brink of a precipice--a slumbering volcano is
beneath our feet. Pshaw! Where is your old acuteness, that you do not
see at once how truly foolish it would have been to bring the money
here?" "Juggler! Fiend!" "Hard words, Mrs. Lovett." She dashed her hand across her brow, as though by that physical effort
she could brush from her intellect the sophistical cobwebs that Todd had
endeavoured to move before it, and then she said--

"I know not. I care not. All I ask--all I demand--is my share of the
money. Give it to me, and let me go." "I will." "When?" "This day. Stay, the day is fast going, but I will say this night, if
you really, in your cool judgment, insist upon it." "I do. I do!" "Well, you shall have. This night after business was over and the shop
was closed, I intended to have come to you, and fully planned all this
that you have unfortunately tortured yourself by finding out. I regret
that you think of so quickly leaving the profits of a partnership which,
in a short time longer, would have made us rich as monarchs. Of course,
if you leave, I am compelled." "You compelled?" "Yes. How can I carry on business without you? How could I, without your
aid, dispose of the--"

"Hush, hush!" Mrs. Lovett shuddered. "As you please," said Todd. "I only say, I regret that a co-partnership
that promised such happy results should now be broken up. However, that
is a matter for your personal consideration merely. If I had thought of
leaving, and being content with what I had already got, of course it
would have compelled you to do so. Therefore I cannot complain, although
I may regret your excuse of a right of action that equally belonged to
me." "If I only thought you sincere--"

"And why not?" "If I could only bring myself to believe that the money was once more
rightly invested--"

"You shall come with me yourself, if you like, in the morning to Mr.
Black the broker in Abchurch Lane, No. 3, and ascertain that all is
right. You shall there sign your name in his book, so that he may know
it, and then you will be satisfied, I presume?" "Yes, I should then." "And this dream of leaving off business would vanish?" "Perhaps it would. But--but--"

"But what?" "Why did you say to Brown that our union was to take place?" "Because it was necessary to say something, to account for the sudden
withdrawal of the money; and surely I may be pardoned, charming Mrs.
Lovett, for even in imagination dreaming, that so much beauty was mine." The horrible leer with which Todd looked upon her at this moment made
her shudder again; and the expression of palpable hatred and disgust
that her countenance wore, added yet another, and not the least
considerable, link to the chain of revenge which Todd cherished against
her in his cruel and most secret heart. While he was philosophising
about guilty associations producing a feeling of mutual distrust, he
should have likewise added that they soon produce mutual hatred. For a
few moments they looked at each other--that guilty pair--with
expressions that sought to read each other's souls; but they were both
tolerable adepts in the art of dissimulation. The silence was the most
awkward for Todd, so he broke it first by saying--

"You are satisfied, let me hope?" "I will be." "You shall be." "Yes, when I have my money. Henceforward, Todd, we will have much
shorter reckonings, so shall we keep much longer friends. If you keep,
in some secret place, your half of the proceeds of our--our--"

"Business," said Todd. Mrs. Lovett made a sort of gulph of the word, but she adopted it. "If you, I say, keep your half of the proceeds of our business, and I
keep mine, I don't see how it is possible for us to quarrel." "Quite impossible." He began to strop a razor diligently, and to try its edge across his
thumb nail. Mrs. Lovett's passion--that overwhelming passion which had
induced her to enter Todd's shop, and defy him to a species of single
combat of wits--had in a great measure subsided, giving place to a
calmer and more reflective feeling. One of the results of that feeling
was a self-question to the effect of, "What will be the result of an
open quarrel with Todd?" Mrs. Lovett shook a little at the answer she
felt forced to give herself to this question. That answer was continued
in two words--mutual destruction! Yes, that would be the consequence. "Todd," she said in a softened tone, "if I had forged your name, and
gone to the city and possessed myself of all the money, what would you
have thought? Tell me that." "Just what you thought--that it was the most scandalous breach of faith
that could possibly be; but an explanation ought to put that right." "It has." "Then you are satisfied?" "I am. At what time shall we go together, to-morrow morning, to Mr.
Black's in Abchurch Lane?" "Name your own time," said Todd with the most assumed air in the world. "Black lives at Ballam Hill, and don't get to business until ten; but
any time after that will do." "I will come here at ten, then." "So be it. Ah, Mrs. Lovett, how charming it is to be able to explain
away these little difficulties of sentiment. Never trust to appearances. How very deceitful they are apt to be." There was an air of candour about Todd, that might have deceived the
devil himself. Notwithstanding all his hideous ugliness--notwithstanding
his voice was of the lowest order, and notwithstanding that frightful
laugh, and that obliquity of vision that seemed peculiar to himself in
its terrible malignancy, there was a plausibility about his manner, when
he pleased, that was truly astonishing. Even Mrs. Lovett, with all her
knowledge of the man, felt that it was a hard struggle to disbelieve his
representations. What must it have been to those who knew him not? "No," said Mrs. Lovett, "it don't do to trust to appearances." She still held the iron in her hand.