"it is in vain," said todd; "my safety is wound up now with the safety of this little one. if you would save it, you will save me."

"oh, no, no. why should it be so? i cannot save you."

"you can, i think. at all events, i will be satisfied if you make the effort to do so. i tell you i am pursued by the officers of the law. it does not matter to you what i am, or who i am, or what crime it is that they lay to my charge; your child's life is as dear to you in any case. hide me in the cottage, and deny my being seen here, and the child shall live. betray me, and as sure as the sun gives light, it dies."

"oh, no, no, no!"

"but, i say, yes. your course is easy. it is all but certain that my prosecutors will come to this cottage, as it is the only habitation on the route that i have taken. they will ask you if you have seen such a man as i am, and they will tell you that you may earn a large reward by giving such information as may deliver me into the hands of justice; but what reward—what sum of money would pay you for your child's life?"

"oh, not all the world's worth!"

"so i thought; and so you will deny seeing me, or knowing ought of me, for your child's sake? is it agreed?"

"it is—it is! god knows who you are, or what you have done that the hands of your fellow creatures should be raised against you; but i will not betray you. you may depend upon my word. if you are found in this place, it shall not be by any information of mine."

"can you hide me?"

"i will try to do so. come into the cottage. ah! what noise is that? i hear the tread of feet, and the shouts of men!"

todd paused to listen. he shook for a moment or two; and then, with a bitter tone, he said—

"my pursuers come! they begin to suspect the trick that i have played them!—they now know—or think they know, that i have turned upon my route. they come—they come!"

"oh, give me the child! i swear to you that i will hide you to the utmost of my means; but give me the child!"

"not yet."

the woman looked at him in an agony of tears.

"listen to me," she said. "if they discover you it will not be my fault, nor the fault of this little innocent—you feel that! ah! then tell me upon what principle of justice can you take its life?"

"i will be just," said todd. "all i ask of you is, to hide me to the best of your ability, and to keep secret the fact of my presence here. if, after you have done all that, you still find that i am taken, it will be no fault of yours. i do not ask impossibilities of any one, nor do i threaten punishment against you for not performing improbable feats. come in—come in at once! they come—they come! do you not hear them now?"

it was quite evident now that a number of persons were approaching, and beating the bushes as they came on. the tread of a horse's feet, too, upon the road convinced todd that among his foes, now, was the mounted man whom he had seen, and whom he thought he saw point to him as he lay crouching down behind the hedge, half hidden in the ditch.

with the little child still in his arms, he rushed into the cottage, and the woman followed him, wringing her hands with terror. and yet todd was gentle with the child. he knew that from the mother he had everything to hope, and everything to dread, and he did not wish to drive her to despair by any display of harshness to the little one.

"this way," she cried, "this way," as she led the way into an inner-room. "there is a cupboard here in which you can conceal yourself. if they do not search the house, they will not find you, and i will do all that i can to prevent them."

"that will do," said todd; "but, remember, i will have the child near me, so that upon the least symptom of treachery from you, i can put it to death; and i shall not, under any circumstances, at all scruple so to do. where is this cupboard that you speak of?"

"it is here—it is here!"

"ah! that will do." todd now cast his eyes around the room, and perceived a little cot, that, at night, was devoted to the slumbers of the child. "take that," he said, pointing to it, "and place it against the door of the cupboard with the child in it. it will seem then not likely that i am hidden here."

"i will do so."

todd did not feel any apprehension of treachery from the mother of the child. he was not slow to perceive that every other feeling was in her breast weak in comparison with the all-absorbing one of love for the infant; and so he calculated that, rather than run the shadow of a risk of injury to it, she would do all that he required. the cupboard was a deep one; but it was not high enough for todd quite to stand upright in. that, however, was a trifling inconvenience, and he got into it at once. the child's cot was placed against the door; and the young mother, with a thousand fears tugging at her heart, pretended to busy herself about her household affairs.

the little interval that now ensued, before todd's pursuers reached the spot, was certainly to him rather a fearful one; and he felt that his fate hung upon the proceedings of the next few moments. he called to the woman in an earnest tone—

"courage—courage—all will be well."

"oh, peace—peace!" she said. "they come!"

todd quite held his breath now in the painful effort that he made to listen, so that not the slightest sound that might be indicative of the approach of his enemies might escape him; and he gave such a start, that he nearly threw open the cupboard-door, and upset the cot, as he heard a hoarse man's voice suddenly call out from the garden—

"hilloa!—house here—house—hilloa!"

"now—now," he gasped. "now i live or die! upon the next few moments hangs my fate!"

the cold dew of intense fear stood upon his brow, and his sense of hearing appeared to be getting preternaturally acute. not a word that was said escaped him, although it was right away in the garden that this, to him, fearfully interesting conversation took place.

"what is the matter?" he heard the woman say, and then the rough voice replied to her—

"we are the police, my good woman, and we are in search of a man who is hidden somewhere about this neighbourhood. has any one come into your place, or have you seen a tall man pass the cottage?"

"no," said the woman.

todd breathed a little more freely.

"it's very odd," said another voice; "for he must be about this spot, that is quite clear, as he was dodging about the field at the back of here, and hiding in the hedge. we must have passed him."

"well, he can't get away," said a third; "but after all, he may be lying down somewhere in the garden, for all we know to the contrary."

"i don't think it," said the woman.

at this moment, the child began to cry violently.

"oh, confound you for a brat!" said todd, "i wish it was only safe to throttle you."

"is that your child?" said one of the officers.

"oh, yes—yes," said the young mother, and hastening into the cottage, she placed a chair by the side of the cot, and began to rock it to and fro, singing while she did so, to lull the child to sleep.

"she will keep her word," thought todd. "i feel confident that she will keep her word, now, with me."

"you look all round the garden, while i take a peep about the house," said the principal officer.

"oh, i am lost!" moaned todd. "i am surely lost now! if the house should be searched well, so obvious a place of concealment as a cupboard will not escape them. all is lost now, indeed."

he almost gave up all thought, now, of keeping life or liberty, and he waited only for the fatal moment when the officers should approach and place their hands upon that cupboard door to open it. the child still cried, and the mother sang to it.

"'sleep, sleep, little baby—

oh, sleep all the day;

the sunshine is hiding,

the birds fly away.

away, away—far away.

the sunshine is hiding,

the birds fly away—'"

"hilloa! what cupboard is that behind the child's cot?"

"'and when they return

you may open your eyes.'

"oh, it's where we keep our best crockery. don't disturb the child—i do think it is sickening with the measles.

"'and see how the sunset

is gilding the skies,

away, away—far away.

and see how the sunset

is gilding the skies.'

"have you found him in the garden? i shall be almost out of my wits, now, till my husband comes home. who is it that you are looking for, and pray what has he done? he would need to be clever, indeed, to come in here without my knowing it; and as for the garden, why, i was hanging out the clothes there for the last half hour, i tell you."

"oh, he's not here," said the officer. "it would be no bad thing, marm, for any one who could lend a helping hand to find him."

"ah, indeed?"

"yes. you have heard of todd, the murderer? well, that's the man we are after, and we have every reason to think that he is somewhere about here, and it is a large reward that is offered for him, i can tell you."

"ah! i should like to get it."

"not a doubt of it. good-day, marm. if you should see any suspicious-looking fellow about the fields, just give notice of it in some sort of a way, if you can, for you may depend upon it, it will be todd."

"oh, yes, i will. how very fractious this little thing is to-day, to be sure. i hardly ever knew it to be so before."

"ah, well, they will be so, at times. but i'm off. mind, now, you get the reward if you see anything of todd."

"oh, yes. trust me for that."

the man left the room. what a reprieve from death that was for todd! he thought that during all the perils that he had passed through, he had surely never been quite so near to destruction as then; and when he found that he was saved, temporarily, he could hardly hold himself up in the cupboard, and a sensation of faintness came over him.

it was not safe for him yet, by any means, to think of emerging from his place of concealment. indeed, he felt that the young mother would be the best judge upon that hand, so he did not stir nor speak, and at last he heard the cot with the now sleeping child in it, being gently moved from before the cupboard-door. then it was opened, and todd, with his face pale and haggard, stepped out into the room.

the young woman only pointed to the door of the little apartment steadily and significantly.

"what do you mean?" said todd.

"go," she said. "i have done that which you require of me. now go."

"to death?"

"no. your enemies are no longer here. at the sacrifice of truth and of feeling i saved you. it was all you asked of me, and now i tell you to go, and no longer pollute this place by your presence. i know who and what you are, now. you are sweeney todd, the murderer."

"well, and if i am, what then?"

"nothing—nothing! i ask nothing of you, but that you should leave this house; i have kept my word. i will let the memory of this hour's work sink deeply into my heart, and there remain untold to any one. not even to my husband will i breathe it. i only ask you to go."

"i am going—i am going."

todd felt awed by her manner. he cowered before the look that, full of horror, she bent upon him, and he crept towards the cottage door. but the dread that some of his enemies might be lurking about the spot detained him.

"tell me," he said, "oh! tell me truly—are they gone?"

"wait," she said, "and i will see again."

she took the child in her arms, and left the cottage. todd found, now that the child was no longer in his power as a kind of hostage for the faith of the mother, that he had trusted her too far; but it was too late, now, for him to recede from the position in which he had placed himself, and with all his terror, he had no resource but to calmly—calmly as he could—wait her return.

she came back again in a few moments.

"you can go with safety. they are all away."

"i will trust you, and take your word for it," said todd. "i thank you for the service you have rendered to me, and i am not ungrateful. accept of this in remembrance of me, and of this day's adventure."

he took from his pocket a splendid gold watch and laid it upon the table, in the outer room, but with vehemence, the woman cried—

"no—no! take it up, i will not have it. take it up, or even now i will dare everything and call for help. i will take nothing from your blood-stained hands. take up the watch, or i will destroy it."

"as you please," said todd, as he placed the watch in his pocket again. "i wish not to force it upon you. i am gone."

he went out into the little garden, but he looked about him very nervously indeed, before he trusted himself to walk towards the little white gate that opened upon the high road. each moment, however, that passed without any one springing upon and attacking him, was a moment of confidence gained. he carried a pistol in his hand, and keeping his eyes keenly around him, he reached the road.

"all is safe," he said. "i do, indeed, think she is right, and that they have given up the chase for me. she has not deceived me, and i may yet escape."

he kept close to the road-side, so that he was very much covered by the hedge, and then, at as fast a pace as he thought he could keep up for any length of time, he ran on.

he had not gone far when he heard the sound of wheels behind him, and he got over a hedge and hid behind it until he could see what sort of vehicle it was that approached. it turned out to be a cart driven by a couple of countrymen, who were talking upon their own affairs in rather loud tones; as they came on, todd listened intently, and was satisfied that his supposed escape into that neighbourhood was not the subject of their discourse.