The String of Pearls (1850), p. 661

CHAPTER CLV.
TODD GETS THE BETTER OF THE SHARPERS, AND TAKES A COAT.{Figure}

The girl brought Todd a plate of roast-beef, a loaf, and some brandy, with which he regaled himself tolerably well; but he was uncomfortably conscious that the two men were looking at him all the while.
"Gentlemen," he said, "it's a very odd thing, but my appetite continues good notwithstanding all my infirmities. I eat well, and I drink well, and the doctors say that that is what keeps me alive."
"I should not wonder," said one of the men drily.
"Yes," said the other, with a laugh, "you are like us, old gentleman: we live by victuals and drink."
"Ah, I didn't mean that," said Todd; "you young people are so fond of your jokes. Dear me, when I was young I used to be fond of my joke, likewise,
but now I am so old, that what with my winter cough, and the gout, and all that sort of thing, my joking days are long since gone by, I lost my poor wife,
too, a little while ago—bless her heart! Ah, me!"
Todd had the greatest inclination in the world to make up one of his old diabolical faces at this juncture; but he restrained himself, for he felt the danger of doing so; and then affecting to wipe away a tear, he added—
"But I find my consolation in religion. There's where, gentlemen, an old man may look for comfort, and that strength of heart and soul, which in this world is denied to him."
"Very true, sir—very true."
"Ah, gentlemen, it is true; and there's nothing in all the world like an easy conscience. That's the sort of thing to make a man feel serene and happy in this world, while he is preparing for the joys of the next."
"How delightful it is, sir," said one of the men. "for us to meet with a gentleman who has the same opinion as ourselves. Will you join us in a glass, sir, if you please?"
"Oh, yes—yes, with pleasure. What a shocking bad fire, they tell me, has been in Fleet Street."
"Yes, it's the notorious Todd's house."
"In—deed!"
The man who had proposed the social glass rang the bell, and ordered three tumblers of brandy-and-water, and then he said—
"Ah, sir! if you or I could only lay hold of Sweeney Todd it would be rather a good day's work."
"Oh, dear, God forbid!" said Todd. "He would soon lay me low if I were to try to lay hold of him, with, as I may say in a manner of speaking, one foot in the grave. I am not, in the natural order of things, long for this world, gentlemen, and it is not for me to lay hold of desperate characters."
"That's true, sir; but do you know the reward that is offered for him by the Secretary of State?"
"No! Is there really a reward for him?"
"Yes, a thousand pounds clear to any one who will lodge him in any jail. A thousand pounds! Why, it makes a man's mouth water to think of it. One might retire, Bill, mightn't one, and give up all sorts of—"
Bill gave his enthusiastic comrade rather a severe cautionary kick under the table, and it seemed to have the effect of stopping the word thieving from coming past his lips quite at unawares—at least that was the way Todd translated it. He had not the smallest doubt but that the public-house was a very indifferent one, and that the two men whom he was in company with were two of the most arrant thieves in all London.
Todd resolved to act accordingly, and he did not let them see that he had the least suspicion of them; but he kept such a wary eye upon their movements,