"Then I should say to you, as St. Paul said to the Athenians—'In all things I find you superstitious.' What's that?"
A faint moan had come upon both their ears, and after listening for a few moments another made itself heard, and they fancied, by the direction of the sound, that Tobias's lips must have uttered it. Placing his finger against his mouth to indicate silence, the colonel stepped up to the bedside, and hiding behind the curtains, he said, in the softest and kindest voice he could assume—
"Tobias! Tobias! fear nothing now you are with friends, Tobias; and, above all, you are perfectly free from the power of Sweeney Todd."
"I am not mad! I am not mad!" shouted Tobias with a shrill vehemence that made both the colonel and his friend start.
"Nay, who says you are mad, Tobias? We know you are not mad, my lad. Don't alarm yourself about that, we know you are not mad."
"Mercy! mercy! I will say nothing—nothing. How fiend-like he looks. Oh, Mr. Todd, spare me, and I will go far, far away, and die somewhere else, but do not kill me now, I am yet such—such a boy only, and my poor father is dead—dead—dead!"
"Ring the bell," said Jeffery to his friend, "and tell John to go for Mr. Chisolm, the surgeon. Come—come, Tobias, you still fancy you are under the power of Todd, but it is not so—you are quite safe here."
"Hush! hush! mother—oh, where are you, mother—did you leave me here, mother? Say you took, in a moment of thoughtlessness, the silver candlestick! Is Todd to be a devil, because you were thoughtless once? Hide me from him—hide me—hide! hide! I am not mad. Hark! I hear him—one—two—three—four—five—six steps, and all Todd's. Each one leaves blood in its track. Look at him now! His face changes—'tis a fox's—a serpent's—hideous—hideous—God—God! I am mad—mad—mad!"
The boy dashed his head from side to side, and would have flung himself from the bed had not Colonel Jeffery advanced and held him.
"Poor fellow," he said, "this is very shocking. Tobias! Tobias!"