"Why, Tobias," said Colonel Jeffery, "you are wonderfully improved within this last hour."
"Yes, sir, and still more wonderfully since the best physician in the world has come to see me."
The direction of his eyes towards Minna Gray let them know, if they had not guessed it before, who Tobias considered the best physician in the world to him. Minna shook her head, and said—
"But, Tobias, it is to this gentleman that you owe your life."
"Yes," replied Tobias, "and if ever I forget to be grateful to him for all that he has done for me, I shall consider myself the worst person in the world. Aye, as bad, quite as—as Sweeney Todd."
Tobias shuddered perceptibly as he pronounced Todd's name, and it was quite evident that even in safety, as he could not but feel himself, and profoundly protected from the deadly malice of his late master, he could not divest himself of the absolute horror which even a mere remembrance of him engendered.
"Well, Tobias," said the colonel, as he drew a chair close to him, "since you have named Todd, pray tell us all about him."
"All?"
"Yes, all, Tobias."
"I will tell all I know. Come closer to me, Minna; I feel, when you are near me, as though God had sent one of his angels to keep Todd from me. Oh, yes, I will tell all I know. How can he harm me now?"