There was no mistaking Todd. Once seen he was known for ever. Like some hideous picture, there dwelt the memory of Sweeney Todd upon the young imagination of the fair Minna Grey.
Once before, a long time ago, so it seemed to her, she had seen him in the Temple skulking up an old staircase. From that moment the face was Daguerreotyped upon her brain.
It was never to be forgotten, and with the face comes the figure too. That she saw upon the stairs.
Alas! Poor Minn!
"And so it was nothing but one of those odd accidents that will occur in defiance of all experience, and calculation," said Tobias.
"Just that," replied Minna.
"Ah, my dear Minna. We are so safe here. It always seems to me as though the very air of this house, belonging as it does to such a man, so full of goodness as the colonel is, such that nothing very bad could live in it for long."
"I—I hope so—I think so.—What a calm and pleasant evening it is, Tobias, did you see the new book of the seasons, so full of pretty engravings in the shape of birds and trees, and flowers, that the colonel has purchased."
"New book?"
"Yes, it lies in his small study, upon this floor. I will fetch it for you, if you wish it, Tobias?"