"Peace, woman!"
"I will not hold my peace. The time has come for you to hear me, and I will make you do so. I will speak trumpet-tongued, and if you like not that word murder, I will shriek it in your ears. If you like not the word blood, I will on the house-tops proclaim and tell the people that it is synonymous with Todd. Ha! ha! You shrink now."
CHAPTER XCVI.
THE BOAT ON THE RIVER.
Todd did shrink aghast. This wild vehemence of Mrs. Lovett's was something that he did not expect. Every word that she uttered filled him with alarm. He began really to think that she had gone mad, and that he might have everything to dread from her wild vehemence, and that probably he had gone too far in cheating her out of the result of her labours.
"Peace," he said. "Peace, and you shall be satisfied."
"I will be satisfied."
"Well, well, of course you shall. But you cannot be if you destroy both yourself and me, which your present conduct threatens."
"I tell you I joined with you in murder for the love of gold, and I will have my recompense. Give me that which is mine own. I will have it, or I will drag you with me to the halter. Do you understand that, Sweeney Todd? I ask you, do you understand that?"
"It is plain enough," said Todd.
"Then give me my gold—gold for blood. Give it to me, and let me go."