"Mr T are you listening to me?" Mrs Lovett demanded in exasperation, hands resting on her hips. The barber merely grunted in response.
It seemed to her that Sweeney had no interest in what she said, unless her story involved that bloody judge or something similar. Still, she knew better than to attempt to draw word from him when he was stood by his window, staring out at London with brooding eyes. Not that it didn't stop Mrs Lovett trying.
"I said," Mrs Lovett began, repeating her words all over again, "We're going to have an extra pair of hands around the place."
Sweeney had summond up the patience to actually listen to the babbling baker for once, and at her words he span around. "Who?" He said, his eyes filled with suspicion, "What do you mean?"
Glad to have finally received some response from him, Mrs Lovett continued, "My niece, Lily. My brother wants her to get out of Manchester for a bit, so I told him to send her here. She's quite a troubled young girl, you see. Gets herself involved in all sorts of scandal. Still, I can't blame her myself; her mother died in child birth the poor thing. Imagine living all of those years without any motherly affection..."
She was now rambling and Sweeney was ignoring her again. He was back to gazing out of the window. "And you think that London is the best place for a girl like that?" He said, his eyebrows raised, not that Mrs Lovett could see it. To him London was the worst place imaginable. You couldn't trust anybody wandering the filthy streets. Temptation lurked around every corner. London was nothing but trouble.
Mrs Lovett shrugged. "Depends, doesn't it? I'll look out for her though. She'll be just fine here with us," She sighed, "I best make a start on tea. I'll shout you when its done."
Sweeney watched her reflection disappear from view. He didn't know why she was bringing the word "us" in to the equation. He certainly wasn't going to be helping her babysit some troublesome little brat. He was going to stay well out of the way.
After all, he had enough to occupy himself with.
The next day as Sweeney stood in his room boiling water in his kettle, he heard the commotion of a carriage and voices arriving just outside. He finished making himself a cup of tea before walking over to the window, the steaming cup clutched in his chilled hands. Mrs Lovett was stood outside the shop, waving happily at whoever was getting out of the carriage. Whoever it was was using the door opposite to the one that Sweeney could see from his window, and so he couldn't catch sight of the person. He knew who it would be though.
Sweeney sipped at his tea before leaving it on the windowsill to cool. He knew that he had better go downstairs to greet Mrs Lovett's niece, she'd only be up here in a few minutes pestering him to do so anyway. The carriage had disappeared from sight by the time he got down the stairs, and as he approached the shop he could hear excited voices rising up in to the air.
"...Mr Todd, his name is. I can't wait for you to meet him, he's so thrilled that you're coming," Mrs Lovett was saying. Rolling his eyes, Sweeney walked inside the shop, setting the bell above the door in to a pandemonium of noise.
Mrs Lovett looked up from the lumpy dough she had been bashing with a rolling pin. Sweeney smiled tightly at her before his eyes fell on the young girl sat at one of the tables. Lily Lovett (was that her second name? He wasn't sure. Probably not) was a little smaller than the average height she should have been, with a waspish waist that was made prominent by the fussy purple dress she was wearing. Sweeney tried to ignore the enormous breasts spilling out of the top of it - no doubt Lily had tightened the dress to do so - as he looked at her face. She was very pretty, that he could not deny, with glittering pale blue, almost purple, eyes and a cascade of dark red hair that fell in curls over her shoulders.
"Ah! And here he is now," Mrs Lovett cried, "Lily, this is Sweeney Todd. Mr T, this is my niece, Lily."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Todd," Lily said in an accent that ruined her good looks.
"Hello," Sweeney said shortly.
"I'll fetch a few pies up, shall I?" Mrs Lovett suggested, beaming as she came out from behind the counter and rushed off to the bake house.
Sweeney stayed stood by the door, looking awkwardly around the room while Lily stared at him with polite interest. "Auntie Nellie tells me you're a barber," She said finally. Sweeney nodded. Lily was beginning to feel frustrated by his lack of response. "I suppose you don't do too bad for yourselves, what with your barber shop and her making pies." Sweeney shot her a suspicious look and Lily blushed, realising how that had sounded, "Not that I'm interested in your money, of course," She said quietly.
They were both extremely relieved when Mrs Lovett returned, a tray of piping hot pies resting in her arms. For once Sweeney was thankful for her skill of being able to talk for hours about almost anything. At least they wouldn't have to sit in silence whilst they ate.
"How long are you staying with Nellie for, Lily?" Sweeney managed to ask whilst Mrs Lovett busied herself with putting the pies on to plates. He had said only the bakers name in hopes of letting Lily know that hehad no interest in her. Mrs Lovett almost dropped the plate she was holding. She loved it when he used her name.
"Maybe a few weeks," Lily said, shrugging, "Dad didn't really say. He did make it pretty clear that he was happy to have me gone, though."
"Oh don't say that, love!" Mrs Lovett cried, "Your dad adores you. He's just a bit worried about you, that's all."
"If he was that worried he'd want to keep me in his sight," Lily snapped. Sweeney wished that he had kept his mouth shut.
"My sight is as good as his," Mrs Lovett said firmly, "Now, lets eat."
She plonked the pies unceremoniously upon the table, riled that things hadn't gone to plan like she had hoped. Mrs Lovett watched Lily eat with a scowl on her face, wondering if she had made the right decision after all. The girl was the only one eating. Sweeney and Mrs Lovett were the only ones who knew of the true secret that the pies held, and it was enough to put them off munching the grisly pastries for themselves.
Finally, when Lily had swallowed down her last bite, she said, "God, that was good."
Mrs Lovett and Sweeney shared a knowing glance.