Chapter 28
Sweeney Todd, who was becoming known as the best barber in London, was doing good business. Within a few days he was accepted on the market and every day more customers found their way to his stand. The Judge hadn't come yet, but Sweeney was sure he would do so soon. The barber didn't know what he would do if Turpin was in the chair, but Sweeney was sure he would think of a way to kill him in the near future. He probably would have to let the Judge go if he came to his stand anyway, since he couldn't simply murder one of the most well known and important man of Fleet Street in public.
He was making quite a lot of money and except for some food, the salary for the boys who worked for him and the rent of his new room, he didn't buy anything and if he would be able to save as money as he did now, Mr. Todd presumed he would be able to buy his own establishment within a month. That was quite some time, but it was better than nothing and he found some comfort in the thought that he was looking after himself now so he didn't have to be dependent of Mrs. Lovett's help anymore.
The barber had found a new place to spend the night. One of his first new customers had offered him to rent a room at his house when he had found out that the talented barber didn't have anything except for his little stand. The house was too big for the elderly man and his wife now that his grown-up children didn't live there anymore and some extra money was always welcome, so the friendly man had given the room in the attic to Sweeney.
Mr. Todd was glad because of this: never again did he want to live in the open air like in Australia, especially not in London where it was colder and much filthier.
His new place to spend the night was so much smaller than his room in Mrs. Lovett's house, but that wasn't the only reason why he preferred his old home. Although the customer's wife was friendly to him, she was in no way like his previous landlady, not in her behavior nor in her looks.
The barber had presumed only a few hours after he had left her pie shop that he would grow to miss the baker, but this was worse. There was an empty feeling in his chest, in a place that he would've called his heart fifteen years ago, and the longer he was away from Mrs. Lovett, the more this started to bother him.
The main reason he wanted to go back to his old shop was not because he had the privacy there to kill the Judge, but because Mrs. Lovett would then be close to him again.
Yes, Mrs. Lovett. Only now, he realized that he even didn't know her first name. He had probably heard it numerous times, but he had never cared to remember it and
suddenly, that seemed very odd and wrong. He had known her for such a long time and hardly knew her and he didn't even know a lot about her, except for the facts that she had a pie shop and that she was widow. He didn't even know the exact color of her eyes or hair; he had never really looked at her.
Sweeney's mind snapped back to his work when another customer greeted him. He had seen the man before; he came for a shave almost every day.
"And how are you today, Mr. Todd?"
The barber sighed, wondering why customers always started a conversation.
But when he gave the man a closer look, he realized he looked quite friendly and that it wouldn't be that bad to talk to someone for a while.
"I'm fine," Mr. Todd said; it was not an entirely truthfully answer, but for a change, he felt like talking for a while. "And you, Mr…?"
"Johnson is the name, " the other man said, "David Johnson."
"Same as usual, Mr. Johnson?"
David nodded and Sweeney started to shave, but this time, he didn't refuse to talk during the work like usual.
"So, Mr. Johnson, I presume you returned from your work?"
"Yes, certainly. I'm a blacksmith and I just finished an order for a gentleman from outside town. When you are done, I'll go to the bakery here to buy something nice for my wife. Today, it's ten years ago that we met and I don't want to let that go by unnoticed."
"Will you go to Mrs. Lovett's shop?" Sweeney asked, feeling this was his change to find out more about his former landlady.
"No, unfortunately not," Mr. Johnson said. "It's too far away from here; I wish to return home as soon as possible to celebrate our anniversary. Even Mrs. Lovett's company isn't as pleasant as my wife's."
Mr. Todd raised an eyebrow, because this seemed to be the right moment to learn more about the baker indeed.
"It sounds like you've known Mrs. Lovett for quite some time," Sweeney said, trying to let David Johnson talk about the pie baker instead of his own wife.
"Oh yes. I think I've known Nellie Lovett since her husband and she opened their pie shop; that must've been more than twenty years ago. A very friendly woman she is, always willing to chat for a while or support you when things aren't going well. Yes, she's a special woman. Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting her?"
Sweeney wanted to answer, but instead, he was confronted with memories of their passionate encounter, more than a month ago.
She was yelling at him, but all he was paying attention to was her mouth, which he wanted to kiss for a reason that wasn't clear to him.
"Well," he managed to say, "I…"
He stepped closer to her, watching how she stepped back but didn't stop shouting, before he muted her by covering her lips with his.
"No," Sweeney lied. "I never met her."
Her hands were tangled in his hair and her chest was against his.
"Are you alright sir?"
Nellie. Her first name is Nellie.
"Yes," the barber said, lying again. "I'm fine."
"Good," David replied, "I remember when I visited her shop, many years ago, when…"
Mr. Johnson kept talking, but Sweeney's mind was elsewhere.
When he had pushed her against the wall, he had felt through her clothes how soft her sides were.
The realization that he really missed the baker, hit him hard. He missed her intensely. Not because she looked after him and because she was his partner in crime, but because he had grown fond of her in the most unexpected way.
She moaned his name into his mouth while her fingers dug into his shoulder.
Sweeney realized he hadn't thought about his wife anymore for quite some time; Mrs. Lovett was the only one who was on his mind. Was there really the possibility that his
landlady has been right when she had said to him once that time heals all wounds, even the deepest ones?
She managed to wrap her legs around him and pull him even closer to her, never breaking the kiss.
Sweeney shivered with desire, and accidentally he almost cut David's throat. Luckily, the man was focused so much on talking about his wife, that he didn't notice.
When the calmness of the man's voice eased the barber's imagination, Mr. Todd began to wonder why Mrs. Lovett cared so much for him anyway and why she had always been so kind and supportive since the moment he was back in her shop, even though he had behaved very ungrateful and even rude towards her.
David Johnson's shave was completed and after Sweeney had given the man his change, another customer sat down in the barber chair.
Mr. Todd's mood, that had improved because of the friendliness of Mr. Johnson and the memories of Mrs. Lovett, snapped back to anger when the new customer offended a yellow-haired girl who was shopping on the market.
But before his urge to murder this despicable man became unbearable, someone else caught his attention.
Mrs. Lovett.
He recognized her immediately, even though she was among so many other people. His eyes followed all her movements when she slowly moved away from him. He didn't want her to go away; he wanted her to come closer to him so he could watch her, scrutinize her like he should've done before, give her the attention she deserved.
Despite the fact she was out of his view, he knew he couldn't concentrate on his work anymore.
He ordered the three boys around him to announce that he would close for the rest of the afternoon. The man whose throat Sweeney had been about to cut, was still sitting in the chair, his face shaven for less than fifty percent, was about to protest, but he shut up when he saw the fire in the barber's eyes.
Sweeney retreated to the house where he stayed and counted the money he had hidden there beneath a loose plank of the floor. Very Mrs. Lovett-ish, but he didn't think of that when he frantically counted the pennies and pounds he had saved. It was not enough to buy his own establishment, but it should be enough to hire the room above Mrs. Lovett's shop.
If he would apologize for his behavior from the past and if he would pay her instead of continuing to abuse her hospitality, he hoped that he could persuade her to let him stay in the room again. That way, he would have the safe place he needed to murder the Judge and he would be close to Mrs. Lovett again, which was almost equally important to him now.
One minute later, Sweeney was outside, the money hidden underneath his clothes, heading back to Fleet Street – and to Mrs. Lovett.
