Mrs. Lovett walked quickly up the stairs. She opened the door and stepped in, heaving a great sigh.
"Oh, that boy is drinking me out of house and home," she said. "When does Pirelli get back?" She turned to face Todd.
"He won't be back," Todd said, facing her in return. She gave him a puzzled look, and her eyes fell upon the blood staining his sleeve. She gasped.
"Mr. T! You didn't!" She exclaimed. Not that she hadn't expected something of that nature to occur. Mr. Todd simply gave a furtive glance towards the chest. Mrs. Lovett quickly closed the door and opened the lid.
She gasped again. There was Pirelli, covered in the deepest, richest, prettiest red. Blood. His eyes had rolled back into his head, and across his neck was a line of scarlet. He had a purplish tint to one of his cheeks, bruises no doubt. She quickly closed the lid.
"You're barking mad," she whispered. "Killing a man what done you no harm!" For the first time in her life, she was afraid of the man standing before her. Desperate times called for desperate measures, she knew this better than anyone. But killing for the fun of it? That put them in more danger than they could afford at the moment.
Todd never took his eyes off his razor. It was clean, but he kept running the cloth against it, holding it lovingly.
"He recognized me from the old days. Tried to blackmail me," he sheathed his razor. "Half me earnings."
"Oh, well," Mrs. Lovett breathed in relief. "That's a different matter, then. For a moment there, I thought you'd lost your marbles." She opened the trunk lid again. The fear she had felt previously simply melted away. She grew a deep admiration for Todd. He had changed drastically, she couldn't deny that. In the early days, Barker looked like a saint next to her. Todd was much more mysterious than she, and she had a fondness for it. The fact that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to survive and to avenge his sweet Lucy; it was morbidly romantic. Mrs. Lovett had been very much in love with Benjamin Barker, but the darker, solemner Sweeney Todd left her captivated, breathless, and awed.