The String of Pearls (1850), p. 208

"Fifty thousand pounds."
The major rose and embraced Mrs. Lovett. Tears actually came into his eyes, and gulping down the pie, he cried—
"You have fifty thousand charms. Only let me be your slave, your dog,
damme—your dog, Mrs. Lovett, and I shall consider myself the luckiest dog in the world, but not for the money—not for the money. No, as the Marquis of Cleveland once said, 'If you want a thoroughly disinterested man, go to Bounce.'"
"Well, major, since we understand each other so well, there are two little things that I must name as my conditions."
"Name 'em—name 'em. Do you want me to bring you the king's eyetooth, or her majesty's wig and snuff-box—only say the word."
"One is, that I will leave England. I have a private reason for so doing."
"Damme, so have I. That is a-hem! If you have a reason, that is a reason to me, you know."
"Exactly. In some other capital of Europe we may spend our money and
enjoy all the delights of existence. Do you speak French?"
"Ah-hem! Oh, of course. I never tried particularly, but as Lord North said to the Duke of Bridgewater, 'Bounce is the man if you want anything done of an out of-the-way character.'"
"Very well, then. My next condition is, that you shave off your moustache."
"What?"
"Shave off your moustache; I have the greatest possible aversion to moustache, therefore I make that a positive condition without which I shall say no more to you."
"My charmer, do you think I hesitate? If you were to say to me, 'Bounce, off with your head,' in a moment it would roll at your feet."
"Go, then, to Mr. Todd's, the barber, in Fleet-street, and have them taken off at once, and then come back to me, for I declare I won't speak another word to you while you have them on."
"But, dear creature—"
Mrs. Lovett shook her head.
"'Pon honour!"
She shook her head again.
"I'll go at once then, 'pon soul, and have 'em taken off. I'll be back in a jiffy, Mrs. Lovett. Oh, you duck, I adore you. Confound the cash! It's you I knuckle under to. Man doats on Venus, and I love Lovett. Bye, bye; I'll get it done and soon be back. Fifty thousand— fifty—fif.— Oh, lor', why Flukes, your fortune is made at last.''
These last words did not reach the ear of Mrs. Lovett. That lady threw herself into a chair, where the gallant major had left her.
"Another!" she said. "Another! Why did he try to deceive me? The
fool, to pitch upon me, of all persons, to make his victim. I must have found him out, and poisoned him, if I had married him. It is better that Todd should take vengeance for me, and then the time shall come when he shall fall. Yes, so soon as I can, by cajollery or scheming, get sufficient of the plunder into my own hands, Todd's hours are numbered."
After this, Mrs. Lovett fell into a train of musing, and her face assumed an expression so different from that with which she was wont to welcome her customers in the shop, that not one of them would have known her. But we must look at Todd. It was upon his return home from several calls, the last of which had been this recent visit to Mrs. Lovett, that he had heard the noise in his house, which had terminated in his going up stairs, and being so terrified by Crotchet.
It will be recollected that he fell insensible upon the staircase, and that Crotchet took that opportunity of making good his retreat. How long he lay there, he, Todd, had no means of knowing, for all was profound darkness upon the staircase, but his first sensation consisted of a tingling in his feet and hands, similar