The String of Pearls (1850), p. 248

"Ha!" said Todd.
Both the lodging-house keeper and his wife started at the odd sound.
"What was that ?" said the woman.
"Only me, madam," said Todd, "I laughed slightly at that blue-bottle walking on the ceiling, that's all."
"What a laugh," said Blisset, as he left the house; and then the lady of the
mansion turning to Todd, said—
"You are to attend to Mr, Mundell, poor man. You will find him in the
front room on the second floor, poor man."
"Is he ill, madam?"
"Oh, I don't know, I rather think he's grizzling about some of his money, that's all, but it don't matter one way or the other. They say he is as rich as a Jew, and I'll take good care he pays enough here."
"Mrs. B—Mrs. B," cried a voice from the parlour.
"Yes, captain, I'm coming.—I'm coming, captain."
The lady bounced into the breakfast-parlour and closed the door, leaving Todd
to find his way up stairs as he best could. After a hideous chuckle at the
thought of Mr. Blisset's singular position in society, he commenced ascending
the stairs. He accomplished the first flight without meeting with any one, but
upon the second he encountered a servant girl with a pail, and Todd gave her
such a hideous glance, accompanied by such a frightful contortion of his visage,
that down went the pail, and the girl flew up stairs again, and locked herself in
one of the attics. Without waiting to ascertain what effect the descent of the
pail might have upon the nerves of the captain and the landlady, Todd pursued his course to the room whither he had been directed, and tapped at the door.
"Come in," said a meek, tremulous voice. "Come in."
Todd opened the door, and stood in the presence of the man over whose long
tried skill and habitual cunning he had obtained such, a triumph in the affair of
the pearls at Mundell Villa. John Mundell now, though, was far from looking
like the John Mundell of the villa. He sat by the fire, wrapped up in a flannel
dressing-gown, with a beard of portentous length. His cheeks had fallen in.
His brow was corrugated by premature wrinkles, and the corners of his mouth
were drawn down as though a look of mental distress had become quite a thing
of habit with him now.
"Who are you?" he growled out, as Todd cane into the room, and with a show of carefulness closed the door after him. "Who are you, eh?"
"Come to shave you, sir, and dress your hair."
"Ah!" cried Mundell, as he gave a start. "Where have I heard that voice
before? Why does it put me in mind of my loss? My £8000! My money—my
money. Am I to lose another £8000? That will make £16,000. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh dear! Who are you? Speak, friend. Who are you?
"Only a barber, sir," said Todd, "come to shave you, and dress your hair.
Ain't you well, sir? Shall I call again?"
"No—no—no! My losses distracts me. Only the barber? Ah, yes to be
sure—only the barber. I must go to court, and ask for the duke of something. Good God, yes! I will see all the dukes, until I find out my duke. He who had my £8000, and has left me so poor and so wretched. Oh, dear! Oh, dear,
my money—my hard-earned money. Oh, gracious, if I were to lose another
£8000, I should go mad—mad—mad!"
"Shall I begin, sir?" said Todd.
"Begin? Begin what? Oh, yes, my hair; and I must be shaved too, or they won't let me in at all. I will have the pearls or my money. I will see all the dukes, and pounce upon my duke. Oh, yes, I will have the pearls or the money."
"Pearls, sir?'' said Todd, as he began to arrange the shaving apparatus he
had brought with him. "Did you say pearls?"
"Bah! what do you know about pearls, who, I dare say, never saw one. Bah!
You—a poor beggarly barber. But I will have them back, or my money. I will