The String of Pearls (1850), p. 375

head did not reach the top, and in the darkness he then considered that he should be quite safe from the casual glance, that in all likelihood, merely to satisfy Tobias, Minna would give outside the room door. Todd thought by her manner she had heard nothing.
"No, no, Minna," said Tobias, "there is no occasion. It is nothing, I dare say, and I don't like you to be out of my sight a moment."
"It is only a moment."
She rose, and proceeded to the door.
An unknown feeling of dread, she knew not why, was at the heart of Minna. Certainly the slight sound she had heard, and that too in the house of Colonel Jeffery, was not sufficient to warrant such a feeling, and yet there, at her heart, it sat brooding.
She stood for a moment at the door.
It was only for a moment.
"How foolish I am," she thought, ''and then she passed out on to the landing, where she stood for a moment glancing round her.
"It is nothing, Minna," called out Tobias, "or shall I try and come. I feel quite strong enough to do so."
"Oh, no—no! It is nothing."
Minna stepped lightly back and sat down. She clasped her hands very tight indeed together, and then placed both upon her breast.
She had seen Todd.
Yes, Minna Grey had seen the man that had been, and who was for all she knew to the contrary still to be, the bane of Tobias's existence. The clear eyes of youth had noticed the lumbering figure as it lay upon the stairs before them.
And she did not scream—she did not cry for help—she did not faint, she only crept back as we have seen, and held her hands upon her heart, and looked
at Tobias.
There was no mistaking Todd. Once seen he was known forever. Like some hideous picture, there dwelt the memory of Sweeney Todd upon the young imagination of the fair Minna Grey.
Once before, a long time ago, so it seemed to her, she had seen him in the Temple skulking up an old staircase. From that moment the face was Daguerrotyped upon her brain.
It was never to be be forgotten, and with the face comes the figure too. That she saw upon the stairs.
Alas! Poor Minn!
"And so it was nothing but one of those odd accidents that will occur in defiance of all experience, and calculation," said Tobias.
"Just that," replied Minna.
"Ah, my dear Minna. We are so safe here. It always seems to me as though the very air of this house, belonging as it does to such a man, so full of goodness as the colonel is, such that nothing very bad could live in it for long."
"I—I hope so—I think so.—What a calm and pleasant evening it is, Tobias, did you see the new book of the seasons, so full of pretty engravings in the shape of birds and trees, and flowers, that the colonel has purchased."
"New book?"
"Yes, it lies in his small study, upon this floor. I will fetch it for you, if you wish it, Tobias ?"
"Nay, I will go."
"You are still weak. Remain in peace upon the couch, dear Tobias, and I will go for you."
Before she left the room, she kissed the forehead of the boy. A tear, too, fell upon his hand.
"Who knows," she thought, u that I shall ever see him in life again?"
"Minna, you weep."
"Weep? No—no—I am so—so happy."