nd went out in the boat with Mr. Peggotty, and enjoyed his visit
greatly, though he grew anxious to see his mother again.

He had no idea what had happened to her till he got back home with
Peggotty. Then he found why he had been sent off on his visit. While he
was away his mother had married Mr. Murdstone.

David found things sadly altered after this. Mr. Murdstone was a hard,
cruel master. He cared nothing for the little boy and was harsh to him
in everything. He even took away David's own cozy bedroom and made him
sleep in a gloomy chamber. When he was sad Mr. Murdstone called him
obstinate and locked him up and forbade his mother to pet or comfort
him.

David's mother loved him, but she loved her new husband, too, and it was
a most unhappy state of things. To make it worse, Mr. Murdstone's sister
came to live with them. She was an unlovely old maid with big black
eyebrows, and liked David no better than her brother did.

After this there were no more pleasant hours of sitting with his mother
or walking with her to church, for Mr. Murdstone and his sister kept
them apart. The only happy moments David spent were in a little upper
room where there was a collection of books left by his dead father. He
got some comfort from reading these.

Mr. Murdstone made David's mother give him hard tasks and lessons to do,
and when David recited them he and his sister both sat and listened. To
feel their presence and disapproval confused the little fellow so much
that even when he knew his lesson he failed.

One day when he came to recite he saw Mr. Murdstone finishing the
handle of a whip he had been making. This frightened him so that he
could scarcely remember a word. Mr. Murdstone grasped him then and led
him to his room to whip him.

Poor little David was so terrified that he hardly knew what he was
doing, and in his agony and terror, while the merciless blows were
falling, he seized the hand that held him and bit it as hard as he
could. Mr. Murdstone then beat him almost to death and locked him in the
room.

He was kept there for five days with only bread and milk to eat. Every
day he was taken down for family prayers and then taken back again, and
during prayers he was made to sit in a corner where he could not even
see his mother's face. He had to sit all day long with nothing to do but
think of Mr. Peggotty's house-boat and of little Em'ly and wish he was
there. The last night Peggotty, his nurse, crept up and whis