more than three days since he
had had anything to eat at all. The kind merchant gave orders for him to
be taken into the house and gave him a good dinner, and then he said
that he was to be kept, to do what work he could to help the cook.

And now Dick would have been happy enough in this good family if it had
not been for the ill-natured cook, who did her best to make life a
burden to him. Night and morning she was for ever scolding him. Nothing
he did was good enough. It was "Look sharp here" and "Hurry up there,"
and there was no pleasing her. And many's the beating he had from the
broomstick or the ladle, or whatever else she had in her hand.

At last it came to the ears of Miss Alice, Mr. Fitzwarren's daughter,
how badly the cook was treating poor Dick. And she told the cook that
she would quickly lose her place if she didn't treat him more kindly,
for Dick had become quite a favourite with the family.

After that the cook's behaviour was a little better, but Dick still had
another hardship that he bore with difficulty. For he slept in a garret
where were so many holes in the walls and the floor that every night as
he lay in bed the room was overrun with rats and mice, and sometimes he
could hardly sleep a wink. One day when he had earned a penny for
cleaning a gentleman's shoes, he met a little girl with a cat in her
arms, and asked whether she would not sell it to him. "Yes, she would,"
she said, though the cat was such a good mouser that she was sorry to
part with her. This just suited Dick, who kept pussy up in his garret,
feeding her on scraps of his own dinner that he saved for her every day.
In a little while he had no more bother with the rats and mice. Puss
soon saw to that, and he slept sound every night.

Soon after this Mr. Fitzwarren had a ship ready to sail; and as it was
his custom that all his servants should be given a chance of good
fortune as well as himself, he called them all into the counting-house
and asked them what they would send out.

They all had something that they were willing to venture except poor
Dick, who had neither money nor goods, and so could send nothing. For
this reason he did not come into the room with the rest. But Miss Alice
guessed what was the matter, and ordered him to be called in. She then
said, "I will lay down some money for him out of my own purse"; but her
father told her that would not do, for it must be something of his own.

When Dick heard this he said,