r him to be off out of her way, and
when this happened in the evening he gladly went to Paddy's lodgings.

It was so quiet there, after the scolding and quarrelling at home, and
Paddy always had a welcome for him, while bright-eyed Pat quickly
learned to know his owner.

He grew very fast, and was so full of fun and frolic, that there were
no dull times when he was awake.

And Paddy, who seemed to know all about dogs and their doings,
suggested that he should be taught tricks "because of his knowingness."

And teaching him to beg and sing and shake hands, filled many a merry
half-hour that autumn, and the Fowley's would scarcely have known Dick,
if they had seen him there.

When the examination day came he managed to get through successfully,
though his paperwork had to have allowances made for its deficiencies.

But at home all the effects of Susy's rescue had passed away, and Dick
was more scolded and starved than ever before.

CHAPTER III.

A DASH FOR FREEDOM.

"Here, you young rascal, I'll teach you to meddle with my tools! What
have you done with my knife?"

"I haven't had it," said Dick, looking up from the stocking he was
awkwardly trying to darn by the firelight.

His hands were quite healed now, but still stiff and scarred from the
burns, though the doctor had said the marks would get less as time went
on.

"None of your tales, now. Tim said he saw you with it to-day. Give it
me back this minute, or you shall have a dressing you won't forget in a
hurry!"

"But I haven't seen it even," cried Dick earnestly. "Tim must have
made a mistake."

"Oh, of course! Putting it on Tim, as usual," sneered Mrs. Fowley.
"Your impudence is getting past bearing. Just go and get the knife
this minute."

Dick stood up uncertainly, not knowing how to prove his innocence.

Everything that went wrong in that ill-managed household, was always in
some mysterious way due to his shortcomings, but nothing had ever yet
made him tell a lie, and in their hearts they knew it.

"I haven't seen it," he repeated, and there was absolute truth in the
clear brown eyes, and Mrs. Fowley shifted her own uneasily as he looked
at her.

But she said aloud, "He wants something to break down his spirit,
Fowley, he ain't half so biddable as he used to be, and now he's passed
the standard and can go to work, we shan't live for his pride and
upstartness."

Now, Dick had not once refused to obey her commands, but since Pad