Upon this Mistress Alice offered to lay something down for him. But her father told her the custom was for each to send something of his own. So he bade Dick bring his cat, which he did with many tears, and gave her over to the master of the ship.
The cook, and indeed all the servants, after this plagued Dick, and jeered at him so much for sending his cat, that he could bear it no longer. He said to himself that he would leave the house and try his fortune elsewhere.
III. BOW BELLS
He packed his bundle one night, and the next day, early, set forth to seek his fortune. He left the house behind him, but his heart began to sink. However, he would not turn back, but kept on. At last he sat down in the field to think.
Just then the Bow Bells, that is, the bells of a church in Bow Street, began to ring merrily. Dick heard them, and as they rang, he fancied he heard them sing,—
“Turn again, Whittington,
Lord Mayor of London.”
That was a fine song to hear, and Dick began to pluck up heart again.
