her arm, he ran up to her to know the price of it. The woman, as the cat was a good mouser, asked a great deal of money for it; but on Whittington’s telling her he had but a penny in the world, and that he wanted a cat sadly, she let him have it.
This cat Whittington concealed in the garret, for fear she should be beat about by his mortal enemy the cook; and here she soon killed or frighted away the rats and the mice, so that the poor boy could now sleep as sound as a top.
Soon after this, the merchant, who had a ship ready to sail, called for all his servants, as his custom was, in order that each of them might venture something to try their luck, and whatever they sent was to pay neither freight nor custom; for he thought, justly, that God Almighty would bless him the more for his readiness to let the poor partake of his fortune:
