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Now a magistrate had to sign the papers . That afternoon Mr Bumble took Oliver to the office , where two old magistrates were sitting at a desk . One of them was reading a newspaper , and the other , whose eyes were weak , could not find the inkpot . While he was looking for it , he happened to see Oliver’s face . The boy was pale and full of terror . As he looked at the black face of the chimney sweep , he was shaking from head to foot . The old gentleman stopped , put down his pen and looked from Oliver to Mr Bumble . “ My boy ! ” he said . “ You look pale and alarmed . What is the matter ? ” Oliver fell on his knees and joined his hands together . He begged them to send him back to the dark room , to starve him , to beat him , to kill him if they pleased , rather than send him away with that dreadful man . “ Well ! ” said Mr Bumble , raising his hands and his eyes . “ Of all the ungrateful orphans I have ever seen , Oliver , you are the worst . ” “ I refuse to sign this paper , ” said the first magistrate , and he pushed it away . “ Take the boy back to the workhouse , and treat him kindly . He seems to need it . ” That same evening the gentleman in the white waistcoat was more sure than ever . Oliver would not only be hanged , he said , but would come to an even worse end . And the next morning the notice was put up on the gate again , offering five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist away . III . The Undertaker’s Shop A few days later Mr Bumble met Mr Sowerberry , the parish undertaker , at the gate of the workhouse . Mr Sowerberry was a tall , thin man in a black suit , and he made the coffins for all the poor people who died in the parish . He read the notice on the gate and said that he might take the boy himself . So Oliver became the undertaker’s apprentice . That evening Mr Bumble took him to the shop , where the undertaker was writing in his book by the light of a candle . Mr Sowerberry called his wife , a short , thin woman with a sharp face , who came out of a little room behind the shop and looked at Oliver . “ Dear me ! ” she said . “ He’s very small . ” “ Why , he is rather small , ” agreed Mr Bumble . “ But he’ll grow , Mrs Sowerberry . ” “ I dare say he will , ” she replied angrily , “ on our food and our drink . Here , get downstairs , little bag of bones . ” She took Oliver down to a dark , damp kitchen and gave him a plate of old scraps which had been kept for the dog . Oliver was so hungry that he ate everything very quickly , and Mrs Sowerberry watched him with horror . “ Your bed’s under the counter , ” she said , when he had finished . “ You don’t mind sleeping among the coffins , I suppose ? It doesn’t matter whether you do or don’t , because you can’t sleep anywhere else . ”
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