"Kipper is in trouble from the start. He works for Mr Repton, the jeweller, earning money that he pays Ma Fisher for his board and lodging. However, the law says he must attend school. If he does so he cannot work and so cannot pay Ma Fisher, with the result that he will be sent to the workhouse. When the board men come to fetch him Kipper runs away. He finds refuge in a cellar where three other orphaned urchins are living, and they accept him into their life of begging and stealing."--Book jacket.