In English it is common to take away a lot of words from the full sentence because people will understand them without certain words being present. This is the case here: FULL SENTENCE: In a short time he had no more trouble with the rats and mice, but instead he slept quite sound every night. To native speakers, the "instead he" would seem repetitive since we know the subject is "he" and that the "but" indicates a change so the "instead" becomes redundant/ useless. So basically "but" acts as a complementary link rather than a contrast.

Hi Yuuichi, Besides using "but" as a connector of contrast, we can use "but" to mean that only what is being said is true (any other scenario is impossible). So for your sentence, after the rats and mice were removed, Dick only enjoyed a peaceful sleep every night. Example: It was going to be nice having nothing to do BUT enjoy their honeymoon for the next two weeks. Hope this helps. Cheers, Lance

Hi! One of the meanings of "but" is "simply" which is not used to show contradiction. Here are some examples of "but" with the meaning "simply". 1. If you could but lend me some money, I'd be able to buy a new car. (If you could simply lend me some money...) 2. If you had but listened to me, you wouldn't have lost all your money. (if you had simply listened to me,...) Here, when the speaker says: "he had no more trouble with the rats and mice BUT slept sound", it means" he simply slept well after the rats and mice were gone".

I think what it is meaning is 'because of this' he slept quite soundly every night.

Thank you for your comment.