Ben saw his way into those puzzles
with no more difficulty than whetted his appetite, worked out sum
after sum, and explained them to his brother, to the admiration of
both his elders, till frowns of despair and long sighs from Stead
brought Patience to declare he was mazing himself, and insist on
putting out the light.
Stead had more time for his studies than he could wish, for the cold
of winter soon affected the injured lungs; and, moreover, the being
no longer able to move about rapidly caused the damp and cold of the
ravine to produce rheumatism and attendant ills, of which, in his
former healthy, out-of-door life, he had been utterly ignorant, and
he had to spend many an hour breathless, or racked with pain in the
poor little hovel, sometimes trying to give his mind to the abstruse
mysteries of multiplication of money, but generally in vain, and at
others whiling away the time with his books, for though there were
only seven of them, including Bible and Prayer-book, a very little
reading could be the text of so much musing, that these few perfectly
sufficed him.
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