In temperament he was taciturn rather than loquacious, and he cherished a yearning for self-education.

That is to say, he loved to read books, even though their contents came alike to him whether they were books of heroic adventure or mere grammars or liturgical compendia.

As I say, he perused every book with an equal amount of attention, and, had he been offered a work on chemistry, would have accepted that also.

Not the words which he read, but the mere solace derived from the act of reading, was what especially pleased his mind; even though at any moment there might launch itself from the page some devil-sent word whereof he could make neither head nor tail.

For the most part, his task of reading was performed in a recumbent position in the anteroom; which circumstance ended by causing his mattress to become as ragged and as thin as a wafer.