He had given comfort, if he had not found it.

He had been his mother's secret stand-by; he had been her fishmonger, her gamekeeper, her head gardener, her man-at-need in all manner of occasions.

His own darling objects meanwhile were laid upon the shelf.

He did his best.
But after a day's work in the harvest field, and fishing for eels off the rocks till nine o'clock at night, what time was there for Virgil or Graeca Minora?
Sometimes he must draw up his nets in the morning before he went to the field; and the fish must be cleaned after they were taken.

Sometimes a half day must be spent in going after fruit.