This had been a sore winter for Thomas, and he had had plenty of leisure for prayer.

For, having gone up on a scaffold one day to see that the wall he was building was properly protected from the rain, he slipped his foot on a wet pole, and fell to the ground, whence, being a heavy man, he was lifted terribly shaken, besides having one of his legs broken.

Not a moan escaped him--a murmur was out of the question.
They carried him home, and the surgeon did his best for him.

Nor, although few people liked him much, was he left unvisited in his sickness.

The members of his own religious community recognized their obligation to minister to him; and they would have done more, had they guessed how poor he was.