He did
not find the work irksome: it was far more pleasant than making
Latin and Greek verses at Roughborough; he felt that he would rather
be here in prison than at Roughborough again- yes, or even at
Cambridge itself. The only trouble he was ever in danger of getting
into was through exchanging words or looks with the more
decent-looking of his fellow-prisoners. This was forbidden, but he
never missed a chance of breaking the rules in this respect.
Any man of his ability who was at the same time anxious to learn
would of course make rapid progress, and before he left prison the
warder said he was as good a tailor with his three months'
apprenticeship as many a man was with twelve. Ernest had never
before been so much praised by any of his teachers. Each day as he
grew stronger in health and more accustomed to his surroundings he saw
some fresh advantage in his position, an advantage which he had not
aimed at, but which had come almost in spite of himself, and he
marvelled at his own good fortune, which had ordered things so greatly
better for him than he could have ordered them for himself.
His having lived six months in Ashpit Place was a case in point.
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