To change that signal, to trim these lights,
and to turn this iron handle now and then, was all he had to do under
that head. Regarding those many long and lonely hours of which I seemed
to make so much, he could only say that the routine of his life had
shaped itself into that form, and he had grown used to it. He had taught
himself a language down here,--if only to know it by sight, and to have
formed his own crude ideas of its pronunciation, could be called
learning it. He had also worked at fractions and decimals, and tried
a little algebra; but he was, and had been as a boy, a poor hand at
figures. Was it necessary for him, when on duty, always to remain in
that channel of damp air, and could he never rise into the sunshine
from between those high stone walls? Why, that depended upon times and
circumstances. Under some conditions there would be less upon the Line
than under others, and the same held good as to certain hours of the
day and night. In bright weather, he did choose occasions for getting
a little above these lower shadows; but, being at all times liable to
be called by his electric bell, and at such times listening for it with
redoubled anxiety, the relief was less than I would suppose.
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