Now supposedly Daniel was a student, attending lectures and studying the works of Aristotle and Euclid. But in fact, he had over the last year become the one thing, aside from the Grace of God, keeping Isaac Newton alive. He'd long since stopped asking him such annoying, pointless questions as 'Can you remember the last time you put food into your mouth' or 'Don't you suppose that a nap of an hour or two, once a night, might be good?' The only thing that really worked was to monitor Isaac until he physically collapsed on the table, then haul him into bed, like a grave-robber transporting his goods, then pursue his own studies nearby and keep on eye on him until consciousness began to return, and then, during the moments when Isaac still didn't know what day it was, and hadn't gone off on some fresh train of thought, shove milk and bread at him so he wouldn't starve all the way to death. He did all of this voluntarily – sacrificing his own education, and making a burnt offering of Drake's tuition payments – because he considered it his Christian duty. Isaac, still in theory his sizar, had become his master, and Daniel the attentive servant. Of course Isaac was completely unaware of all Daniel's efforts – which only made it a more perfect specimen of Christlike self-abnegation. Daniel was like one of those Papist fanatics who, after they died, were found to've been secretly wearing hair-shirts underneath their satin vestments.