Ben did have gold, just not on his person. For the months of history hunting and his time overseas, he stumbled upon bits of gold and had an 1849 Spanish doubloon (which resided in his little black journal book in his dorm). It was a keepsake and expensive birthday present. In fact, it was from his last birthday.
The young vampire wasn't paying close enough attention to who was in the library. The books, research, and knowledge were too important. But when Ashton approached and laid his fingers on his book, Ben looked up. He had been so focused on the information in the fifth paragraph of the right hand page that his fingernail softly screeched across the surface.
"Forensic archaeology." He answered. Who was this guy?