ll trying to get the meaning of his lesson into his head--going over
the same words a dozen times, without gaining any notion of their
meaning--suffering, in short, from his long habit of inattention at
home. He did now try hard; but he seemed to get only headaches for his
pains. His brother saw enough to make him very sorry for Hugh before ten
days was over. He might not, perhaps, have been struck with his anxious
countenance, his frequent starts, and his laying his head down on his
desk because it ached so, if it had not been for what happened at night.
Sometimes Hugh started out of bed, and began to dress, when the elder
boys went up with their light, only an hour after the younger ones.
Sometimes he would begin saying his syntax in the middle of the night,
fancying he was standing before Mr. Carnaby; and once, he walked in his
sleep as far as the head of the stairs, and then suddenly woke, and
could not make out where he was. Phil should have told Mr. Tooke of
these things; but Hugh was so very anxious that nobody should know of
his "tricks" (as the boys in his room called his troubles), that Phil
only mentioned the matter to Mrs. Watson, who had known so many bad
sleepers among little boys, and had so little idea that the habit was
anything new, that she took scarcely any notice of it. She had his hair
cut very short and close, and saw that he took a moderate supper, and
was satisfied that all would be well. Hugh did not part with his hair
till he had joked himself about its length, as much as any one could
quiz him for it. When he had pulled it down over the end of his nose,
and peeped through it, like an owl out of an ivy-bush, he might be
supposed to part with it voluntarily, and not because he was laughed at.

Phil's observation of his brother's toil and trouble led him to give him
some help. Almost every day he would hear Hugh say his lesson--or try to
say it; for the poor boy seldom succeeded. Phil sometimes called him
stupid, and sometimes refrained from saying so, whatever he might
think; but there really was very little difference in the result,
whether Phil heard the lessons beforehand or not; and it gave Joe Cape a
great advantage over Phil that he had no little brother to attend to.
Considering how selfish rivalship is apt to make boys (and even men), it
was perhaps no wonder that Phil sometimes kept out of Hugh's way at the
right hour, saying to himself that his proper business was to do his
lessons, an