He imitated
all Philip's feats, and had some of his own besides. In answer to Jane's
lectures and the entreaties of Agnes, Hugh always declared that he had a
right to do such things, as he meant to be a soldier or a sailor; and
how should he be able to climb the mast of a ship, or the walls of a
city, if he did not begin to practise now? Agnes was almost sorry they
had been to Broadstairs, and could see ships in the Thames, when she
considered that, if Hugh had not seen so much of the world, he might
have been satisfied to be apprenticed to his father, when old enough,
and to have lived at home happily with his family. Jane advised Agnes
not to argue with Hugh, and then perhaps his wish to rove about the
world might go off. She had heard her father say that, when he was a
boy, and used to bring home news of victories, and help to put up
candles at the windows on illumination nights, he had a great fancy for
being a soldier; but that it was his fortune to see some soldiers from
Spain, and hear from them what war really was, just when peace came, and
when there was no more glory to be got; so that he had happily settled
down to be a London shop-keeper--a lot which he would not exchange with
that of any man living. Hugh was very like papa, Jane added; and the
same change might take place in his mind, if he was not made perverse by
argument. So Agnes only sighed, and bent her head closer over her work,
as she heard Hugh talk of the adventures he meant to have when he
should be old enough to get away from Old England.

There was one person that laughed at Hugh for this fancy of his;--Miss
Harold, the daily governess, who came to keep school for three hours
every morning. When Hugh forgot his lesson, and sat staring at the upper
panes of the window, in a reverie about his future travels; or when he
was found to have been drawing a soldier on his slate instead of doing
his sum, Miss Harold reminded him what a pretty figure a soldier would
cut who knew no geography, or a sailor who could not make his
reckonings, for want of attending early to his arithmetic. Hugh could
not deny this; but he was always wishing that school-hours were over,
that he might get under the great dining-table to read Robinson Crusoe,
or might play at shipwreck, under pretence of amusing little Harry. It
did make him ashamed to see how his sisters got on, from the mere
pleasure of learning, and without any idea of ever living anywhere but
in London; whi