They leaned against the nearby fence, as boys are wont to do when talking. Presently Tom broke the silence.
“Of course, you’re wondering what under the sun I’m going to say, Hugh. I can see it in your eyes. Well, I had made up my mind to ask your advice the very next time I saw you, because I happen to know you’ve managed to get a number of other fellows out of bad holes before this.”
“Well, you’ve certainly got me guessing good and hard, Tom,” said Hugh, with a smile of encouragement. “But if there’s anything I can do to help out, tell me what’s gone wrong now.”
Tom drew an extra long breath.
“The fact of the matter is, Hugh, I’m worried about Benjy, and as I haven’t any father to go to, and women don’t understand boys as well as men do, I hardly knew who to talk it over with till I happened to think of you.”
Hugh was immediately interested, though at the same time relieved to know that Tom was not in any trouble on his own account. Benjy Sherwood was the younger brother of Tom, a bright, aggressive sort of boy, whose faults possibly lay along the line of wanting to have his own way most of the time.
“What’s he been doing to bother you so, Tom?” Hugh asked, quietly and soothingly.
“Why, you know that Benjy is a pretty high-spirited boy,” began Tom. “I’ve tried to check him several times, but he just won’t listen to me, and in so many words gives me to understand he knows his own business, and that I’d better attend to mine.”
“Oh, but that’s generally the way with younger brothers,” said Hugh. “Lots of the fellows will tell you that. So far as I’ve seen, Benjy is no different from the rest. It’s too bad he hasn’t a father, though, because as you said, I believe a man can control such high-spirited boys a lot better than most mothers, who don’t exactly understand how a boy feels.”
“Well, here’s the way it stands,” continued Tom confidentially. “Benjy has been giving mother and me more or less anxiety by going with several fellows that I don’t approve of at all. I happen to know he’s been smoking cigarettes. I didn’t dare tell mother. She has such a silly dislike for tobacco in every shape, you know. Worse than that, I’m afraid Benjy has been led into playing cards for money.”