He ducked down and placed his head on the hearthrug, his hands on either side in front, and threw his heels in the air, to the great endangerment of the chimney ornaments.
“Get down, sir! get down!” cried the doctor. “I mean, get up.”
“It don’t hurt,” cried the boy, “stand on my head longer than you will for a penny.”
“Will you get up, sir!”
The boy let his feet go down into their normal position upon the carpet, and rose up with his handsome young face flushed, and a look of proud delight in his eyes.
“I can walk on my hands ever so far,” he shouted boisterously.
“No, no; stop!”
“You look, miss, and see me run like a tomcat.”
Before he could be stopped, he was down on all-fours running, with wonderful agility, in and out among the chairs, and over the hearthrug.
“That’s what I do to make the boys laugh, when we go to bed. I can go all along the dormitory, and jump from one bed to the other. Where’s the dormitory? I’ll show you.”