He determined to try.
Up went the book, his hands on either side keeping it close. Then there was a little scheming to get it exactly in equilibrium; this was attained, and as the boy sat there stiff-necked and rigid of spine, with his eyes turned upwards, there was nothing left to do now but to remove his hands.
This he proceeded to do by slow degrees, a finger at a time, till the heavy work was supported only by the left and right forefingers, the rounded back exactly on the highest point of his cranium.
“All right,” said Dexter to himself, supremely happy in his success, and with a quick movement he let his hands drop to his lap.
For one solitary moment the great quarto volume remained balanced exactly; then, as a matter of course, it opened all at once.
Flip! flop! bang!
The book had given him two boxes on the sides of the head, and then, consequent upon his sudden effort to save it, made a leap, and came heavily upon the floor.
Dexter’s face was scarlet as he dropped upon his knees to pick it up, and found the doctor gazing at him, or, as in his own mind he put it, threatening a similar caning to that which Mr Sibery gave him a year before, when he dropped the big Bible on the schoolroom floor.
“Be careful, my boy, be careful,” said the doctor dreamily, for he was half lost in thought. “That damages the bindings. Take a smaller book.”
Dexter felt better, and hastily replaced the work on the shelf, taking one of a smaller size, and returning to his seat to bend down and thrust a finger inside his boot.