I gave the merchant my promise, and not wishing to accept so valuable a present without making some return therefore, I drew from my finger a ring containing the petrified eye of a basilisk, which, in the dark, emitted light enough to read the hour on a watch dial.
He was almost tiresome in his expression of thanks.
We separated.
I laid the ancient volume away in my chest and gave no thought to it until some time after my return home, when, one fine day, Bulger, attracted by its very musty odor, seized it by the vellum strip holding the seal and drew it forth from its hiding-place, then looked up at my face as much as to say:
“What is it, any way, little master?”
I determined to unroll the book at once.
The merchant had warned me to be most careful in so doing, lest the whole thing fly into a thousand pieces.
I therefore proceeded to prepare a wooden tablet or panel, which I smeared with a strong glue, so that, as the parchment unwound, it should be caught by this sticky surface and held firmly fast.
The plan succeeded admirably.
After several hours’ close application I was overjoyed to see the volume entirely unrolled and held firmly and evenly to the surface of the panel.