This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BOUND TO BE AN ELECTRICIAN
137

once more without the money he was in the habit of sending. But Franklin was fascinated too much with electricity to quit the shop, especially now, when he had a good chance of stepping higher, and he told them on his Sunday visit that he thought he would remain and work his way up.

"Well, just as you think best, Franklin," said Mr. Bell. "You have your own way to make, for I am in no position to help you just now, excepting it be to give you a home here with us."

While on this visit to his relatives' home, Franklin learned that a detective had been put on the track of Andy Gresson, the fellow who had robbed Mrs. Mace of her diamond rings, but that so far the fellow had not been captured. He also learned, and this made him very indignant, that Mrs. Mace still suspected that he might be the guilty party, although she did not dare to say so for fear of offending her brother, Belden Brice.

"She will not believe I am innocent until Andy Gresson is caught and made to confess," thought Franklin, bitterly, when on his way back to Paterson. "Even then she may think I was in league with him. It seems I can't keep out of some sort of scrape, no matter how hard I try!"

A few days later Franklin was surprised to receive a note from Belden Brice, asking him to come up to the speculator's residence that evening at eight o'clock. The note was delivered to Franklin