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8 "I declare, looks as if it just came from the jeweler's," he cried. I wish my brass watch case was plated like that."

"I'll plate it for you if you will take the works out." Franklin worked on in silence for a minute. "There! now the battery appears to be all right."

"Then you are ready to go below?"

"Yes. After supper I intend to show the girls and boys some curious experiments and give them all a shock. Come ahead."

Franklin Bell was an orphan, who had lived with his Uncle William ever since his father had died. The youth did not remember his mother, nor did he remember any home but that which he now possessed.

The Bells lived in a modest house on one of the side streets of the pretty city of Orange. Mr. Bell was a bookkeeper in a factory in New York. He had once been rich, but through the rascality of pretended friends his wealth had taken wings, and he was now compelled to work hard for every dollar he earned.

Mr. William Bell had no sons, but he had five daughters, all of whom were younger than their cousin Franklin. There was Clara, aged fourteen; Annie, Flossie, Daisy, and Baby Bess, just turning two. They all liked Franklin, and looked on him more as a big brother than anything else.

Downstairs the front room and the hall were