Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-21
Mary Roberts Rinehart's 81
Thrilling Mystery OF
The Curve of the Catenary"

door. He retreated, and 1 followed
him in and closed the door.
''Go on, Sis" 1 said. You're do
ing nobly,'
l think. even then. he'd have made
another try fer the door, but he was
still lame.
He sized up the situation and faced
us both sullenly.
'You see," Sis said, "a very splen-
did gentleman. who is quite innocent,
has been taking the blame for all TINS.
We happened not to believe MN.
That's all. There were some facts,
such as the bracelet, that wouldn't
fit in" .,o
the bracelet7"
''it was quite simple said Sis
sweetly. "I asked her this morning.
You see, she didn't know how you
genuine, for one thing. She hadn't
the remotest idea she was getting
you into-trouble."
Say, was uncomfortable. lie
wasn't bad type. quite gentleman
to look at, and | hate to see people
cornered
lice If we can help It. very partic-
ular friend OF ours Is implicated. and,
we want to clear him. That's all.
He'd been seeing himself in stripes.
all right. For he straightened and
drew deep breath. You mean
Martin, suppose. He's my brother.
Well, we saw daylight at last.
had sort of instantaneous picture
OF the \. c. confronting the chap. and
showing his teeth. and believe me,
wasn't going to give him chance at
any brother of Martins. He looked
so knocked out that I rang and order
ed q whisky and soda for him.
Then we heard the story. His name
was Martin. too. He'd been raised
by his brother. but it had been hard
going.
II went to the reform school when
I was l5," he said. when | came
out 1 changed my name. l was al
ways pretty active with my feet, al
though I have bad ankle. Broke it
when 1 was a kid"
l knew. on one of our rotten stair
cases.
do you mean to say" Sis was
sitting upright, rather flushed-"that
your brother let you come back here
and introduced you to his friends, and
never said you were his brother?"
What could he have done? There
was IIe name uluu WdHI
that explained"
Well we were stunned. When I
thought of Martin trying to save that
young rascal, to give him time to get
away, 1 got hot under the collar. And
it occurred to me that he'd given the
boy time to get away, and he hadn't
taken it. But we got the story, a bit
at n time. and here it is.
From the time Anderson and Lottie
in Martin had taken charge of
the boy. Hardly let me out of his
sight" he said. He was sulky about
that part. You could see it. HE
knew I'd always liked machinery, and
first thing he took me up the hill to
see old Hazeltine's invention. Perhaps
wouldn't hurt me, too. l had a dim
ner or two up there.
II went up one night before our
turn-we were near the end of the
program-and the wire broke. The
motor started to race, and about half
the city lights went out all at once.
We reeled in, and we were pretty well
frightened, believe me. But there was
no one hurt.
We'll. it set me to thinking. as
went down that night What
couldn't a fellow get away with, with
the city dark? And when 1 found
we'd busted up the trolley service and
the telephones it set me to thinking
harder.
But I hadn't anything in mind
When I told Martin about it the next
morning he was pretty much upset.
He said there must have been kink
in the wire. The wire was bad, and
when it kinked it broke, not when it
was playing out. There was no
strain on it. But when the engine
stopped the jerk did the work. They
were going to put on new wire that
Well, he went up with Martin that
and helped roll on the new
wire, and on an impulse he put a
twist in it almost fifty feet from the
end where the kite was fastened. Even
then he hadn't any plan. He wasn't
sure the new wire would snap for one
thing. And it wasn't even certain
that the wind would send the kite out
over the town. 1t was shifting. But
at sunset it settled to a steady blow
in the right direction.
''It was pure mischief up to that
point" he explained. II give you
my word of honor as any word
of honor, l didn't even know of the
assembly then. 1t was at Martins
when you were talking about
cutting it and having a supper party, !
that the thing popped into my mind"
Aren't you forgetting something?"
I put in. What about the gas being !
shut off in the basement at Bois- |
seau's?"
"Gas?" he said. I didn't know
there was gas. L didn't shut it Off !
that's certain"
well. there's no use quoting him !
at length. 1t had been pretty much /
of parry, and he said / pulled out |
my assembly card and flung it on the |
table. Probably l did. Very likely |
Sharp, who remembered everything, |
had put it in my pocket. Anyhow, |
Anderson had picked it up and pock- |
eted it. He'd had considerable social |
experience, had danced at a lot of /
public and private balls, and he knew !
pretty well what would happen If the |
lights went out There would be a |
rush for the dressingrooms.
I'D been drinking a little" he said |
1T made me reckless. And I'd seen
you fellows flashing more money than !
| could earn in a year. l was raised |
in a horrible place in this very town |
/ saw Sis color. 80 /
when l saw a chance to pay up the !
place for what it had done to me and |
mine l took it. I'm not putting the /
thing on any moral ground. But had |
an excuse, anyhow. OF course, II
hadn't any idea-old Hazeltine was |
not to send out the kite until the /
streets were empty. The things that |
His voice trailed off Sis got up /