When he had finished the rat-trap he asked his sister into his room and showed her the clumsy contrivance, saying:
"This is not a toy, mind you, and we can take out a patent for it. See how simple and strong it is; touch it here."
The girl touched it; something snapped and she screamed wildly; but the hunchback, dancing around her, muttered:
"Oh, not that, not that."
His mother ran up, and the servants came; they broke the rat-trap, and freed the girl's finger, which had turned quite blue. They carried her away fainting, and the boy's mother said to him:
"I will have everything thrown away. I forbid you."
At night he was asked to go to his sister, who said to him:
"You did it purposely. You hate me. What for?"
Moving his hunch he said quietly and calmly:
"You touched it with the wrong hand."