Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1895-05-18
HEDANCING MASTER.

Against the lilac walls of the room
the white dresses of the girls made
blotS of light. The shape of their faces,
the color OF their hair seemed to be-
come indiStinct 10 vanishing point in
the pale gloom of the place. Beyond
the fact that they were all dressed in
white they seemed TO have no power Of
personality. associated itself with those
faint masses OF hueleSs garments
They were like SO many white flowers
held up against piece of purple paper
and to the ordinary beholder one
flower differeth not from another in
glory.
The old dancing master walked slow
ly up and down the room, surveying
the girls. He held his kit and bow
tsnderly under his arm, pressed judi
eiously TO his side. With hisaright hand
be alternately stroked and tweaked at
Ais chin, which was always a sign that
ne teacher was perplexed. There was
Q ruefu expression in his light brown
eyes, and they looked from the long
TOW Of white silences to the window
lere the plane tree seemed grimly
bare and black in the waning winter
hghr. The long lilac room was pain
ny still, for the master paced as
So " as cat and the white girls held
their breaths. The lilac ard white in
the dying light stepped the place in a
melancholy that was not untender.
The only warm color in the room was
the cinnamon brown Of the mans hab-
it,
Up and down the long room the mas
ter paced, visibly perturbed. Each
time that he came TO one of two long
windows that lit the room he paused
and looked out through the naked
branches OF the plane tree at the river,
as If he hoped to get some encourage
ment from its ceaseless flow. And
each time he turned away from the
river view with the same look of dis Z
appointment upon his smooth, neat,
elderly face. The great clock in the /
other end Of the rOom-seemed all of /
sudden to tick with unwonted loud
ness, as If 1t, like the girls, were impa- 1
uent for the master to stop his prom
made and say something.
Perhaps the appeal of the clock had .
Its effect. Perhaps in the stiffness the
master could catch family the sound
OF all those girllsh hearts futtering
timidly together. He stopped for an
Instant and looked at the long line Of
expectant faces
Young ladies, you can 60"
Then az the girls, relieved from their
suspense, moved eagerly forward to
the adjoining room, where their be-
longings lay, the professor reached out
his thin white hand and touched one
of the girls upon the shoulder.
Come back" he said, Il want to
speak with you"
The girl looked up in his face with
little start Then she went into the
ante-room with the rest.
When she returned In her everyday
dress with her hat Nnd tippet on and
her dancing shoes neatly put away in
the reticule that hung on her mittened
arm. the master was standing at the
window again. drumming neryously
on the pane. He had put his kit and
bow down on the gilded table between
the two windows. the glded table
that always seemed to the girls the
emblem Of ineffable luxury and re-
pose
The master heard her come in. but
for moment he did not turn. and the
girl stood watching him. her pale,
plainish face paler than ever with ex-
pectation, and her dark eyes shining
I'm the twilight. The master turned
and walked abruptly up to her.
You will never make a dancer"
he said
The girl looked back at him with an
expression on her face as If he had
struck her. He saw the expression and
spoke quickly and Sharply to hide the
pity.
1T is no use for you to come here {
any more" he said. "YOu will never
make a dancer"
But must" the girl answered, with
tears in her eyes, while her right hand
pulled nervously at the fingers Of her I
left.
Never, never. never he insisted.
ut is no use deceiying yourself. and /
look you. ! cannot-decplve myself.
Please do not come here any more"
oh but. sir" the girl lifted her :
,lasped hands toward him
He shook his head angrily. {
Il know what | know, and say
what / know. | cannot hafe you here
my more. Could you ever do the Pas I
ie Zephyr? Never. Can you do the {
Fouette.' or the 'BallonneT Bah! You
will never know the difference between