Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-01-25
Looking at 1t
Legally
~
By C. 3. Lewis

ence Gale, eighteen years old, vas the
first girl hat ever fell in love with a
dancing master because he was a dam
cling master, then you are mistaken.
They have been doing it ever since
there was a dancing master to fall in
love with.
Miss Florence was the daughter of a
merchant, and ranked well up in the
social circles of her town. There had
been a private dancing class made up
of half a dozen girls and young men,
and Professor Paul Revillion had been
engaged as director at a high honor
arium.
Mind you, he had not been hired, but
engaged" He was not a teacher, but
q Director He wasn't on a salary,
like a b~ookkeeper, but on a honorar-
ium, if you please. His name was not
Jim Scott, nor Joe Saunders, but Paul
Revillion.
And the professor was nice - very
nice. He was nice all over, like a rare,
ripe peach. 1t was noticed ever before
the first dance was held that he had
white teeth and long eyelashes.
The six young men who were to pay
their good money for learning the art
of dancing looked the professor over,
and each and every n determined to
kill him as soon as the term Of lessons
was finished.
The six young women cast sleeps
eyes at him and mentally vowed to fall
in love almost at once. 1t is to the
credit of the sex that they kept their
word. Yes, within a fortnight 1t was
apparent to themselves and others that
they were learning to love as well as
to dance. The young men read the
signs Alright and gritted their teeth.
They could and did "spat" with the
foolish damsels, but they couldn't kill
the professor until they had had the
worth of their money.
So far as having a very serious
Irritation every girl won out. Each
one had reasons to believe that she
was the chosen one. Each n under
the impulse of romance and girlhood
Stiffness, wrote little pink or violet
notes, and they were replied to with
an o%utpouring of the heart. The little
notes and replies were pretty much
alike, but it happened that Miss Gale
was more industrious than the others.
She wrote two notes to their one.
1t therefore logically followed that
when the end of the term drew near
and Professor Revillion was ready for
business, he possessed a package of
pink notes signed FLORENCE" that
numbered way up above the half-cen-
fury mark. 1t did his heart good as he
/ counted them. 1t did his heart good
as he counted the number written to
him by the other maidens.
One day Miss Florence Gale received
a note from the professor that set her
heart to humping as it hadn't thump-
ed yet. Some iend in human form
had broken open his trunk at his
clearinghouse, and among other
things stolen was the package of her
love notes. The thief had had the au-
dacity to write that he had them, and
that he would return them for 5000,
and not a cent less. If the professor
refused to pay the money the letters
same price. Mr.. Gale was a stern
parent.
1t was most unfortunate that the pro-
fessor didn't happen to have 5000 in his
vest pocket. He could never forgive
himself for his carelessness. What
would "1Oear Florence" do about it?
Would she raise the cash or take the
consequences? She would be granted
three days grace, and then she was to
meet the dancing master at a certain
spot at a certain hour and let him
know her decision.
believe me, my dear one" he wound
up with, 81 am thinking of suicide as I
pen this. If I was not almost sure
that you could get the money of your
father 1 should say farewell to you and
send a bullet crashing through my
BRAIN"
Miss Florence promptly tainted
away, or was going to when her moth
err asked her who the letter was from.
She therefore decided to lie instead of
faint. Her first feeling after mastering
the contents Of the letter was one of
pity for the professor. He was think
ing of blowing his head off! Her next
feeling was of herself. She could no
more raise 5000 than she could raise
$2,000,0O0. Had she asked her father
for rs cents he would have wanted an
explanation a rod long.
Poor Miss Florence cried all one
night and got up in the morning to lie
again. She said it vas the toothache.
She had gone back to bed to cry again
when = she didn't cry. A sudden
thought made her sit up. What sort
of a man was Professor Revillion to
leave a girl to face such a situation
alone? He must have a clew to the
thief, as he said he had received q let
ter, but he had not added that he had
set the law at work. He had a dia-
mond ring and a diamond pin worth