Chapter XXVI Dan, the Newsboy by Jr. Horatio Alger
Dan Learns to Dance
Several months passed without any incidents worth recording.
Punctually every month Dan received a remittance of sixty dollars through a foreign banker, whose office was near Wall street.
Of this sum it may be remembered that ten dollars were to be appropriated to Althea’s dress.
Of the little girl it may be said she was very happy in her new home. She formed a strong attachment for Mrs. Mordaunt, whom she called mamma, while she always looked forward with delight to Dan’s return at night.
Mrs. Mordaunt was very happy in the child’s companionship, and found the task of teaching her very congenial.
But for the little girl she would have had many lonely hours, since Dan was absent all day on business.
“I don’t know what I shall do, Althea, when you go to school,” she said one day.
“I don’t want to go to school. Let me stay at home with you, mamma.”
“For the present I can teach you, my dear, but the time will come when for your own good it will be better to go to school. I cannot teach you as well as the teachers you will find there.”
“You know ever so much, mamma. Don’t you know everything?”
Mrs. Mordaunt smiled.
“Compared with you, my dear, I seem to know a great deal, but there are others who know much more.”
Althea was too young as yet, however, to attend school, and the happy home life continued.
Mrs. Mordaunt and Dan often wondered how long their mysterious ward was to remain with them. Had she a mother living? If so, how could that mother voluntarily forego her child’s society?
These were questions they sometimes asked themselves, but no answer suggested itself. They were content to have them remain unanswered, so long as Althea might remain with them.
The increase of Dan’s income, and the large sum he had on interest, would have enabled them to live comfortably even without the provision made for their young ward.
As it was they could do better. Dan felt himself justified in indulging in a little extravagance.
“Mother,” said he, one evening, “I am thinking of taking a course of lessons in dancing.”
“What has put that into your head, Dan?”
“Julia Rogers is to have a birthday party in two or three months, and I think from a hint her father dropped to-day I shall have an invitation. I shall feel awkward if I don’t know how to dance. Besides——”
Here Dan hesitated.
“Well, Dan, what besides?”
“Tom Carver will be sure to be there, and if I don’t dance, or if I am awkward, he will be sure to sneer at me.”
“Will that make you feel bad, Dan?”
“Not exactly, but I don’t want to appear at disadvantage when he is around. If I have been a newsboy, I want to show that I can take the part of gentleman as well as he.”
“Does the ability to dance make a gentleman, Dan?”
“No, mother, but I should feel awkward without it. I don’t want to be a wall-flower. What do you say to my plan, mother?”
“Carry it out by all means, Dan. There is no reason why you shouldn’t hold up your head with any of them,” and Mrs. Mordaunt’s eyes rested with pride on the handsome face and manly expression of her son.
“You are a little prejudiced in my favor, mother,” said Dan, smiling. “If I were as awkward as a cat in a strange garret, you wouldn’t see it.”
“I am not quite blind, Dan.”
Dan accordingly decided to take lessons in dancing. He selected a fashionable teacher, although the price was high, for he thought it might secure him desirable acquaintances, purchased a handsome suit of clothes, and soon became very much interested in the lessons. He had a quick ear, a good figure, and a natural grace of movement, which soon made him noticeable in the class, and he was quite in demand among the young ladies as a partner.
He was no less a favorite socially, being agreeable as well as good-looking.
“Mr. Mordaunt,” said the professor, “I wish all my scholars did me as much credit as you do. You dance beautifully.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Dan, modestly, but he felt gratified.
By the time the invitation came Dan had no fears as to acquitting himself creditably.
“I hope Tom Carver will be there,” he said to his mother, as he was dressing for the party.