Friendship -- Juvenile fiction; Houseboats -- Juvenile fiction; Vacations -- Juvenile fiction; Young women -- Juvenile fiction
Tania was dancing in her most bewitching and wonderful fashion. Madge
could not help feeling a little embarrassed pride in her. The child was
moving like a flower swayed by the wind. She poised first on one foot,
then on the other, then flitted forward on both pointed toes, her thin,
eager arms outstretched, curving and bending with the rhythm of the
music. She wore her best white dress, the pride of her life, which
Eleanor had lately made for her. On her head she had placed a wreath of
wild flowers, which she must have woven for herself. They were like a
fairy crown on her dark head. With the love of bright colors, which she
must have inherited from some Italian ancestor, she had twisted a bright
scarlet sash about her waist.
Again Madge saw that Tania was utterly unconscious of the audience about
her. She looked neither to the right nor to the left, but straight upward
to the turquoise-blue sky.
How different Tania's audience to-day from the crowd of people that had
watched her on the street corner when Eleanor and Madge had first seen
her! Yet these gay society folk were even more fascinated by the child's
wonderful art. They could better appreciate her remarkable dancing.
Tania did not even see her beloved Madge, who was silently watching her.
Tania's usually pale cheeks glowed as scarlet as her sash. Unconsciously
the little girl's movements were like those of a butterfly, a-flutter
with the joy of the sunshine and new life.
The music stopped suddenly and with it Tania's dance ceased as abruptly.
She stood poised for a single instant on one dainty foot, with her
graceful arms still swaying above her flower-crowned head. Her audience
watched her breathlessly, for the effect of the child's grace had been
almost magical.
"Wasn't that a wonderful performance?" whispered Tom in Madge's ear. "The
child is an artist! Where do you suppose she learned to dance like
that?"
But Tania had come back to earth in a brief second. To Madge's
mystification, Tania started about among the people who had been watching
her performance with her small hands clasped together like a cup.
The child courtesied shyly to a fat old lady. Her gesture was
unmistakable. The woman rummaged in her chain pocket-book and dropped a
silver quarter into Tania's outstretched hands. The next onlooker was
more generous. Tania's eyes shone as she felt the size and weight of a
big silver dollar.
Few people in the Cape May crowd knew who Tania was, or whence she had
come. They probably thought that the object of the dance had been to earn
money.
For a few moments Madge had been paralyzed by Tania's peculiar actions.
She did not realize what they meant. In this lapse of time the rest of
their party joined them.
It was the expression on Mrs. Curtis's face that made Madge appreciate
what Tania was doing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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