It was to the Dancing Academy that Jennings turned his steps a few days
after the interview with Susan. He had been a constant visitor there
for eighteen months and was deeply in love with Peggy. On a Bank
Holiday he had been fortunate enough to rescue her from a noisy crowd,
half-drunk and indulging in horse-play, and had escorted her home to
receive the profuse thanks of the Professor. The detective was
attracted by the quaint little man, and he called again to inquire for
Peggy. A friendship thus inaugurated ripened into a deeper feeling,
and within nine months Jennings proposed for the hand of the humble
girl. She consented and so did Le Beau, although he was rather rueful
at the thought of losing his mainstay. But Peggy promised him that she
would still look after him until he retired, and with this promise Le
Beau was content. He was now close on seventy, and could not hope to
teach much longer. But, thanks to Peggy's clever head and saving
habits, he had--as the French say--"plenty of bread baked" to eat
during days of dearth.
The Academy was situated down a narrow street far removed from the main
thoroughfares. Quiet houses belonging to poor people stood on either
side of this lane--for that it was--and at the end appeared the
Academy, blocking the exit from that quarter. It stood right in the
middle of the street and turned the lane into a blind alley, but a
narrow right-of-way passed along the side and round to the back where
the street began again under a new name. The position of the place was
quaint, and often it had been intended to remove the obstruction, but
the owner, an eccentric person of great wealth, had hitherto refused to
allow it to be pulled down. But the owner was now old, and it was
expected his heirs would take away the building and allow the lane to
run freely through to the other street. Still it would last Professor
Le Beau's time, for his heart would have broken had he been compelled
to move. He had taught here for the last thirty years, and had become
part and parcel of the neighborhood.