"You must have danced a great deal?" I questioned, seeing that some remark was required of me.
"Danced!" he said, lifting his eyes to the smudgy ceiling. "Yes, it is feefteen year ago, but I remember it like jesterday. All overe in vone moment; a coup de fouet ve call it."
I begged for an explanation.
"I vas ze first—ze very first. One leap into ze air I could do—so high," he said, lifting his hand descriptively; "a leap zat no vone vould dare—my fortune vas made. Pupils came from all ze countries to learn from me some leetle 'pas,' but zere vas no time. Zen, vone night zere came a king to see me—me, ze king of ze dance—ah! I may say zat now it is all gone! I danced; ze air vas no lighter zan I ... ze people shouted, zey called, zey encored. Again I danced, high, high, higher, and zen—crack!"
He brought his two hands together with a sharp click. His face was convulsed with emotion, and presently he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the damp from his brow.
"Yes," he continued, "it is feefteen year—but to me it is to-day. Zere—in my leg was a break"—he pointed to the place a little above his ankle and below the calf. "You could put a fingere into it—that vone muscle vas my fortune—it vas gone—split in vone moment."
His sad eyes stared blankly out from the cracked unclean window as though reviewing a vast panorama of his early years.
"How sad; terrible! Is this a common accident?" I inquired of him.
"Common? Yes, ze coup de fouet; but zis vas vorse. For long I lay in bed, my brain made mad to know zat all vas overe, zat all vas lost. Zey offered me half vage to teach, but no—not vere I had been ze first—ze very first. I left England and my friends, I hoped for evere."
"Was that not foolish?" I asked, viewing the greasy curtains and other surrounding evidences of poverty.