The Scarlet Slipper Mystery Read Online Free Page B

mystery?”
    “Possibly,” Nancy said. “If any word comes from them, will you please notify me?”
    The manager assured her that he would. When Nancy told Mrs. Parsons about the conversation, the woman shook her head in disappointment and said she would have to find a substitute for Millie.
    “How about your taking the part?” she asked.
    Nancy laughed. “You flatter me, Mrs. Parsons. I’d be glad to help you out with some of the dancing, but please don’t put me in as a soloist. I haven’t had much time for any ballet dancing in recent years.”
    “But you still dance exceedingly well,” said the chairwoman of the charity show. “And I’m sure you could learn the speaking part easily.”
    There was no talking Mrs. Parsons out of her idea. She was flustered and concerned. Not only had she lost Millie Koff as soloist but also Helene Fontaine as coach. The woman began pacing the floor.
    “All right, Mrs. Parsons,” Nancy said. “I’ll do the best I can for you. But if Millie Koff comes back, I’ll bow out.”
    From a desk Mrs. Parsons produced a script for the performance. Flipping over several pages, she came to the scene in which Millie Koff was to have appeared. She and Nancy sat down and went over the part together. When they had finished, Nancy admitted that there was not much to the role, and she could quickly learn the speaking part. She, herself, would have to develop the dance act.
    With a copy of the script and a record under her arm, Nancy hurried off, promising to report for rehearsal that afternoon. Already behind schedule, she found Ned Nickerson’s mother waiting for her outside the door of the Fontaines’ dancing school.
    Nancy walked up to her, smiling, and said, “Good morning, Mrs. Nickerson. I’m sorry I’m late.”
    Mrs. Nickerson looked very pretty, she thought, with her prematurely white wavy hair, her petite figure, and her stylishly tailored cotton dress.
    As Nancy unlocked the door, she said, “Mrs. Nickerson, the Fontaines want me to tell you how much they appreciate what you’re doing.”
    Mrs. Nickerson said she was glad to be included and hoped that something exciting would happen. She and Nancy spent an hour together, checking the schedule of classes and going through the registration cards to become acquainted with the pupils.
    When everything was ready, Nancy found that she would be free for half an hour before her first class. She decided to start work on the dance she would perform in the benefit show.
    Nancy found a leotard in her size and put it on in the dressing room. Then she walked into the large practice room, which had mirrors on three walls.
    “First I’ll listen to the record that Millie Koff was going to use,” Nancy decided. She placed the “Satiric Polka,” by Shostakovich, on the turntable and flicked on the switch.
    As the music filled the room, Nancy shut her eyes and let her feet and body move naturally to the distinctive rhythm.
    “Of course I haven’t the same ballet technique as Millie,” she thought, “but I’ll improvise to the music, combining ballet and rhythmic modern dancing. That should do the trick.”
    She played the record over several times until her choreography had formed a regular pattern. Realizing that her movements betrayed her love for mystery, Nancy suddenly found herself giggling. Her dance had become a graceful chase portraying the conflict between someone being pursued and the pursuer!
    “I’ll need a lot of practice,” Nancy said to herself, as she performed the final leap with an intricate turn.
    Nancy heard several pupils arriving for their class and hurried into the dressing room to change to street clothes. The substitute teacher arrived and everything went well.
    Nancy and Mrs. Nickerson had luncheon together; then Nancy borrowed the leotard again and left for the charity-show rehearsal at the Civic Center. She went at once to the auditorium, where several of the performers were on stage, talking to Mrs.