The Washington herald., 1921-05-08

He wasn't at all good looking either.
bless him! But he had a delicious sense
of humor. the most contagious laugh in
the world. and big, understanding,
sympathetic heart In other words, he
had an unusually lovable personality"
81 see" Young Gage was with her
now, following each point she made.
leaping ahead to illustrations Of his own.
But where did his color come in:"
Hope laughed.
Color? Well. color is a little hard to
define. The person who is always the
same might be said to have one color.
1t may be a strong color-an exuberant,
hashy red such some vulgar person
suggests. or a nice, dependable gray such
you suggest"
Every word was a friendly little poul-
tice on Cages sore heart. Bob was a
kaleidoscope" she went on cheerfulIy.
His color was changing all the time.
Sometimes he was blue" she joked not
withstanding his sunny nature: you know
how strong his reactions were Often he
was the most sunshiny gold. o." she
broke off. I'm getting beyond my depth
but you what / mean"
Yes" G. Montgomery Gage stood up.
He felt as If she had opened the win
dows of his soul and sent in a spring
breeze. His bad quarter of an hour was
over He knew, too. that he was under
very real obligations to this quiet, brown
eyed. brown haired girl with whom
heretofore his intercourse had been so
purely formal and businesslike. He
smiled at her and the smile was like an
illumination from within. 1t so trans
formed his dark. rather serious young
face that the we'll poised Miss Strong
almost thrilled under it.
I'm going to tell you something" he
began. And because he felt suddenly shy
he suddenly very boyish. You've
helped me a lot-much more than you
realize. You see" he hesitated then
brought out his confession-"Tm the chap
that some one said was without color
and personality"
Il knew that" Hope spoke so casually
that his self-consciousness disappeared
You did," his voice iattened. But of
course you did. You recognized the de-
scription."
No" She shook her dark head at him.
The little gesture ws so intimate that he
had a momentary sense of being alone in
the world with her. 81 merely realized
that you might give that impression to
others"
C. Montgomery Gage looked straight
down into her brown eyes. What he
saw there. though it was merely golden
friendlness. made him feel slightly dizzy.
This was his first experience in the
greatest talking game in the world-the
universal You are-am L. interchange
of interested young humans. With sud-
den resolution he sat down again.
Not to you?" he asked quietly.
"No-not to me-"
why not?"
If Hope had been a self-analyst she
might have paused at this moment long
enough to realize that as a matter Of
Bradley's young assistant than she was
leading him to suppose. She had ad-
mired him in an impersonal way. had
respected his ability. had enjoyed the few
brief and matter OF fact encounters each
working day had brought to them. But
strangely, in this moment, it seemed to
her that they had known each other very
well and for a long time, and that now
suddenly she was seeing a new and stir
ring phase of an Intimately familiar per-
sonality.' TIE sensation made her self
conscious. So did the new, arrested look
of Cages steady eyes. She began to
founder a little.
NO. I-I-why, it's always hard to put
these things into words. But l had an
idea that you really had unusually
vivid personality and that you were
well, wearing a business mackintosh over
it."
q. Montgomery Gage drew a deep
breath. II was a great moment in life.
At last, in a lonely world. he had found