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IT DIDN'T seem fair, but that's the way it was. Some girls, like Ellen, were plain, colorless creatures with tawny hair, faded blue eyes, and a dejected manner. Others, like Crystal, were lovely — with dark, shiny hair, big brown eyes, long lashes, everything!
Ellen was young, only twenty-one, but already it was generally accepted that she would never marry. Who would want to marry such a homely girl when there were plenty of pretty ones angling for husbands? And if Ellen wasn't going to marry, why should she knock herself out trying to be attractive when it couldn't be done anyway?
She accepted her lot, not happily, but with a painful sort of resignation which some people mistook for contentment.
"Oh, Ellen's satisfied," they'd say. "She doesn't want much."
Maybe she didn't want much; but she wanted something. And she wanted that something very much indeed! It didn't matter if she wasn't the prettiest girl in the crowd. Or the most popular. Or the wealthiest. All she wanted was to be reasonably at
"SAFE
with
ELLEN"
By FLORENCE PEDIGO JANSSON
tractive and fairly intelligent, an av erage sort of girl with an average beau and friends.
All through high school she had been the one girl who had gone undated. Even the other girls had passed her by for livelier, more attractive friends. All except Crystal, who had found at least some place for Ellen in her scheme of things.
Oddly enough Crystal and Ellen, two extremes in personal appearance, had formed an attachment for each other which, after graduation, carried over into their rather casual ventures into the business world. Aside from the practical convenience of sharing an apartment, they somehow needed each other.
Ellen needed Crystal because she had no one else.
Crystal needed Ellen as a contrast to heighten her startling, youthful beauty. She found Ellen a comforting person, one she could trust. Other girls might have flirted with her beaus or won them away from her. Not Ellen.
Another thing. She could talk the way she felt to Ellen. They didn't have to pretend.
"I don't think I'm quite ready to accept Bob. Not quite," Crystal confided.
Ellen opened her faded-looking