FIRST PRINTING OCTOBER, 1958

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CHAPTER ONE

It was while I clerked at Hansen's Dress Shop that I met the girl who I knew at first glance could be as close to me, as all-important, as in my loneliness I'd dreamed a girl could be. She was the accountant at the store. Jan Nelson! Her name was Janet, but ever since she could remember no one had called her anything but Jan. Jan suited her.

I'd never known anyone like her!

Jan was tall, slender, broad-shouldered. She always dressed in blouses and skirts, or trim, tailored suits. She walked with long steps. Her stride was graceful. And her voice, while deeper than most women's, was always gentle.

Jan's dark-blonde hair had a slight wave in it. She wore it cut short, parted on one side and combed back behind her ears. There was a natural dignity about this quiet girl. She had about her the essence of sincerity, as some women wear about them an aura of perfume.

The first moment I saw her, when she came out of her cubbyhole in the business office and said, "Hello!" in her throaty voice, my heart knew what it means to thrill.

A week later, when she asked me to go to lunch with her, my world really began.

As we had spaghetti and cheese, French bread and coffee in a booth for two at Tony's Italian Cafe, I was fascinated by Jan. I couldn't take my eyes off her face. I didn't even glance at the food, which I hardly tasted. All I thought of was, With Jan I could really be happy. Jan could really be happy with me. And in a psychic way I was sure that Jan knew it too. That Jan's heart under her crisp white blouse was thudding