Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/45



VERYBODY in "The Searchlight" editorial rooms felt that James Vance Cuthbertson was a distinct acquisition to the working force, but perhaps no one realized this quite so keenly as James Vance himself. In appearance he was not impressive. He was small for his age, and his age was but twelve. His light hair clung to his head in such relentlessly tight little curls that his facetious associates pointed to this strain on his scalp as the explanation of the frequent headaches from which he suffered. His round young face bore several large and obtrusive freckles, and his clothes were palpably a legacy from some one of more stalwart frame than himself. But his wide-open blue eyes were clear and honest, and the charm of his manner was recognized and commented upon even by the embittered visitors who awaited the editor's pleasure in the small anteroom over which James held sway.