The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-27

lie must think of the hours under the
lilac bushes that spring time five years
ago. But then. why should he? Susan
herself had succeeded in putting away
those thoughts and he was no less
sensible than she.
There was a sound along the gravel
walk and Susan looked up to see Tom
She passed her hand across her eyes
1t occurred to her at first that this
vision was but the final and most tor
menting effect of the magic perfume
But when she heard his voice calling
her by name she knew that it was
reality.
He called her Susan with all the
ease of five years before and Susan sat
there on the long chair with Tom be-
side her just as they had sat five years
before, on a little rustic bench that
had since been demolished First
they talked of genefalities. the
weather, the war and mutual friends
Then the converse ton drifted back to
the key in which it had been pitched
on evenings like this five years be-
fore. The five years that had gone
between seemed as but a day gone
| by and sensible thirty-year-oid Susan
| found her muscular, athletic hands
| held in Toms with as complete sur
| render as in the days when they had
played off fewer golf tournaments and
were perhaps little softer. Then-it
was no more Toms fault than Susan's
| and surely not Susans in the least
| Susan's head leaned on Toms shous1e
| der and there were some stammeredt
monosyllables about love, and, on first
regaining a sensible way of looking
at things, Susan wondered whether it
all meant that they were engaged
again.
1T has all come so quickly" she
told him. II thought if it ever did
come there would be so much explain
ing and it would be so hard for us
both to get back into the old mood
again. You Re with me it came about
this way. I CHANGED to get Whit of
perfume like a bottle you once sent
me, five years ago. I am afraid L
didn't realize then that you really
cared for me. After We had that mis-
/ understanding l returned the letters
and the gifts, but this perfuhle-well.
l didn't want to throw it away That
| would have seemed sacrilege. and
couldn't bear to use it because you
had given it to me. and it reminded
| me of YOU So l buried it here under
J the lilac hedge. And today when L
smelled the same kind again 1 came
out here and, just out of curiosity,
dug it up again. There was little
left and it's the magic of that per
fume that has brought back all the
old feelings
Susan took the mould-covered bottle
t from the handkerchief and drew forth
the cork to let escape a breath OF the
sweet perfume
1
} &c express your personality perfect
ly," Tom said. That's why 1 bought
. it for you. And you used to use 1t
( sometimes and-well, it had the same
: effect that the perfume of a woman
5 a man loves always does. 1t was in
2 &c xicating. And then you lost interest
! and l never came across that per-
. fume yain-except in my imagfna- :
I ticn-it's painful how the memory OF
perfume will haunt you-tl today
r Today on Main street some one must
have spilled some. Anyway, l got a
whiff Of it and that was all l needed
t 1t brought the old longing back again
2 and 1 just had to see you.
And as Susan allowed her two
( hands to be clasped eagerly in Tom
a she was trying to work out plan
whereby the little salesgirl who hac
S spilled the precious perfume might be
Y | reimbursed for her loss
Ell And really is strange how things
r happen-for if the little girl had not
] broken that bottle Susan Beverly ana
Tom Canton never would have been
j reunited.