Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1918-05-24
Souvenir
d'Arnour
O0
BY MONA cowLEs
Copyright, 1918. by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicnte.l

The new sales girl IN the little per-
fume shop on Maine street had broken
a bottle Of French perfume Just as
the clock pointed to twelve O'Clock,
and so 1t happened that shoppers and
Office workers, idlers and persons bent
on business as they walked along the
busy section of Main street that d.
about lunch time were impressed
either pleasurably or otherwise by the
penetrating odor Of one Of the most
alluring Of perfumes For the perfume
had been spilled on the floor of the
shop near the door, which was open to
let in the first warm spring sunlight
and 1t had been carried forth on the
fresh air till it suffused the atmos-
phere for a hundred feet or more.
Some who passed looked about as if
to behold a tree in blossom in the
vicinity; but whoever scented it felt
curiosity, for there was that in the
extract that called up indefinable and
tantalizing reeollections.
Susan Beverly, as she alighted from
her little electric that she drove her
self and put foot on the curbstone,
first shifted vigorously and then looked
about. TO her the perfume had POI
tent associations that seemed to pos
sess her Imagination before she could
put into form the nature of them. She
whitfield again, looked around and then
heard one Of the girls who worked In
the perfume shop say to another, as
they stepped out of the shop ON their
way to luncheon:
''Too bad she happened to break
that bottle" with an emphasis on the
that. 'It's the most expensive per-
fume In the shop-souvenir d'a-
mour' only she pronounced it $500
yenire damoor." "Sells for twelve dol
lars a bottle"
ayes, 1t was too bad, and the madam
says she'll take it out Of her wages"
''It's a shame to spill twelve dollars
all at once. But it makes an elegant
smell"
And the other girl agreed that it.
was swell"
Long after Susan had passed out of
the radius of the aroma of the spilled
souvenir d'amour her mind was occu-
pied with the train Of associations it
had called up. At first vague and Ill
defined, they gradually shaped them
selves. BY the time she reached her
home on the outskirts Of the city she
was deep in recollection but her recOl-
lections were by no means melancholy.
The detail of the little experience of
the spilled perfume that assumed the
largest proportions in her thoughts
was that the bottle had cost twelve
dollars. Twelve dollars was a good
deal for anyone to spend for a gift.
She reflected that people did not spent
that much-especially when they were
not especially well Off-on persons for
whom they had little regard. 1t seemed
TO her then that If she had always
known that souvenir d'amour cost
twelve dollars a bottle 1t might have
made a difference. She had thought
II she had thought about the cost Of 1t
at all-that it cost not more than a
dollar bottle.
But though her thoughts were thus
mercenary to begin with, eventually
the seductive influence of the perfume
had its effect and, though she was far
out Of the radius Of the sweet odor, In
her imagination she smelled It yet.
It haunted her Ike vision that would
not down-or Sweet, haunting melody
that runs through the mind-Only this
was vision or melody Of the sense Of
smell and, they say, this sense is Of
the five the most persistent In lts pow
er of association. So from being quite
cheerful about the recollections that 1t
aroused, she became truly pensive.
Susan was thirty and she had SO Of
ten told herself that spinster Of that
age has grown too old and too sensible
for romantic recollections or senti-
menfs that she believed it. 1t was just |
a little disconcerting then when, as
the afternoon wore on, she found her
self in the mood of a love-struck girl
Of twenty. She had planned to spend
the afternoon on the golf links getting
In trim for the weekend tournament,
but for o'clock found her reclining on
q wicker long chair under the trees in
che garden, shielded by the lilac hedge |
with an assortment Of once favorite |
poets for diversion. This was not at
all like the thirty-year-old Susan. 1t |
really did seem as If a drop of the per-
fume must have spattered on Susan's |
frock so persistent were the memories
1t had recalled. Eventually she rose
from her chair, walked along the lilac |
row, retraced her steps, counted out |
the seventh lilac bush from the end |
and then stood gazing down at the |
earth beneath the bush. She went OF |
to the gardeners hut and returned with |
a trowel, then she fell to work digging |
with the intensity of one sure Of I'M
earthing Captain Kids treasure in a
certain spot. Once the old gardener |
came along and asked her whether he !