The Monroe journal., 1919-01-03
Souvenir
d'Anour
~
By MONA cowLES
Copyright. isls. by the Mcclure Newspa,
per Syndicate.)

per syndicate)
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 50 II 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 plcaSurably or otherwise by the
penetrating oder Of one of the most
alluring of perfumes. For the perfume
had been spilled on the floor of the
shop pear the door, which was open to
let in the first warm spring sunlight
and ii had been carried forth on the
fresh air till il sufrused the atmos-
phere for hundred feet or more.
Some who passed looked about as II
TO hsholi 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 recollect.ons.
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 po-
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 had she happened to break
that bottle" with an emphasis on the
that. Its the most expensive per
fume In the shop-souvenir d'a-
mour' only she pronounced it $500
venirc damoor." "Sells for twelve dol
lars bottle
"Yes. ii was too bad, and the madam
says she'll take it out of her wages
Its a shame TO spill twelve dollars
all at once. But il makes an elegant
smell"
And the other girl agreed that 1t
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 II
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 good
deal for anyone to spend for a gift.
She reelected 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 II she had always
known that souvenir d'amour cost
twelve dollars a bottle II might have
made a difference. She had thought
if she had thought about the cost of II
at all-that ii cost not more than q
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 ii yet.
1t haunted her like 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 its pow
er of association. So from being quite
cheerful about the recollections that II
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 recolections or senti-
ments that she believed 1t. 1t was just
a little disconcerting then when, as
the afternoon wore on, she found her.
self in the mood Of 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
wicker long chair under the trees In
the 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 II drop of the per-
fume must have spattered on Susan's
frock so persistent were the memories
II 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 al the
earth beneath the bush. She went off
to the gardeners hut and returned with
a trowel, then she fell to work digging
with the intensity Of one sure Of un-
earthing Captain Kids treasure in
certain spot. Once the old gardener
came along and asked her whether he