o words only--PARFUMS FRANCAIS.

The effect was charming.

We gathered about the window, ejaculating surprise.

"_Urbs in rure_," said Jonah. "And then you're wrong. The Rue de la
Paix isn't in it."

Which is a description I cannot better.

Daphne lifted the _portiere_, and we followed her in.

Passing suddenly out of the brilliant sunshine, we could at first see
nothing. Then gradually the interior of the shop took shape.

There was no counter, but an oblong mahogany glass-topped table,
standing in the centre of the polished floor, evidently was discharging
that office. Upon this stood three other phials, similar to those
displayed in the window, but fitted with sprays instead of stoppers.
In front of each a grey gold-lettered slip of silk, laid between the
glass and the mahogany, declared its contents--ROSE BLEUE ... LYS NOIR
... JASMIN GRIS.

The room was very low, and the walls were panelled. Upon these, except
for that framing the door and window, were rows of shelves. On these,
at decent intervals, stood phials of four different sizes. To judge
from the colour of their glass, each wall was devoted to one of the
three scents. That facing us was green, that on our left
rose-coloured, that upon our right a faint yellow. A black curtain in
a corner suggested a doorway leading to another part of the house. The
air, naturally enough, was full of perfume.

We stared about us in silence.

After waiting perhaps five minutes, peering unsuccessfully behind the
curtain, raising our voices in talk, and finally rapping upon the table
without attracting attendance, we decided to return to where we had
left the cars and visit the shop again on our way out of the town.

As we came to the Plaza, the clock of the great church announced the
hour. A quarter to one.

"Good Heavens!" cried Daphne, checking the time by her wrist-watch.
"I'd no idea it was so late. And I left word for Evelyn to ring me up
at the hotel at one o'clock." We made a rush for the cars. "Can it be
done, Jonah?"

"Only by air," said my cousin. "Outside a track, thirteen miles in
fourteen minutes is just a shade too thick; Still, there's nothing the
matter with the road after Irun, and Evelyn may be delayed getting
through."

He swung himself into Ping and started her up. My sister and Jill
scrambled aboard while he was turning her round. As he headed for the
Calle Mayor--

"Stop!" shrieked his sister. "The scent, Jonah, the s