Chapter 10 Part 2 Chapter 10

We watched Beatrice and their car drive away until it disappeared around the corner of the driveway.Maxim took my arm and said, "Thank God, it's over. Go get dressed and come out, I'm just going to take a walk in this damn rain! I can't bear to sit like this all day." He was pale and looked very tired.I really don't understand that it takes so much energy for him to receive his sister and brother-in-law. "You wait, I'll go upstairs and get dressed," I replied. He said impatiently: "There are a lot of tape raincoats in the greenhouse. You can wear any of them. Once a woman enters the bedroom, she won't come out until half an hour. Robert, go to the greenhouse and get Mrs. de Winter one." Here comes the raincoat. Okay? There are at least six or seven raincoats left behind by people.” He was standing in the driveway, calling to Jesper, “Come here, you lazy little one, let’s go. Go for a walk and run off some fat." Jesper circled his heels, barking with excitement as he was about to go for a walk.Maxim said, "Shut up, fool! What's going on with this Robert?"

Robert ran out of the house with a raincoat in his arms.I put it on hastily, tugging at the collar wildly.The raincoat was obviously too big and too long, but there was no time to change it.So we made our way across the lawn to the woods, Jasper leading the way. Maxim said: "I found out that we were a small family with a lot of personality. Beatrice was the nicest person in the world, but she always messed things up." I don't know what Beatrice has done wrong, and on second thought it's best not to ask.Perhaps the conversation about his health before lunch still haunts him now.

Maxim asked me, "What's your impression of her?" "I like her," I said. "She treated me well." "After lunch, what was she talking to you about outside?" "Well, I can't say that. I seem to be mostly alone. I told her about Mrs. Van Hopper, and how you and I met, and things like that. She said I was as big as she had imagined. no the same." "What did she imagine you were like?" "I think she thought I must be beautiful and sophisticated, a courtesan, as she called it." Maxim was silent for a while.He bent and threw a twig for Jasper to retrieve. "Beatrice is downright stupid sometimes," he said.

We climbed the grassy slope on the edge of the lawn and went into the woods.The trees grew densely, and the forest was very dark.We trod over the broken leaves, now and then the verdant stalks of the ferns just emerging, and the new shoots of the hyacinths about to bloom.At this moment, Jesper had become very honest, and kept sniffing the ground with his nose.I took Maxim's arm. "Do you like the way my hair looks?" I asked. He stared down at me in surprise and said, "Your hair? How did you even think about it? Of course I like it. What's wrong with your hair?"

"Nothing," I said, "I was just asking." "What a queer fellow you are!" he said. We came to a clearing in the woods.There are two trails here that go in opposite directions.Without hesitation, Jasper took the one to the right. "Don't go there, come back, you fellow," cried Maxim. The dog looked back at us and wagged its tail, but it still stood there, refusing to run back.I asked Maxim, "Why did it go this way?" Maxim said curtly, "He's used to it, I suppose. There's a little bay past here, where we've always had a boat moored. Hi, come back, Jesper!"

The two of us stopped talking and turned into the path on the left.Turning around, I saw Jasper running after him. Maxim said, "The road leads into the valley I told you about, and you'll smell the rhododendrons right away. It doesn't matter if it rains, but it will make the fragrance stronger. " It seems that at this moment he has returned to his normal state, with a relaxed and happy expression.This is the Maxim I know and love. He began to talk about Frank Crawley, the steward, and how wonderful he was, how thoughtful, how dependable, and how loyal he was to Manderley.

I thought, "It's nice to be together like this, it's like honeymoon days in Italy." I smiled up at him and held his arm tighter.I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the uncharacteristically tired expression on his face gradually dissipate.As I answered "Yes," "Really," "That's incredible, my dear," and so on, I couldn't help thinking of Beatrice.Why did his sister's visit displease him?What did she do wrong?I also thought of what she had said about Maxim's temper, how he always had it once or twice a year, and so on. Of course, she knew him, she was his sister after all!But what she said was not my ideal Maxim.I could picture him sullen, quarrelsome, and perhaps short-tempered at times; but I couldn't imagine the Maxim she was implying: King Kong glaring, furious.Perhaps she was exaggerating, people's perceptions of their loved ones are often incorrect.

Maxim suddenly called out: "Hey, look over there!" We were standing on a verdant hillside, with a winding path leading into a valley bordered by a babbling stream.There are no dark trees here, no tangled undergrowth.Rhododendrons and heather lined the trail.The heather here is also different from the blood-red monsters on the driveway. Some are bright red, some are white and golden, and there are graceful and delicate flower spikes hanging down in the misty summer rain, both beautiful and graceful. The air was filled with the scent of flowers, their sweetness intoxicating.It seemed to me that the fragrance of the flowers had merged with the murmur of the brook, with the falling raindrops, and with the wet luxuriant bittersweet beneath our feet.There is no other sound here except the sound of the running water of the brook and the quiet sound of the rain.When Maxim spoke, he kept his voice very low, very lightly, as if he didn't want to disturb the silence around him.

"We call it 'Happy Valley,'" he told me. We stood in silence looking at the white flowers nearest us.Maxim bent over and picked up a fallen petal, and stuffed it in my hand.The petals were crushed and the color was beginning to change around the wrinkled edges, but when I rubbed the petals in my hand, I still smelled a strong fragrance, just like the living flowers growing on the tree. Then the birds began to chirp.At first it was a thrush whose singing was clear and hearty, floating over the tears.After a while, the birds hidden in the woods behind us sang in unison, and the silence around us suddenly turned into a cacophony of birdsong.The song of the birds followed us into the valley; the scent of white petals accompanied us all the way.It's like a magical place here, and I couldn't help but startled.I didn't expect everything to be so beautiful...

The sky was cloudy and very gloomy, quite different from the clear sky after lunch.The rain kept falling, but it didn't disturb the tranquility of the valley at all.The sound of the rain and the stream blend together, and the melodious tune of the thrush echoes in the moist air, which is very harmonious with the former two.I walked all the way, brushing against the dripping rhododendron flowers.Rhododendrons grow in clusters along the edge of the path.Small drops of water fell on my hand from the soaked petals.There are also a lot of petals at my feet, which have begun to change color due to soaking for a long time, but the fragrance still remains, and even becomes more intense, but at the same time it is unavoidably a bit stale.Then there is the fresh scent of perennial moss, the bitterness of earth, ferns and roots twisted into the ground.I held onto Maxim's hand tightly, not daring to make a sound.The magic of Happy Valley took me whole.This is the essence of Manderley. I will get to know this place and gradually love it.Standing here, I forget the driveway that made my first impression, the dark dense forest, and the heather that is too gaudy in color and too reserved in posture to stare at you.Besides, I forgot Manderley House, the solemn hall resounding with the sound of footsteps, and the silent west wing with its drape.In the house I was an intruder, looking up and down the strange rooms; I sat on the chair at the writing desk, which I did not own.Here, the situation is completely different. As far as the valley of happiness is concerned, there is no question of trespassing or not.

We came to the end of the path, and the flowers arched over our heads, and we had to duck under them. When I straightened up again and wiped the raindrops from my hair, I found that the valley of happiness had been left behind with the rhododendrons and the woods.Maxim had described it to me one afternoon in Monte Carlo some weeks ago.It is true that we are now standing in a narrow bay with hard white pebbles under our feet.A little further on, the tide washes the shore. Maxim looked down at the crazy expression on my face and smiled.He said: "It's beautiful, isn't it? No one expected to see the sea here suddenly. The sudden change of scenery is unexpected, even a little thrilling." She picked up a stone and threw it on the other side of the beach, so that Jasper to chase.The puppy galloped away, its long black ears flapping in the wind. So we stopped being in a trance, it was as if the magic had been broken and we were just ordinary people playing on the beach again.We went to the water's edge and threw a lot of stone chips, watching them drift by on the water; we reached into the water to catch the drifting wood chips.The tide is rising!Waves crashed into the bay.The small reef was immediately submerged by the sea, and the tide carried the aquatic plants and washed up on the rocks.We scooped up a floating plank, hauled it ashore, and set it atop the high-tide mark.Maxim laughed and turned to me, brushing his hair over his eyes.I rolled up the sleeves of my sea-wet tape raincoat.Then we looked back and realized that Jasper was gone.We yelled and whistled, but the puppy still didn't show up.I looked anxiously towards the mouth of the bay, and saw the tide washing against the rocks. "No," said Maxim, "we would have seen it if it had been swept away; it didn't fall into the sea. Jesper, you idiot, where are you?Jesper!Jesper! " I said, "Could it have gone back to Happy Valley?" Just now it was by that rock, sniffing a dead seagull. "Maxim called all the way: "Jesper!Jesper! " In the distance, from behind the rocks on the right side of the beach came a short, fierce barking of a dog.I said to Maxim, "You hear that? It's over there over there." And I climbed up those slippery rocks and headed in the direction of the dog. Maxim stopped me sharply: "Come back! Don't go that way, you stupid dog, let it go!" I stood on the reef, looked down, and said hesitantly: "Maybe it fell down. Poor little guy, let me bring it over." At this time, Jesper's bark came again, but, This time it seems to be farther away.Then I said, "Oh, listen. I've got to call him back. Is there any danger? The tide won't keep him there?" Maxim said irritably, "It will be fine! Why worry about it? It knows its way and will run home by itself." I pretended I hadn't heard, and scrambled across the rocks toward Jasper.Jagged boulders obscured the view.I slipped and stumbled on the wet reef, but I managed to get over it as fast as I could.I think Maxim had the heart to leave Jasper alone.What is the reason for this?Besides, the tide is rising right now. I climbed to the side of the boulder that blocked my view and looked around.I was surprised to find that there was another small bay at my feet, which was very similar to the one just now, only slightly wider, and the circular coastline was relatively neat.A breakwater stone embankment runs across the bay, and inside the breakwater, the bay forms a small natural port.There is a buoy there, but no mooring. The beach here, like the beach behind me, is all white pebbles, but here the head is steeper, jutting out abruptly into the sea.The woods have been spreading over, intertwined with the aquatic plants at the high tide mark, almost growing to the reef.There was a long, low house at the edge of the woods, part seaside cottage, part boathouse.The house was built of the same kind of stones that are used to make breakwaters. On the beach was a man, probably a fisherman, in boots and an oilskin.Jasper was barking at the man, circling around him, and throwing himself at his boots.But the man ignored it at all, and bent over to grope in the gravel. I yelled to the spaniel: Jesper!Jesper!come over. " The spaniel wagged its tail and looked up, but disobediently barked at the lonely stranger on the beach. I looked back, but there was still no sign of Maxim.I had to climb over the reef and walk down to the beach, my footsteps creaking on the pebbles.At the sound, the stranger looked up.Only then did I realize that the man had squinted eyes like an idiot's and a red, drooling mouth.He smiled at me, his open mouth had no teeth, just bare gums. "Good day," he said, "what a sleazy day, isn't it?" "Good afternoon," I replied, "Yes, the weather is not very nice." He looked at me with great interest and kept smiling.He explained to me, "I was digging for shells. I was digging before lunch. But there are no shells here." "Ah," I said. "That's a pity." "Really, there are no shells here." I called to the spaniel, "Come on, Jasper, it's getting late. Come on, honey." But, perhaps because of the storm at sea, which had agitated him too much, Jasper was very angry at the moment.It curled up and walked away from me, barking inexplicably, and started running aimlessly on the beach again. It seems that there is no leash at hand, and it will not follow me obediently. I turned to the stranger (as he bent over and began digging in vain): "Have you any rope?" "what?" I had to repeat: "Do you have any rope?" "There are no shells here," he said, shaking his head. "Before lunch." Then he nodded at me and wiped his watery pale blue eyes. "I'm looking for a rope to keep the dog on," I said. "It won't go with me." "Huh?" He showed that idiot-like smile again. "If not, forget it, it doesn't matter." He looked at me blankly, then bent forward, poked my chest with his hand and said, "I know this dog, it's raised in the house." "Not bad," I said. "Now I want it to come back with me." "It's not your dog." I said softly, "It's Mr. de Winter's dog, and I'm taking him back to the house." "what?" I called to Jasper again, but he was chasing a feather that was blowing in the wind.I figured I could always find a rope in the boathouse, so I walked down the beach to the hut.It must have been a garden before, but now it was overgrown with weeds and tangled sesame seeds.The windows were boarded up, so the door must also be locked. I flicked the latch up, not having much hope.But unexpectedly, although it was a little awkward at first, the door opened. The lintel was low, and I walked in hunched over.I thought it must be an ordinary boathouse, because it must be dirty and dusty because it has not been used for a long time, and the ropes, wooden blocks and oars will be hard to find.It is true that the house is indeed covered with dust and there are many stains, but there are no ropes, pieces of wood and other sundries at all.The entire cottage is one fully furnished room. There was a desk in one corner, another table, some chairs, and a daybed against the wall. Glasses and saucers stood on the mirror; bookshelves were piled high with books, and a few model yachts atop the shelves.My first thought was that the room must be occupied—maybe that poor bastard on the beach made it his home.But when I looked around again, I realized that no one had been to this house for a long time.The grate was rusted, proving that no fire had been lit for a long time; there were no footprints on the thickly dusty floor;There was a strange musty smell in the house.Spiders spin webs on model yachts and rig them with hideous mast rigging. There must be no one in the room!This is an abandoned house.The hinges had creaked when the door was opened; and the sound of the rain pattering against the roof and the boarded windows seemed hollow!Rat-gnawed covers of the divan showed jagged rips and crumpled edges.The room was damp and cold, dark and depressing.I'm scared and don't want to stay here anymore.I hated the hollow sound of raindrops beating on the roof, which seemed to reverberate throughout the house, and I heard the ticking of the leak in the rusty grate. I looked around for a rope, but there was nothing in the room to tie the dog.There is another door at the other end of the room.I went and pushed the door open, already a little terrified, with an inexplicable dread that I should unknowingly encounter some monster I did not want to see, some terrible monster that would do me harm. All this is, of course, utterly absurd.As soon as I opened that door, I found that I had only entered a proper boathouse, with what I imagined to be rope and blocks, and two or three sails, and some fender material, and a small boat. There were flat-bottomed boats, pots of paint, and all the odds and ends of cables that cannot be avoided when sailing out to sea.On the shelf was a tangle of twine twine, and beside it was a rusty pocket knife.With these things, it is enough to deal with Jasper.So, I opened the knife, cut off a piece of twine, and went back to the room just now.The rain was still ticking against the roof and leaking into the mantel. Not daring to take another look at the broken sofa, the moldy china and the cobwebs on the model yacht, I went through the creaking door without looking back, and rushed out of the cabin onto the white beach . The stranger had stopped digging now, staring at me with Jasper watching over him. "Come on, Jasper," I called to the spaniel. "Come here, baby." I bent down, and let me grab the collar around my neck and let it play with me. "In the hut I found a length of rope," I said to the stranger.But he still didn't say a word. I hung the rope loosely from the collar and pulled Jasper, saying "goodbye" to the stranger.He nodded, still looking at me with those little idiot eyes, and said, "I saw you running in there." "Yes," I said. "That's all right, Mr. de Winter won't blame you." "She doesn't go there any more now," said the stranger. "Yeah, not now." "She went to sea, didn't she? She ain't coming back, is she?" "Yes, not coming back." "I didn't say anything, did I?" "Of course, of course, don't worry." He stooped to dig again, talking inarticulately to himself.I walked across the pebbly beach and saw Maxim waiting for me by the reef with his hands in his pockets. I said, "I'm sorry, but Jasper won't come back, so I'll have to find the rope." He turned around abruptly and walked towards the woods. I asked him, "Aren't you going to turn over the rocks?" "Why do you want to turn over the rock? Isn't it here?" He said briefly. We passed the beach huts and walked up a forest path. "I'm sorry I've been away for so long. It's all Jesper's fault," I said. "It barked at the stranger, who was that?" "Oh, that's Bane," said Maxim. "A poor wretch who has nothing to do with the world. His old father used to be the keeper of Manderley, and the family lived near the estate. Where did you get this rope?" "From that beach house," I said. "Is the cabin door open?" he asked. "Yes, I pushed, and the door opened. The rope was found in the back storeroom, where there was a boat with some sails piled up." "Oh, I see," he replied without saying anything else.After a while, he continued, "The hut should be locked, why is the door open?" I didn't answer, it's none of my business. "Did Bane tell you that the cabin door was open?" "No, it seems that this person doesn't understand my question at all." "He was playing dumb to make people think he didn't know anything," Maxim said. "Actually, he can speak clearly and clearly. Maybe he's been going in and out of that cabin all the time, and he just doesn't want anyone to know." "No way," I replied. "It doesn't look like anyone has been in or out of the room. It's dusty and there's no footprints on it. It's very damp, and I'm afraid it's going to ruin the books, and the chairs and sofas. There's a lot of rats, and they've chewed through a lot of the chairs." noodle." Maxim did not answer me.Even though the path uphill from the beach was steep, he walked with great strides.The scenery here is very different from that of Happy Valley.The dark trees grew densely, and there were no rhododendrons beside the road.The raindrops dripped in clusters from the thick branches, hit my collar, and trickled down my neck bit by bit.I was shivering, it was a bad feeling, like having a cold finger on your neck.I just climbed on the reef for a while, and I was not used to this kind of exercise in the past, and my legs were sore.Jasper, tired from the frenzied jumping just now, lagged behind us with his tongue out. Maxim yelled, "Jesper, for God's sake, run faster!" Then he said to me, "Try to make him keep up, can't you tighten the rope a bit? Or do something else? Than Beatrice is right, the dog is indeed too fat." I replied, "It's your fault. You walked so fast that neither Jesper nor I could keep up." "If you had listened to me just now, instead of rushing over the rocks in such a mad way, we would be home by now. Jasper knows the way here and can run back by himself. I don't see why you have to find It can't." "I'm afraid it'll fall, and it's high tide again," I said. "Would I leave the dog alone if there was even a slight danger of flooding? I told you not to climb those rocks, and you wouldn't listen, and now you're too tired to cry." "I didn't complain. Even if I had a pair of iron legs, I would be exhausted if I walked at such a pace. When I went to find Jasper, I always thought you would accompany me, but you just refused to come." "I'm not going to run around with this damn beast! Isn't it exhausting?" "Climbing rocks with Jasper is no less tiring than running on the beach and chasing the floating stalks in the water," I replied. "You say that because you can't find another excuse." "My dear, what am I looking for excuses for?" I replied wearily: "Well, I don't know. Forget it, let's not talk about that." "Why don't you talk about it? You provoked it first. You said I was looking for an excuse. What do you mean by that? What am I looking for an excuse for?" "I think you're going to make an excuse that you're justified in not coming over the rock with me." "Then why do you think I don't want to come to this beach here?" "Oh, how do I know that? I'm not the kind of person who can read other people's thoughts at a glance. I just know that you don't want to come here, and I can see it in your face." "What do you see on my face?" "Didn't I tell you? I can see you don't want to come over. Oh well, let's call it a day. I'm so tired of this subject." "Women use this magic weapon when they say that they can't be good enough for others. Well, even if I don't want to run to the beach here, now you are satisfied? I will never go near this place, and the **** Beach hut! If you had all the memories of my past in your head, you wouldn't want to go near it, talk about it, or even think about it. Well, you'll figure it out for yourself Go ahead. I hope you're satisfied with it." His face was pale, and his eyes showed the inscrutable expression when I saw him for the first time, frightened and miserable. I reached out and squeezed his hand, and said, "Oh, Maxim, Maxim!" "What is it?" he said roughly. "I don't want you like this, it breaks my heart. Please, Maxim, just forget about all this, a pointless, stupid argument. My dear, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Forget it, make peace." "We should have stayed in Italy," he said. "We shouldn't have come back to Manderley again. Oh, God, what a fool I am, why should I come back?" He walked impatiently through the woods, walking faster.With tears in my eyes, I had to sprint to catch up with him, holding poor Jesper behind me. We finally reached the top of this uphill path, and that's when I saw the same path turn left and lead to Happy Valley.It turned out that the trail we were climbing up now was the one Jasper wanted to take when the afternoon walk began. Now I understand why the long-eared dog ran to this road at once, because this road leads to the beach and the hut he is most familiar with, and this is the old road he is used to. We walked out of the woods to the lawn, and walked across the lawn in silence to the house.Maxim's face was sullen and expressionless.He went straight across the hall into the library without even looking at me.Frith was waiting in the lobby. "Bring the tea right away," Maxim ordered, and then he closed the library door. I struggled to hold back my tears.Don't let Frith see it!Otherwise, he would think that we had quarreled, and he would run to the servants and make a scene: "My wife is crying in the hall at the moment. It seems that something is wrong!" I turned around, no Let Frith see my face.But he actually walked towards me and helped me take off my tape raincoat. "Ma'am, I'll put the raincoat in the greenhouse," he said. "Thank you, Frith," I replied, still turning my face away. "Ma'am, I'm afraid it's not ideal for a walk in this weather." "Yes, yes, not ideal." "Madam, is this your handkerchief?" He picked up something from the ground, and I slipped it into my pocket, thanking me. For a moment I could not make up my mind whether to go upstairs or to follow Maxim into the library.Frith took the raincoat and went to the greenhouse.I stood there biting my nails, caught between a rock and a hard place.Frith came back again, and he was surprised to see that I was still there. "Ma'am, there is a fire in the library right now." "Thank you, Frith." I walked slowly across the hall to the library.I opened the door and went into the room to find Maxim in his old seat, Jasper lying at his feet, and the old dog in his crate.He was not reading the newspaper, although it lay on the arm of the chair beside him.I walked over, knelt down next to him, and brought my face close to his. I said softly: "Don't be angry with me again!" He held my face in his hands, looked at me with tired and frightened eyes, and said, "I'm not angry with you." "No. I made you unhappy, which is the same as making you angry. Your heart is hurt, and I can't bear to see you like this. I love you so much!" "Really? Do you really love me?" He hugged me tightly and looked at me questioningly with deep, gloomy and wandering eyes, which are the painful eyes of a child when he is frightened. "What's the matter, honey," I asked him. "Why is your face so ugly"? Before he could answer, I heard the door open, so I drew back quickly, as if I was just reaching for wood to throw into the fireplace.Frith and Robert walked in one after the other, and the ritual of having tea in the afternoon began again. As on the previous day, the table was pulled out, a snow-white tablecloth was spread, and cakes and muffins and a silver kettle on a small stove were served.Jesper wagged his tail and ear, looked into my face, expecting a treat.It took about five minutes for the two servants to leave, and then I looked at Maxim again, only to see that the color had returned to his face, the tired and dazed expression had disappeared, and he was reaching for a sandwich. He said: "The thing is that we have so many people over for lunch. Poor Beatrice, she's always pissing me off, and when we were little we bickered like two dogs. So, I still love her deeply and pray to God to bless her. But fortunately, this couple does not live too close to us. Speaking of which, I remembered that we have to find time to visit the old lady. Baby, pour me tea, I was too rough to you just now, please forgive me." The matter is finally over, and this episode is over, and it must never be mentioned again.He raised his teacup to his mouth, smiled at me, and reached for the newspaper that lay on the arm of his chair.This smile is my reward, like a pat on the head of Jasper, which means: Lie down, cute puppy, and don't bother me again.In this way, I became a Jesper-like character again and resumed my original position.I took a muffin and shared it between the two dogs.I myself was not hungry at all, and could not eat anything.I just feel very tired, listless, and exhausted. I looked again at Maxim, who was reading the paper and had turned to another page.My fingers were covered with butter on the muffin, so I reached into my pocket for my handkerchief.I drew a little lace handkerchief out of my pocket, and stared at it, frowning, because the handkerchief was not mine.At this time, I remembered that it was this handkerchief that Frith picked up from the flagstone floor of the hall just now. It probably fell out of the bag of the tape raincoat.I held it in my pocket and looked at it over and over again. The handkerchief was dirty, with little clumps of fluff from the pockets of the raincoat, where it must have been for a long time.Embroidered at the corners of the handkerchief; a tall italic "R" crossed in a monogram with the letters "Derwin."Compared with the "R", the rest of the letters are very small: the stroke of the "R" is very long, stretching from the embroidered border to the center of the muslin handkerchief.The handkerchief was only a small square, crumpled up and forgotten in the raincoat pocket. I must be the first person to put on this tape raincoat since someone used that square handkerchief.So the woman who wore this raincoat last time was tall and slim, with rounder shoulders than mine.Don't I feel big and long in a raincoat?The sleeves and wrists are gone.The raincoat is missing a few buttons.It never occurred to the woman to sew them on, she probably used the raincoat as a cloak and draped it over her shoulders, or put her hands in her pockets and let the raincoat open... There was a pink mark on the handkerchief, which was a trace of lipstick.She had wiped her lips with a handkerchief, then balled it up and stuffed it in her pocket.While wiping my fingers with the handkerchief, I noticed that there was still a faint scent on the handkerchief. I recognized it as a scent I was familiar with.I closed my eyes, struggling to remember.This is an erratic, indescribable light fragrance.I had smelled it somewhere before, it must have been sometime this afternoon. I understood that the lingering scent on the handkerchief was the scent of crushed white rhododendron petals in the valley of happiness!