PERFUMES 



surrenders and confidences, refuses to despoil any further vic- 

 tims. 



As for the violets, they resist the importunities of the cold 

 fat; the torture of fire has to be superadded. The lard, there- 

 fore, is heated in the bain-marie. In consequence of this bar- 

 barous treatment, the sweet and modest flowers that deck the 

 roads in spring gradually lose the strength to keep their secret. 

 They yield, they give themselves; and their liquid executioner 

 is not satiated until it has absorbed four times its own weight 

 in petals, which causes the torture to be prolonged throughout 

 the season in which the violets blossom under the olive-trees. 



But the tragedy is not over. It is now a matter of com- 

 pelling the greedy fat, whether it be hot or cold, to disgorge ; 

 for it means, with all its shapeless and evasive energy, to retain 

 the absorbed treasure. The object is achieved, not without 

 difficulty. The fat has base passions which are its undoing. 

 It is plied with alcohol, is intoxicated and ends by quitting its 

 hold. The alcohol now possesses the mystery. No sooner 

 are the secrets in its custody than it too claims the right to 

 impart them to none other, to keep them for itself alone. It 

 is attacked in its turn, reduced, evaporated, condensed; and, 

 after all these adventures, the liquid pearl, pure, essential, 



[125] 



