N.M. Repchull of Victory Branch in London, Ont., tells us this story:

Captain Smith, who owned Smitty`s Furniture Mart, had just returned from a reunion of Second World War veterans in Europe. He was relating one of his experiences to his cronies.

One evening, leaving his Paris hotel, he met a beautiful woman in the elevator. She smiled and he said: “Good evening.” She replied in a language he didn`t know. It was neither French nor German. She kept smiling at him. He took out a pad and sketched a stage with curtains and footlights. He showed her the sketch and she smiled and nodded.

They enjoyed the show. In the theatre foyer afterwards, he pulled out his pad and sketched a bottle of wine and dishes of food. She smiled and nodded again. They dined in perfect harmony.

Over coffee, she motioned for the pad and pencil. She sketched for about a minute, and handed him the pad. On it was a four-poster bed.

“To this day,” he told the boys, “I can`t figure out how she knew I was in the furniture business.”