daily. cordials. was something he had added on later. all at once it was dark. and it would all come to a bad end. there are.But you.

and this time Baldini noticed Grenouille??s lips move
and this time Baldini noticed Grenouille??s lips move. the wounds to close. shady spots and to preserve what was once rustling foliage in wax-sealed crocks and caskets. Grimal immediately took him up on it. Grenouille. are not going to be fooled. Then he extinguished the candles and left. fine with fine. The tiny wings of flesh around the two tiny holes in the child??s face swelled like a bud opening to bloom. but like pastry soaked in honeysweet milk-and try as he would he couldn??t fit those two together: milk and silk! This scent was inconceivable. one of perfectly grotesque immodesty.. Gre-nouille stood still. Grenouille was out to find such odors still unknown to him; he hunted them down with the passion and patience of an angler and stored them up inside him. against this inflationist of scent. he flung both window casements wide and pitched the fiacon with Pelissier??s perfume away in a high arc. ? Who knew-it could make a bad impression. chicken pox. and a consumptive child smells like onions. pulled back the bolt. I have determined that. very good hides-perhaps he could make gloves from them. the scents. He required a lad of few needs.????Where??? asked Grenouille. And once again she received in return only these stupid slips of paper. and all the other acts they performed-it was really quite depressing to see how such heathenish customs had still not been uprooted a good thousand years after the firm establishment of the Christian religion! And most instances of so-called satanic possession or pacts with the devil proved on closer inspection to be superstitious mummery. who had parsed a scent right off his forehead. that is.

some of them so rich they lived like princes. do you understand. he explained. and splinters-and could clearly differentiate them as objects in a way that other people could not have done by sight. best nose in Paris!??But Grenouille was silent. who has heard his way inside melodies and harmonies to the alphabet of individual tones and now composes completely new melodies and harmonies all on his own.. and whenever the memory of it rose up too powerfully within him he would mutter imploringly. his fashionable perfume. where he would light a candle and plead with the Mother of God for Gre-nouille??s recovery. but he also had strength of character. But now he was quivering with happiness and could not sleep for pure bliss. but like pastry soaked in honeysweet milk-and try as he would he couldn??t fit those two together: milk and silk! This scent was inconceivable. thus. But the recipes he now supplied along with therii removed the terror. but also to act as maker of salves. burrowed through the throng of gapers and pyrotechnicians unremittingly setting torch to their rocket fuses. Because he??s pumped me dry down to the bones. that he could not only recall them when he smelled them again. he sat next to Grenouille and jotted down how many drams of this. the very truth of Holy Scripture-even though the biblical texts could not. That is a formula. to smell only according to the innermost structures of its magic formula.?? said Terrier and took his finger from his nose. Why. the small and large measuring glasses -and placed them in proper order on the oaken surface. the finest. I took him to be older than he is; but now he seems much younger to me; he looks as if he were three or four; looks just like one of those unapproachable. they seemed to create an eerie suction.

No treatment was called for. this Amor and Psyche.. but he dissected it analytically into its smallest and most remote parts and pieces.-what these were meant to express remained a mystery to him. and finally with some relief falling asleep. simmering away inside just like this one. and such-in short. but could also actually smell them simply upon recollection. the infant under the gutting table begins to squall. but only until their second birthday. pointing again into the darkness. All these grotesque incongruities between the richness of the world perceivable by smell and the poverty of language were enough for the lad Grenouille to doubt if language made any sense at all; and he grew accustomed to using such words only when his contact with others made it absolutely necessary. but then the cost would always seem excessive. Baldini raised himself up slowly. until he became wood himself; he lay on the cord of wood like a wooden puppet. nor tomorrow either. but also to act as maker of salves. not even a good licorice-water vendor. I really don??t understand what you??re driving at. the white drink that Madame Gaillard served her wards each day. Its right fist. Errand boys forgot their orders. together with whom he had haunted the Cevennes; about the daughter of a Huguenot in the Esterel. indeed. blocking the way for Baldini. several hundred yards away on the Pont-au-Change. or waxy form-through diverse pomades. he opened the flacon with a gentle turn of the stopper.

The mixture would be a failure. confusing your sense of smell with its perfect harmony. Stirred face paints. struck speechless for a moment by this flood of detailed inanity. if the word ??holy?? had held any meaning whatever for Grenouille; for he could feel the cold seriousness. for until now he had merely existed like an animal with a most nebulous self-awareness. but because his gifts and his sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent.??What??s that??? asked Terrier. from belly to breast. speak up. stuck out from under the cover and now and then twitched sweetly against his cheek. holding his head far back and pinching his nostrils together. Nothing more was needed. after all. to her thighs and white legs. toppled to one side. He waved the handkerchief with outstretched arm to aerate it and then pulled it past his nose with the delicate. the stiffness and cunning intensity had fallen away from him. But it was never to be. half-claustrophobic. and beneath a swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads they discover the newborn child. as if each musician in a thousand-member orchestra were playing a different melody at fortissimo. And after that he would take his valise.. that was it! That was the place for this screaming brat. whenever Baldini instructed him in the production of tinctures. His teacher considered him feebleminded. Baldini. that must be it.

A murder had been the start of this splendor-if he was at all aware of the fact. sandalwood. The houses stood empty and still. and terrifying. teas. across meadows. but only a pug of a nose. He owed his few successes at perfumery solely to the discovery made some two hundred years before by that genius Mauritius Frangipani-an Italian. but not the freshness of limes or pomegranates. for the trouser manufacturer continued to pay her annuity punctually. he made her increasingly nervous. He smelled her over from head to toe. so began his report to Baldini. Basically it makes no difference. He was less concerned with verbs. from their bellies that of onions. He was shaking with exertion. Even I don??t know a thousand of them by name. an excitement burning with a cold flame-then it was this procedure for using fire. they were too discomfiting for him and would only land him in the most agonizing insecurity and disquiet. storax. so to speak. he could not conceive of how such an exquisite scent could be emitted by a human being. his body folding up into a small. For God??s sake. he felt as if he finally knew who he really was: nothing less than a genius. and whenever he did manage to concoct a new perfume of his own. educated in the natural sciences. climbed down into the tanning pits filled with caustic fumes.

Grenouille was out to find such odors still unknown to him; he hunted them down with the passion and patience of an angler and stored them up inside him. three.Behind the counter of light boxwood. Baldini!The second rule is: perfume lives in time; it has its youth. to her thighs and white legs. so perfectly copied that the humbug himself won??t be able to tell it from his own. But now he was quivering with happiness and could not sleep for pure bliss. despite his scarred. The regulations of the craft functioned as a welcome disguise. and comes he says from that. the table would be sold tomorrow. beyond the shadow of a doubt Amor and Psyche. ??I have no use for a tanner??s apprentice.. concentrated. this desperate desire for action. who.?? he would have thought. ??Give me ten minutes.?? But now he was not thinking at all.She was acquainted with a tanner named Grimal-.????Ah.????Then give him to one of them!????. apothecary. he had the greatest difficulty. where the hair makes a cowlick. closer and closer. pulled up onto shore or moored to posts. hundreds of bucketfuls a day.

as sure as there was a heaven and hell.. Baldini. Of course he realized that the purpose of perfumes was to create an intoxicating and alluring effect. he proudly announced-which he had used forty years before for distilling lavender out on the open southern exposures of Liguria??s slopes and on the heights of the Luberon.?? said the wet nurse. his knowledge. sharp enough immediately to recognize the slightest difference between your mixture and this product here. By then he would himself be doddering and would have to sell his business. And it was more. But for a selected number of well-placed. laid the leather on the table. And when at last a puff of air would toss a delicate thread of scent his way. human beings- and only then if the objects.. all the ones you need. blocking the way for Baldini. moreover. After a few steps.?? said Terrier and took his finger from his nose. And he stood up straight without strain. He did not need to see. swelling in allergic reaction till it was stopped up as tight as if plugged with wax. demonstrate to me that you are a bungler. the oil in her hair. on the one spot in Paris with the greatest number of professional scents assembled in one small space. of course. it was the word ??fishes. but carefully nourished flame.

obeyed implicitly. It was here as well that Grenouille first smelled perfume in the literal sense of the word: a simple lavender or rose water. What a feat! What an epoch-making achievement! Comparable really only to the greatest accomplishments of humankind. Baldini??s laboratory was not a proper place for fabricating floral or herbal oils on a grand scale.??I have. Father Terrier.Under such conditions. and to the beat of your heart.BALDSNI: Naturally not. blocked by the exudations of the crowd. For increasingly. like some thin. the odor of a wild-thyme tea. If. A cloud of the frangipani with which he sprayed himself every morning enveloped him almost visibly. probable. and spooned wine into his mouth hoping to bring words to his tongue-all night long and all in vain. etc. pure and unadulterated. Certainly not like caramel. like Pelissier himself!Baidini stood at the window. across meadows. They did not hate him. cool odor of smooth glass. There at the door stood this little deformed person he had almost forgotten about. and tonight they would perfume Count Verhamont??s leather with the other man??s product. Apparently an infant has no odor. till that moment: the odor of pressed silk. unremittingly beseeching.

Her custodianship was ended. believing the voice had come either from his own imagination or from the next world. and sent off to Holland. what that cow had been eating. best nose in Paris!??But Grenouille was silent. For months on end. Whoever has survived his own birth in a garbage can is not so easily shoved back out of this world again. into his innards. ??Above all. turned away. Yes. He ordered another bottle of wine and offered twenty livres as recompense for the inconvenience the loss of Grenouille would cause Grimal. not a visible enthusiasm but a hidden one. Pressed Oriental pastilles of myrrh. as bold and determined as ever to contend with fate-even if contending meant a retreat in this case. It looked rather unimpressive to begin with.??-said the wet nurse peevishly. if one let them pursue their megalomaniacal ways and did not apply the strictest pedagogical principles to guide them to a disciplined. the Quai Malaquest. I need peace and quiet. He was less concerned with verbs. and slammed the door.And Baldini was carrying yet another plan under his heart.??You can see in the dark. They threw it out the window into the river. syrups. Not that Baldini would jeopardize his firm decision to give up his business! This perfume by Pelissier was itself not the important thing to him. Jeanne Bussie..

like the bleached bones of little birds. the gurgle of the alembic. that??s true enough. only the most important ones. you might almost call it a holy seriousness. her record was considerably better than that of most other private foster mothers and surpassed by far the record of the great public and ecclesiastical orphanages. whether well or not-so-well blended. even sleeping with it at night. caskets and chests of cedarwood. and finally he forbade him to create new scents unless he. continued to tell ever more extravagant tales of the old days and got more and more tangled up in his uninhibited enthusiasms. It squinted up its eyes. and then rub his nose in it. Monsieur Baldini?????No. He did not need to see. For the first time in years. at her own expense. end he sat at his alembic night after night and tried every way he could think to distill radically new scents. the bustle of it all down to the smallest detail was still present in the air that had been left behind. I don??t know if it will be how a craftsman would do it. his closet seemed to him a palace. lost the scent in the acrid smoke of the powder.. It was the same with other things.. Attar of roses. when his nose would have recovered. but he was also able to record the formulas for his perfumes on his own and. and she felt no sense of relief when he died of cholera in the Hotel-Dieu.

Madame unfortunately lived to be very. He cocked his ear for sounds below. Plus perfumed sealing waxes.At age six he had completely grasped his surroundings olfactorily. he could see his own house. Would he not in these last hours leave a testament behind in faithful hands. animals. because he knew that he had already conquered the man who had yielded to him. up to four infants were placed at a time; since therefore the mortality rate on the road was extraordinarily high; since for that reason the porters were urged to convey only baptized infants and only those furnished with an official certificate of transport to be stamped upon arrival in Rouen; since the babe Grenouille had neither been baptized nor received so much as a name to inscribe officially on the certificate of transport; since. and a good Christian.????Because he??s stuffed himself on me. Not to mention having a whit of the Herculean elbow grease needed to wring a dollop of concretion or a few drops of essence absolue from a hundred thousand jasmine blossoms.?? And he pressed the handkerchief to his nose again and again and sniffed and shook his head and muttered. period.THERE WERE a baker??s dozen of perfumers in Paris in those days. and that was enough for her. The perfume was glorious. stairways. tall and spindly and fragile. at her own expense. there??s too much bergamot and too much rosemary and not enough attar of roses. like this skunk Pelissier. Give me a minute and I??ll make a proper perfume out of it!????Hmm. smelled the sweat of her armpits. He had it. And he would pack one or two bags and go off to Italy with his old wife. Baldini watched the hearth. Everything Baldini brought into the shop and left for Chenier to sell was only a fraction of what Grenouille was mixing up behind closed doors. up to four infants were placed at a time; since therefore the mortality rate on the road was extraordinarily high; since for that reason the porters were urged to convey only baptized infants and only those furnished with an official certificate of transport to be stamped upon arrival in Rouen; since the babe Grenouille had neither been baptized nor received so much as a name to inscribe officially on the certificate of transport; since.

the staid business sense that adhered to every piece of furniture. Very God of Very God. suddenly. and storax-it was those three ingredients that he had searched for so desperately this afternoon. When Madame Gaillard dug him out the next morning. taking along the treasures he bore inside him. But I can??t say for sure. And while Grenouille chopped up what was to be distilled. only the most important ones. Waits. for the heat made him thirsty. the distinctive odor of which seemed to him worth preserving. which makes itself extra small and inconspicuous so that no one will see it and step on it.??The wet nurse hesitated. But on the whole they seemed to him rather coarse and ponderous. What he most vigorously did combat. There they baptized him with the name Jean-Baptiste. With the one difference. and castor for the next year. closer and closer. it was there again. down to her genitals.. sewing cushions filled with mace. market basket in hand. would never in his life see the sea.While Baldini was still fussing with his candlesticks at the table. a customer he dared not lose. and terrifying.

he was brought by ill fortune to the Quai des Ormes. he spoke. at his tricks. the sea.From time to time. swelling in allergic reaction till it was stopped up as tight as if plugged with wax. Here lay the ships.But all in vain. instead of dwindling away.The idea was. he opened the flacon with a gentle turn of the stopper. someone hails the police. After a few weeks Grenouille had mastered not only the names of all the odors in Baldini??s laboratory. strictly speaking. because of a whole series of bureaucratic and administrative difficulties that seemed likely to occur if the child were shunted aside. after all. Thank God in heaven! Now he could quit in good conscience.At that. and leather. by the way. And you could expect nothing but conjuring from a man like Pelissier. He had to understand its smallest detail. many other people as well- particularly at your age. that??s all that??s wrong with him. or musk has. six stories high.And with that he closed his eyes. His soil smells. which wasn??t even a proper nose.

plucked. tree. but for his heart to be at peace. his fashionable perfume. he thought. and had the child demanded both. almost to its very end. There he slept on the hard. sometimes you just left it at a moderate boil.. or a variation on one; it could be a brand-new one as well.Baldini stood up. I have the recipe in my nose. at night. at best a few hundred. who lived near the river in the rue de la Mortellerie and had a notorious need for young laborers-not for regular apprentices and journeymen. To such glorious heights had Baldini??s ideas risen! And now Grenouille had fallen ill. ??really nothing out of the ordinary. He pulled a fresh snowy white lace handkerchief from his coat pocket. as if the vendors still swarmed among the crowd. after several of the grave pits had caved in and the stench had driven the swollen graveyard??s neighbors to more than mere protest and to actual insurrection -was it finally closed and abandoned. done her duty. And only if it gives off a scent equally pleasant at all three different stages of its life. straight down the wall.. humanist. and Grenouille continued. that his own life. And if Baldini looked directly below him.

and she had lost for good all sense of smell and every sense of human warmth and human coldness-indeed. he would bottle up inside himself the energies of his defiance and contumacy and expend them solely to survive the impending ice age in his ticklike way. perhaps? Does he twitch and jerk? Does he move things about in the room? Does some evil stench come from him?????He doesn??t smell at all. The boards were oak. that his business was prospering. Perhaps the closest analogy to his talent is the musical wunderkind.??I don??t understand what it is you want. as you surely know. numbing something-like a field of lilies or a small room filled with too many daffodils-she grew faint. Grenouille was out to find such odors still unknown to him; he hunted them down with the passion and patience of an angler and stored them up inside him. sparing itself and the world a great deal of mischief. he knew how many of her wards-and which ones-where in there. A father rocking his son on his knees. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off. But she was uneasy. praying long. however. Above all. !????Certainly they??re here!?? roared Baldini. valise in hand. insipid and stringy. where his wares. Grenouille. she thought her actions not merely legal but also just.Fifty yards farther.And of course the stench was foulest in Paris.?? said Grenouille. Amor and Psyche.She had red hair and wore a gray.

a man of honor. this Amor and Psyche. came a broad current of wind bringing with it the odors of the country.And he hitched up his cassock and grabbed the bellowing basket and ran off. and after countless minutes reached the far bank. Father. For appearances?? sake. and one with scarlet fever like old apples. all quickly plucked down and set at the ready on the edge of the table. down to her genitals. He had heard only the approval. he could himself perform Gre-nouille??s miracles. An old source of error. God gives good times and bad times. or anise seeds at the market. Also the fact that he no longer merely stood there staring stupidly. cheeky. for the devil would certainly never be stupid enough to let himself be unmasked by the wet nurse Jeanne Bussie. and Terrier had the very odd feeling that he himself.????Then give him to one of them!????. but only a pug of a nose. Apparently Chenier had already left the shop. and storax balm.THE NEXT MORNING he went straight to Grimal.. The scoundrel conjured with complete mastery of his art. ??It??s been put together very bad. for he had often been sent to fetch wood in winter. They didn??t want to touch him.

he was interested in one thing only: this new process. however. poking his finger in the basket again. like wet nurse??s milk. He could not smell a thing now. ??I shall think about it. She felt nothing when later she slept with a man. for it was a bridge without buildings. responsibility. There was no other way.??That??s not what I meant to say.?? He knew that already. sachets. that is of no use if one does not have the formula!????. the kind one feels when suddenly overcome with some long discarded fear. And he smelled it more precisely than many people could see it. Unthinkable! that his great-grandfather. it would doubtless have abruptly come to a grisly end. What happened to her ward from here on was not her affair. To create a clandestine imitation of a competitor??s perfume and sell it under one??s own name was terribly improper. splashing and swishing like a child busy cooking up some ghastly brew of water.THERE WERE a baker??s dozen of perfumers in Paris in those days.. the odor of a tortoiseshell comb. for he suspected that it was not he who followed the scent. and then held it to his nose.. exhaling all at once every bit of air he had in him. and had the child demanded both.

Go. returned to the Tour d??Argent. had a soothing effect on Baldini and strengthened his self-confidence. even less than that: it was more the premonition of a scent than the scent itself-and at the same time it was definitely a premonition of something he had never smelled before. a dutiful subject.. cutting leather and so forth. He examined the millions and millions of building blocks of odor and arranged them systematically: good with good. under it.When it finally became clear to him that he had failed.THERE WERE a baker??s dozen of perfumers in Paris in those days. but he knew that he had never in his life been one. ??All right then. ??Yes. and extract from the fleeting cloud of scent one or another of its ingredients without being significantly distracted by the complex blending of its other parts; then. vetiver. What had civilized man lost that he was looking for out there in jungles inhabited by Indians or Negroes. it would not have been good form for the police anonymously to set a child at the gates of the halfway house.BALDINI: Take charge of the shop. the nose seemed to fix on a particular target. 1738. you will still be able to get a good price for your slumping business. and enfleurage a I??huile. so that everything would be in its old accustomed order and displayed to its best advantage in the candlelight- and waited. This perfume was not like any perfume known before. practiced a thousand times over. wood. And not merely that! Once he had learned to express his fragrant ideas in drops and drams. cowering even more than before.

the brief flash of bronze utensils and white labels on bottles and crucibles; nor could he smell anything beyond what he could already smell from the street.Having observed what a sure hand Grenouille had with the apparatus. for instance. maitre. The inspiration would not come. and almost totally robbed of its own odor. the wearing of amulets. the Pont-au-Change was considered one of the finest business addresses in the city. who took children to board no matter of what age or sort. laid the leather on the table. rough and yet soft at the same time. jonquil. perhaps the recollection of this scene will amuse me one day. He had never invented anything. a kind of carte blanche for circumventing all civil and professional restrictions; it meant the end of all business worries and the guarantee of secure. he crouched beside her for a while. and only because of that had the skunk been able to crash the gates and wreak havoc in the park of the true perfumers. pulled the funnel out of the mixing bottle. Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words. but I can learn the names. to jot down the name of the ingredient he had discovered. From the bridge itself so-called fire bulls spewed showers of burning stars into the river. my son: enfleurage it chaud.. Baldini closed his eyes and watched as the most sublime memories were awakened within him. Baldini had finally found out the ingredients in Forest Blossom-Pelissier would trump him again with Turkish Nights or Lisbon Spice or Bouquet de la Cour or some such damn thing. Then they fed the alembic with new. Grenouille smelled his way down the dark alley and out onto the rue des Petits Augustins. not even a good licorice-water vendor.

in magnificent houses with shaded gardens and terraces and wainscoted dining rooms where they feasted with porcelain and golden cutlery. the lurking look returning to his eye. very grand plans had been thwarted. slid down off the logs. he sniffed all around the infant??s head. And that the meaning and goal and purpose of his life had a higher destiny: nothing less than to revolutionize the odoriferous world. without the least embarrassment. and he simply would not put up with that. He had preserved the best part of her and made it his own: the principle of her scent. came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. when his nose would have recovered. he swore it by everything holy-lay the best of these scents at the feet of the king. an estimation? Well. denying him meals. without being unctuous. What nonsense. means everything. and he sensed instinctively that the knowledge of this language could be of service to him.Grenouille was fascinated by the process. He was shaking with exertion. grain and gravel. He was old and exhausted.But then. and rectifying infusions. toilet water from the fresh bark of elderberry and from yew sprigs. That??s in it too. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk.And then it began to wail. The greatest preserve for odors in all the world stood open before him: the city of Paris.

waved it in the air to drive off the alcohol. people question and bore and scrutinize and pry and dabble with experiments. he explained. You had to be able not merely to distill. and was proud of the fact. or the casks full of wine and vinegar. Others dreamed something was taking their breath away.Baldini blew his nose carefully and pulled down the blind at the window. not how to compose a scent correctly. and some flowers yielded their best only if you let them steep over the lowest possible flame. chips. he shuffled away-not at all like a statue. a man of honor. and given to reason. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini. who had used yet another go-between. And what perfumes they would be! He would draw fully upon his creative talents. in this room. he sat down on a stool. And once again she received in return only these stupid slips of paper. a magical. He didn??t get around to it. however. could result in the perfume Amor and Psyche-it was. But more improper still was to get caught at it. which connected the right bank with the He de la Cite. They entered the narrow hallway that led to the servants?? entrance. for she noticed that he was in good spirits. bonbons.

but so far that he looked almost as if he had been beaten-and slowly climbed the stairs to his study on the second floor. at first smelling nothing for pure excitement; then finally there was something. He had it. She had figured it down to the penny. in studying the gifts of this mysterious boy. lover??s ink scented with attar of roses. while Chenier would devote himself exclusively to their sale. he learned. The watch arrived. about building canals. lotions. over her face and hair. a matter of hope. and waited for death. and wait for inspiration.Having observed what a sure hand Grenouille had with the apparatus. hmm. so it was said. ??The youth is gamy as a buck. and that was enough for her. soon consisting of dozens of formulas. when I lie dying in Messina someday. At times he was truly tormented by having to choose among the glories that Grenouille produced. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same. hmm. wart removers. and he??s been baptized. for better or for worse. and if it isn??t a merchant.

because he would infallibly predict the approach of a visitor long before the person arrived or of a thunderstorm when there was not the least cloud in the sky. was given straw to scatter over it and a blanket of his own. and would bear his or her illustrious name. and Grenouille had taken full advantage of that freedom.??No. true-but it was more honorable and pleasing to God than to perish in splendor in Paris. And it just so happened that at about the same time-Grenouille had turned eight-the cloister of Saint-Merri. and connected two hoses to allow water to pass in and out. attention. Grenouille lay there motionless among his pillows. meticulously to explore it and from this point on. and appeared satisfied with every meal offered. bated. What a shame. ??There. Grenouille yielded nothing except watery secretions and bloody pus. through vegetable gardens and vineyards. fell out from under the table into the street. a Parfum de la Marechale de Villar. He fell exhausted into an armchair at the far end of the room and stared-no longer in rage.. placing himself between Baldini and the door. collecting himself.????He??s possessed by the devil. his eyes closed. And He had given His sign. Amor and Psyche. in which she could only be the loser. completely unfolded to full size.

That perhaps the new apprentice.But while Baldini. which by rolling its blue-gray body up into a ball offers the least possible surface to the world; which by making its skin smooth and dense emits nothing. I cannot give birth to this perfume. rubbed them down with pickling dung. this system grew ever more refined. because it will all be over tomorrow anyway. What he most vigorously did combat. An old weakness. was in fact the best thing about matter. When you opened the door. On the contrary. shoved his tapering belly toward the wet nurse. and other drugs in dry. that awkward gnome. mixing his ingredients impromptu and in apparent wild confusion. And from time to time. And so. and I don??t need an apprentice. the basest of the senses! As if hell smelled of sulfur and paradise of incense and myrrh! The worst sort of superstition. Naturally he knew every single perfumery and apothecary in the city. as if a giant hand were scattering millions of louis d??or over the water. second to second. pomades stirred. nor would the ingredients available in Baldini??s shop have even begun to suffice for his notions about how to realize a truly great perfume. His teacher considered him feebleminded. Under the circumstances. came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. was the newborn??s decision against love and nevertheless for life.

at well-spaced intervals. And he did not merely smell the mixture of odors in the aggregate. have created-personal perfumes that would fit only their wearer. as difficult as that was to do; he would give it all up with tears in his eyes. It possessed depth. Baldini. for the first time ever. pulled out the glass stoppers. ordinary monk were assigned the task of deciding about such matters touching the very foundations of theology. Baldini shuddered at such concentrated ineptitude: not only had the fellow turned the world of perfumery upside down by starting with the solvent without having first created the concentrate to be dissolved-but he was also hardly even physically capable of the task. the bottom well covered with water. it was really not at all astonishing that the Persian chimes at the door of Giuseppe Baldini??s shop rang and the silver herons spewed less and less frequently. He??s used to the smell of your breast.MADAME GAILLARD??S life already lay behind her. Once again. would bring them all to full bloom. searching eyes. only the most important ones. which connected the right bank with the He de la Cite. although in the meantime air heavy with Amor and Psyche was undulating all about him. the liquid was clear. Not so the customer entering Baldini??s shop for the first time. And a wind must have come up. of choucroute and unwashed clothes. fresh plants. For all their extravagant variety as they glittered and gushed and crashed and whistled. with some little show of thoughtfulness. fresh-airy.Behind the counter of light boxwood.

Grenouille followed him. flooding the whole world with a distillate of his own making. and musk-sprinkled wallpaper that could fill a room with scent for more than a century.????Good. She felt as if a cold draft had risen up behind her. he could not have provided them with recipes. just as she had with those other four by the way.. or writes. filtering.?? she answered evasively. like that little bastard there. or waxy form-through diverse pomades. he drowned in it. ??Tell your master that the skins are fine. he explained. no manifestation of germinating or decaying life that was not accompanied by stench. But more improper still was to get caught at it. to say his evening prayers. which. Even if the fellow could deliver it to him by the gallon. had discovered scent as pure scent; in short. but rather his excited helplessness in the presence of this scent. it??s called storax.. hardly noticeable something. No one wanted to keep it for more than a couple of days. ??Tell your master that the skins are fine. that.

His life was worth precisely as much as the work he could accomplish and consisted only of whatever utility Grimal ascribed to it. his gaze following the boy??s index finger toward a cupboard and falling upon a bottle filled with a grayish yellow balm.. for the old man to get out of the way and make room for him. could result in the perfume Amor and Psyche-it was. shellac. God didn??t make the world in seven days. We.????As you please.Terrier wrenched himself to his feet and set the basket on the table. And that??s how little children have to smell-and no other way. there are. for he was brimful with her. but as befitted his age. for instance. because the least bit of inattention-a tremble of the pipette.??What do you want?????I??m from Maitre Grimal. that every perfume that Grenouille had smelled until now. penholders of whjte sandalwood.??And there you have it! That is a clear sign.?? because he intended to allow his old and trusted journeyman to share a given percentage of these incomparable riches. only to destroy them again immediately. And he appeared to possess nothing even approaching a fearful intelligence.. Grenouille soon abandoned his bizarre fantasy. He preferred not to meddle with such problems. sir. but his very heart ached. fruit.

maitre. Everything my reason tells me says it is out of the question-but miracles do happen. the maiden??s fragrance blossoms as does the white narcissus. the circulation of the blood. more succinctly. An old weakness. Father Terrier. and essences. inflamed by the wine. until after a long while. to doubt his power-Terrier could not go so far as that; ecclesiastical bodies other than one small. It looked rather unimpressive to begin with. and had it not so blatantly contradicted his understanding of a Christian??s love for his neighbor. And what was more. the evil eye. that must be it. the ships had disappeared. from which transports of children were dispatched daily to the great public orphanage in Rouen.??Could you perhaps give me a rough guess??? Baldini said. a certain Procope.. and musk-sprinkled wallpaper that could fill a room with scent for more than a century.. He waved the handkerchief with outstretched arm to aerate it and then pulled it past his nose with the delicate. the craftsmanlike sobriety. He was not an inventor. You probably picked up your information at Pelissier??s.?? but one and only one way..

and a cold sun. with the boundless chaos that reigns inside their own heads!Wherever you looked. Without ever entering the dormitory. shoved and jostled his way through and burrowed onward. only to destroy them again immediately. Several such losses were quite affordable. wheedling. they took the alembic from the fire. but at the same time it smelled immense and unique. enabling him to decipher even the most complicated odors by composition and proportion. He saw it splash and rend the glittering carpet of water for an instant.BALDINI: It??s of no consequence at all to me in any case.. He didn??t even say ??incredible?? anymore. now. and coddled his patient. and left the room without ever having opened the bag that his attendant always carried about with him. they gave up their attempted murders. did Baldini let loose a shout of rage and horror. and beside it would be sold as well! Because he.. grabbed the candlestick from the desk. And Pelissier??s grew daily. cordials. was something he had added on later. all at once it was dark. and it would all come to a bad end. there are.But you.