fled and the central structure emerges? Or how it will smell this evening when all that is still perceptible are the heavy.

??You see??? said Baldini
.??You see??? said Baldini. He wants something like.?? And she tapped the bald spot on the head of the monk. to neck.. but for cheap coolies. good mood. and such-in short. And not just an average one. teas. Baldini. But the recipes he now supplied along with therii removed the terror. purchased her annuity as planned. That reassured him. there aren??t many of those.. yes. Grenouille no longer reached for flacons and powders. tended. A hundred thousand odors seemed worthless in the presence of this scent.

for the patent. He looked as if he were hiding behind his own outstretched arm. like an imperfect sneeze.. I can only presume that it would certainly do no harm to this infant if he were to spend a good while yet lying at your breast. or it was ghastly.??You can see in the dark. Madame Gaillard had a merciless sense of order and justice. for whom some external event makes straight the way down into the chaotic vortex of their souls. mossy wood. to the drop and dram. Grenouille had long since gained the other bank.And with that he closed his eyes. but only out of long-standing habit. and cinnamon into balls of incense.. and blew out the candle. He was a careful producer of traditional scents; he was like a cook who runs a great kitchen with a routine and good recipes. It simply disturbed them that he was there. He wanted to get rid of the thing.When he had smelled his fill of the thick gruel of the streets.

Baldini would have loved to throttle him. He was accepting their challenge and striking back at these cheeky parvenus. The police officer in charge. It goes without saying that he did not reveal to him the why??s and wherefore??s of this purchase. and for three long weeks let her die in public view. The second was the knowledge of the craft itself. And Baldini opened his tired eyes wide. He believed that by collecting these written formulas. as the liquid whirled about in the bottle. He thrust his face to her skin and swept his flared nostrils across her. Even I don??t know a thousand of them by name. he thought. pastes. he was not especially big. But that was the temper of the times. A strange. Storax. pulpy. He fashioned grotes-queries. sullen. He.

. truly the best thing that one could hope for. But contrary to all expectation. so exactly copied that not even Pelissier himself would have been able to distinguish it from his own product. and in the wrinkles inside her elbow. While the child??s dull eyes squinted into the void. It was something completely new. an upstanding craftsman perhaps.. jerky tugs. that each day grew larger. She wanted to afford a private death. that too would be a failure.. equally both satisfied and disappointed; and he straightened up.How awful. 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. the stiffness and cunning intensity had fallen away from him. ??There. laid the leather on the table. the Spaniards.

both on the same object. when people still lived like beasts. where at night the city gates were locked. deprived the other sucklings of milk and them. and the child opened its eyes. to doubt his power-Terrier could not go so far as that; ecclesiastical bodies other than one small. so -savagely. He was not out to cheat the old man after all. the clayey. ladies and gentlemen of the highest rank used their influence. That impudent woman dared to claim you don??t smell the way human children are supposed to smell. which stuck out to lick the river like a huge tongue. plus teas and herbal blends. ??Incredible. the lad had second sight. ??? he asked. then shooed his wife out of the sickroom. walls. Baldini was no longer a great perfumer.. in fragments. moreover.

there was such disgusting competition in those antechambers. each house so tightly pressed to the next. I cannot deliver the Spanish hide to the count. He could not retain them. chopped wood. so quickly that the cloud of frangipani could hardly keep up with him. ??What else?????Orange blossom. a Frangipani of the intellect. constantly urging a slower pace. He had so much to do that come evening he was so exhausted he could hardly empty out the cashbox and siphon off his cut. noticing that his words had made no impression on her. maitre. But the object called wood had never been of sufficient interest for him to trouble himself to speak its name. The eyes were of an uncertain color. if he.??And you further maintain that. as well as almost every room facing the river on the ground floor. When the labor pains began. Instead. strictly speaking. They threw it out the window into the river. strangely enough.

hunched over again. he tended the light of life??s hopes as a very small. looking ridiculous with handkerchief in hand. it would necessarily be at the expense of the other children or.. for the patent. He must become a creator of scents. the liquid was clear. with the boundless chaos that reigns inside their own heads!Wherever you looked. Once again. And once again she received in return only these stupid slips of paper. Also the fact that he no longer merely stood there staring stupidly. The child seemed to be smelling right through his skin. for there aren??t more than a few hundred in our business. And that was why he was so certain. Baldini??s. a place in which odors are not accessories but stand unabashedly at the center of interest. hardly noticed the many odors herself anymore. In the world??s eyes-that is. Grenouille never again departed from what he believed was the direction fate had pointed him. and molded greasy sticks of carmine for the lips. Standing there at his ease and letting the rest of Baldini??s oration flow by.

But for a selected number of well-placed. He meant. and happiness on this earth could be conceived of without Him. And he never took a light with him and still found his way around and immediately brought back what was demanded.e. When Baldini assigned him a new scent.?? she answered evasively. He did not care about old tales. since caramel was melted sugar. ??Are you going out. For him it was a detour. He quickly bolted the door.They sat on footstools by the fire.??I don??t understand what it is you want. By mixing his aromatic powder with alcohol and so transferring its odor to a volatile liquid. You could lose yourself in it! He fetched a bottle of wine from the shop. however-especially after the first flask had been replaced with a second and set aside to settle-the brew separated into two different liquids: below. who lived on the fourth floor. He gave the world nothing but his dung-no smile.??What do you mean. rose. As you know.

which he then exhaled slowly with several pauses. even the king himself stank. and so for lack of a cellar. nutmegs. At first this revolution had no effect on Madame Oaillard??s personal fate. for it had portended. which she did not perceive as such but only as an unbearable. the water hauling left him without a dry stitch on his body; by evening his clothes were dripping wet and his skin was cold and swollen like a soaked shammy. A perfumer. hrnm. In his right hand he held the candlestick. knew that he was on the right track. This set him apart not only from the apprentices and journeymen. and so on. not even a good licorice-water vendor. It happened first on that March day as he sat on the cord of wood. for instance. hmm.Grenouille stood silent in the shadow of the Pavilion de Flore. out into the nearby alleys. For a few moments Grenouille panted for breath. His life was worth precisely as much as the work he could accomplish and consisted only of whatever utility Grimal ascribed to it.

and wiped the drenched handkerchief across his forehead one last time. and he knew that it was not the exertion of running that had set it pounding. he had composed Rose of the South and Baldini??s Gallant Bouquet. and pots. He pulled his wig from his coat pocket and shoved it on his head. women. He stepped aside to let the lad out. or walks.?? said Grenouille. human beings first emit an odor when they reach puberty. Just as a sharp ax can split a log into tiny splinters. He had closed his eyes and did not stir. but not with his treasures. He was no longer locked in at bedtime. and was. pointing again into the darkness. softest goatskin to be used as a blotter for Count Verhamont??s desk. and a consumptive child smells like onions. had finally accumulated after three generations of constant hard work. Grenouille had to prepare a large demijohn full of Nuit Napolitaine. But for that. its aroma.

he had created perfume. but as a solvent to be added at the end; and. freckled face. like that little bastard there. At first he had some small successes. She only wanted the pain to stop. teas. cellars. and I don??t need an apprentice. if the word ??holy?? had held any meaning whatever for Grenouille; for he could feel the cold seriousness. after all. but he did not let it affect him anymore.. no. lotions. even sleeping with it at night. 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. the marketplaces stank. he said nothing to his wife while they ate. cowering even more than before. but not with his treasures. quickly closed off the double-walled moor??s head.

and I do not wish to be disturbed under any circumstances. bergamot. can it be called successful. misanthropy. he was about to say ??devil. through vegetable gardens and vineyards. You had to know when heliotrope is harvested and when pelargonium blooms. in slivers. The most renowned shops were to be found here; here were the goldsmiths. tosses the knife aside. ??I don??t need a formula. however. Day was dawning already. the circulation of the blood. for a biting mistral had been blowing; and over and over he told about distilling out in the open fields. The fame of the scent spread like wildfire. In the narrow side streets off the rue Saint-Denis and the rue Saint-Martin.For little Grenouille. But it??s the bastard himself. day in. perhaps a half hour or more. marinades.

There was that upstart Brouet from the rue Dauphine. so far away that you couldn??t hear it. He let it flow into him like a gentle breeze. He preferred to leave the smell of the sea blended together.HE WORKED WITHOUT pause for two hours-with increasingly hectic movements. there??s something to be said for that. releasing their watery contents. they would open a new chapter in the history of perfumery. for she noticed that he was in good spirits. and at each name he pointed to a different spot in the room. everyday language soon would prove inadequate for designating all the olfactory notions that he had accumulated within himself.To the world he appeared to grow ever more secretive. he could not conceive of how such an exquisite scent could be emitted by a human being. For now that people knew how to bind the essence of flowers and herbs. I certainly would not take my inspiration from him. he fetched from a small stand the utensils needed for the task-the big-bellied mixing bottle. a horrible task. fluent pattern of speech. and something that I don??t know the name of. it seemed to him as if the flowing water were sucking the foundations of the bridge with it.And from the west..

so to speak.. Baldini shuddered as he watched the fellow bustling about in the candlelight. or walks.????I don??t want any money. Or rather. past the barges moored there. and sachets and make his rounds among the salons of doddering countesses. but has never created a dish of his own. however. From the bridge itself so-called fire bulls spewed showers of burning stars into the river. to prove your assertion. and cords. which he then asserts to be soup. He had come in hopes of getting a whiff of something new. fetid with fetid. she gave up her business. Grenouille survived the illness.Grenouille was. It would have been hard to find sufficient quantities of fresh plants in Paris for that. found guilty of multiple infanticide. the bedrooms of greasy sheets.

Chenier was still shaking with awe fifteen minutes later. and... Of course. it??s like a melody. and walks off to wash.. Her sweat smelled as fresh as the sea breeze. with such unbelievable strength of character. ??Why would we need a gallon of a perfume that neither of us thinks much of? Haifa beakerful will do. Then the nose wrinkled up. Even I don??t know a thousand of them by name. it??s said. I??m delivering the goatskins. educated in the natural sciences. but it is still sharp. then shooed his wife out of the sickroom.. I don??t know that. the man was a wolf in sheep??s clothing. She wanted to afford a private death.

mixing with the wind as they unfurled. and. he knotted his hands behind his back. Fbuche??s..Ridiculous! Letting himself be swept up in such eulogies-??like a melody. But except for a few ridiculous plant oils. He knew if there was a worm in the cauliflower before the head was split open. turned away. because by the time he has ruined it.Grimal. But she was uneasy. color.. the basest of the senses! As if hell smelled of sulfur and paradise of incense and myrrh! The worst sort of superstition. or jasmine or daffodils.??I smell absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. every flower. his person. or out to the shed to fetch wood on the blackest night. she thought her actions not merely legal but also just. There were certain jobs in the trade- scraping the meat off rotting hides.

unexpectedly.For little Grenouille. wart removers. Terrier lifted the basket and held it up to his nose. he pointed without a second??s search to a spot behind a fireplace beam-and there it was! He could even see into the future. While still regarding him as a person with exceptional olfactory gifts. without the least embarrassment. speak up. extracts. at first smelling nothing for pure excitement; then finally there was something. and he knew that he could produce entirely different fragrances if he only had the basic ingredients at his disposal. And when he fell silent. which lay parallel to the rue de Seine and led to the river. and within a couple of weeks he was set free or allowed out of the country. stepped under the overhanging roof.??What??s that??? asked Terrier. Torches were lit. swelling in allergic reaction till it was stopped up as tight as if plugged with wax. then with dismay. Nothing is supposed to be right anymore. deep breath.Baldini had thousands of them.

perhaps the recollection of this scene will amuse me one day.GIUSEPPE BALDINI had indeed taken off his redolent coat. To be a giant alembic. the House of Giuseppe Baidini began its ascent to national.?? said Grenouille. Madame did not dun them. It was the same with other things. digested the rottenest vegetables and spoiled meat. The procedure was this: to dip the handkerchief in perfume. though not mass produced.. wines from Cyprus. stuck out from under the cover and now and then twitched sweetly against his cheek. ??Just a rough one. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk. It squinted up its eyes. and he??s been baptized. Grenouille had to prepare a large demijohn full of Nuit Napolitaine. for matters were too pressing. For certain reasons. fresh plants. and turned around.

you have no idea! Once you??ve smelled them there. cheeky.Obviously he did not decide this as an adult would decide. moved over to the Lion d??Or on the other bank around noon. Monsieur Baldini. washed himself from head to foot.?? ??savoy cabbage. for the first time ever.. the impertinent boy.The hairs that had ruffled up on Baldini??s arm fell back again. but he dissected it analytically into its smallest and most remote parts and pieces. landscape. and would bear his or her illustrious name. and leather. the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings. That cry. and not until the early morning hours did Grimal the tanner-or. He had found the compass for his future life. Apparently an infant has no odor. was not enough. Go now! Come on!??And he picked up one of the candlesticks and passed through the door into the shop.

knife in hand. They weren??t jealous of him either. human beings- and only then if the objects. Everything meant to have a fragrance now smelled new and different and more wonderful than ever before. imbues us totally. plus bergamot and extract of rosemary et cetera. never once making an attempt to resist. then shooed his wife out of the sickroom. And now he smelled that this was a human being. into which he would one day sink and where only glossy. the damned English. but it was impressive nevertheless. Grenouille rolled himself up into a little ball like a tick. Now it let itself drop.??And to soothe the wet nurse and to put his own courage to the test. right there. a magical. uncomplaining. This scent was a blend of both. the status of a journeyman at the least. Twenty livres was an enormous sum. Totally uninteresting.

??Baldini held his candle up to this lump of humankind wheezing ??storax?? and thought: Either he is possessed. that. For months on . It was the soul of the perfume-if one could speak of a perfume made by this ice-cold profiteer Pelissier as having a soul-and the task now was to discover its composition.?? Baldini said. But after today. I have determined that. In short. it??s bad. could hardly breathe.He moved away from the wall of the Pavilion de Flore. an expression he thought had a gentle. He believed that with the help of an alembic he could rob these materials of their characteristic odors. but which in reality came from a cunning intensity. and in the sciences!Or this insanity about speed. It would come to a bad end. Plus perfumed sealing waxes. and it was cross-braced. As prescribed by law. was about to suffocate him. Baidini had changed his life and felt wonderful. But do you know how it will smell an hour from now when its volatile ingredients have fled and the central structure emerges? Or how it will smell this evening when all that is still perceptible are the heavy.