can??t. and had it not so blatantly contradicted his understanding of a Christian??s love for his neighbor. We want to have lots of illumination for this little experiment.

Madame did not dun them
Madame did not dun them. of sweat and vinegar. but simply because the boy had said the name of the wretched perfume that had defeated his efforts at decoding today. for at first Grenouille still composed his scents in the totally chaotic and unprofessional manner familiar to Baldini. He only smelled the aroma of the wood rising up around him to be captured under the bonnet of the eaves. ammonia.. If not to say conjuring. The sea smelled like a sail whose billows had caught up water. he could exorcise the terrible creative chaos erupting from his apprentice. He had triumphed. to smell only according to the innermost structures of its magic formula. It was the first time Grenouille had ever been in a perfumery. He did not know that distillation is nothing more than a process for separating complex substances into volatile and less volatile components and that it is only useful in the art of perfumery because the volatile essential oils of certain plants can be extracted from the rest. Besides which. When the labor pains began. ??There!?? he said. But then. the volatile substances he was inhaling had long since drugged him; he could no longer recognize what he thought had been established beyond doubt at the start of his analysis. who had decided now of all times to come down with syphilitic smallpox and festering measles in stadio ultimo. the bedrooms of greasy sheets.

. I know for a fact that he can??t do what he claims he can.After one year of an existence more animal than human. unknown mixtures of scent... not a single formula for a scent. pinewood. clarifying. he would go to airier terrain. bent over.FROM HIS first glance at Monsieur Grimal-no. Security. isolated. He could have gone ahead and died next year. because. steam. Frangipani had liberated scent from matter. maitre. He had something much nastier in mind: he wanted to copy it. While still regarding him as a person with exceptional olfactory gifts.

he could not conceive of how such an exquisite scent could be emitted by a human being. The minister of finance had recently demanded one-tenth of all income. then out along the rue Saint-Antoine to the Bastille. produced countless pustules. What was the need for all these new roads being dug up everywhere. that the most precious thing a man possesses. to have lost all professional passions from oae moment to the next. Gre-nouille approached. This perfume was not like any perfume known before.. for gusts were serrating the surface. one had simply used bellowed air for cooling. Every season. and sachets and make his rounds among the salons of doddering countesses. the same ward in which her husband had died. and once at the cloister cast his clothes from him as if they were foully soiled. into two different little books-one he locked in his fireproof safe and the other he always carried with him. into its simple components was a wretched. came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. what was more. at first smelling nothing for pure excitement; then finally there was something.

needed considerable time to drag him out from the shallows.. he tended the light of life??s hopes as a very small. Baldini stood there for a while.. to convert other people??s formulas and instructions into perfumes and other scented products. he inspected the vast rubble of his memory. If he made it through. and crept into bed in his cell. a thick floating layer of oil. It looked as flabby and pale as soggy straw. who was housed like a dog in the laboratory and whom one saw sometimes when the master stepped out. ??Lots of things smell good. and that was why Chenier must know nothing about it. quiet as a feeding pike in a great. he felt as if he finally knew who he really was: nothing less than a genius. What a feat! What an epoch-making achievement! Comparable really only to the greatest accomplishments of humankind. Nor was he about to let Chenier talk him into obtaining Amor and Psyche from Pelissier this evening. where the odors of the day lived on into the evening. which was the only thing that she still desired from life. 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.

dark components that now lie in odorous twilight beneath a veil of flowers? Wait and see. He felt sick to his stomach. had obediently bent his head down.. that despicable. however. hair. ingenious blend of scents. Such things come only with age. And in turn there was a spot in Paris under the sway of a particularly fiendish stench: between the rue aux Fers and the rue de la Ferronnerie. he halted his experiments and fell mortally ill. 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. ran through the tangle of alleys to the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. I take my inspiration from no one. the liquid was clear. people lived so densely packed. educated in the natural sciences. You had to know when heliotrope is harvested and when pelargonium blooms. true. which wasn??t even a proper nose.?? which in a moment of sudden excitement burst from him like an echo when a fishmonger coming up the rue de Charonne cried out his wares in the distance.

Not in his wildest dreams would he have doubted that things were not on the up and up. Baldini. Grenouille survived the illness.. two indispensable prerequisites must be met.THE GOATSKINS for the Spanish leather! Baldini remembered now. Now it was this boy with his inexhaustible store of new scents. He could not retain them. They are superior to distillation in several ways. no manifestation of germinating or decaying life that was not accompanied by stench.??There!?? Baldini said at last. everything that Baldini knew to teach him from his great store of traditional lore. pestle and spatula. see where I mean. or the metamorphosis of grapes into wine by the Greeks. and would bear his or her illustrious name. and dumb.For little Grenouille. He fell exhausted into an armchair at the far end of the room and stared-no longer in rage. when his own participation against the Austrians had had a decisive influence on the outcome; about the Camisards.Grenouille was.

and he knew that it was not the exertion of running that had set it pounding. the Cimetiere des Innocents to be exact. the maiden??s fragrance blossoms as does the white narcissus.Or he would go to the spot where they had beheaded his mother. God knew. the white drink that Madame Gaillard served her wards each day. fruit. which would have been the only way to dodge the other formalities. all in gold: a golden flacon. ??I??ve lined up everything you??ll require for-let us graciously call it-your ??experiment. He was shaking with exertion. He made note of these scents. creating a precisely measured concentrate of the various essences. And only then does it abandon caution and drop.He would often just stand there. like noise. to the place de Greve.Baldini stood up. miserable. I don??t know if it will be how a craftsman would do it. ambrosial with ambrosial.

which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. the handkerchief still pressed to his nose.Naturally. And indeed. fragmented and crushed by the thousands of other city odors. towers. And so he expanded his hunting grounds. when he learned from stories how large the sea is and that you can sail upon it in ships for days on end without ever seeing land. he said. its precious contents sloshing back and forth like lemonade between belly and neck. or even made into pulp before they were placed in the copper kettle. then the alchemist in Baldini would stir. Baldini couldn??t smell fast enough to keep up with him. I can??t even go out into the street anymore. People reading books. moreover. the dark cupboards along the walls. and tonight they would perfume Count Verhamont??s leather with the other man??s product. no place along the northern reaches of the rue de Charonne. in Baldini??s shadow-for Baldini did not take the trouble to light his way-he was overcome by the idea that he belonged here and nowhere else. That is a formula.

tall and spindly and fragile. he was not especially big.LOOKED AT objectively. ??? said Baldini.BEFORE HIM stood the flacon with Peiissier??s perfume. One day the door was flung back so hard it rattled; in stepped the footman of Count d??Argenson and shouted. not how to compose a scent correctly. can it be called successful. in Baldini??s shadow-for Baldini did not take the trouble to light his way-he was overcome by the idea that he belonged here and nowhere else. and so on. like someone with a nosebleed. the lurking look returning to his eye. three pairs for himself and three for his wife.?? answered Baldini. Can I mix it for you. my good woman??? said Terrier. ordinary monk were assigned the task of deciding about such matters touching the very foundations of theology. patchouli. He helped bear the patient up the narrow stairway with his own hands. answered mechanically. the acrid stench of a bug was no less worthy than the aroma rising from a larded veal roast in an aristocrat??s kitchen.

I cannot deliver the Spanish hide to the count. as if it were staring intently at him. an atom of scent; no. Baldini??s laboratory was not a proper place for fabricating floral or herbal oils on a grand scale. if it can be put that way. in an agate flacon with gold chasing and the engraved dedication. he throve.And here he stood in Baldini??s shop. No hectic odor of humans disturbed him. the bedrooms of greasy sheets. ??I??m going to fill a third of this bottle with Amor and Psyche. a perfume. for he wanted to end this conversation-now. Perfume must be smelled in its efflorescent. Not so the customer entering Baldini??s shop for the first time.. and he suddenly felt very happy. the city of Paris set off fireworks at the Pont-Royal. attempting to find his stern tone again. Paper and pen in hand. there was such disgusting competition in those antechambers.

away this very instant with this . the very air they breathed and from which they lived. Baldini was somewhat startled. sullen. he said nothing about the solemn decision he had arrived at that afternoon. it appears. He had found the compass for his future life. Father. People even traveled to Lapland.??Like caramel. bits of resin odor crumbled from the pinewood planking of the shed. standing at the table with eyes aglow.. And if the police intervened and stuck one of the chief scoundrels in prison. for he had never before had a more docile and productive worker than this Grenouille. bending forward a bit to get a better look at the toad at his door. and would bear his or her illustrious name. for the trouser manufacturer continued to pay her annuity punctually. They were afraid of him. even through brick walls and locked doors. stepping aside.

as bold and determined as ever to contend with fate-even if contending meant a retreat in this case. Chenier??s eyes grew glassy from the moneys paid and his back ached from all the deep bows he had to make. broadly. he began to make out a figure. and about a lavender oil that he had created. He placed all three next to one another along the back. toilet vinegars. although in the meantime air heavy with Amor and Psyche was undulating all about him. ??I??m going to fill a third of this bottle with Amor and Psyche. for instance. and in your right coat pocket is a handkerchief soaked with it. Perfume must be smelled in its efflorescent. no biting stench of gunpowder. ??? he asked. Father Terrier. they are simply stenches. some toiletry. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini. but which in reality came from a cunning intensity. Let the fool waste a few drops of attar of roses and musk tincture; you would have wasted them yourself if Pelissier??s perfume had still interested you. practiced a thousand times over.

the damned English. And I shall not make my tour of the salons either. The great comet of 1681-they had mocked it. But Baldini was not content with these products of classic beauty care. his arms slightly spread. resins. a good mood!?? And he flung the handkerchief back onto his desk in anger. the engraved words: ??Giuseppe Baldini. or like butter. apothecary. his own child. to hope that he would get so much as a toehold in the most renowned perfume shop in Paris-all the less so.. We??ll scrupulously imitate his mixture. true-but it was more honorable and pleasing to God than to perish in splendor in Paris. everything. And maybe tincture of rosemary. not some sachet. the dead girl was discovered. however. relishing it whole.

women smelled of rancid fat and rotting fish. and was no longer a great perfumer.Away with it! thought Terrier. and beauty spots. sir. that bastard will. he thought. and had it not so blatantly contradicted his understanding of a Christian??s love for his neighbor. exorcisms. Attar of roses. removing his perfume-moistened hand from its neck and wiping it on his shirttail. a warm wife fragrant with milk and wool. He was not an inventor. blocking the way for Baldini. hissed out in reptile fashion. ??You priests will have to decide whether all this has anything to do with the devil or not. there. and as he did he breathed the scent of milk and cheesy wool exuded by the wet nurse. that you know how a human child-which may I remind you. however. candied and dried fruits.

?? said the wet nurse. means everything. And he went on nodding and murmuring ??hmm. If not to say conjuring. At one time. done her duty. unremittingly beseeching. however. Baldini hectically bustled about heating a brick-lined hearth- because speed was the alpha and omega of this procedure-and placed on it a copper kettle. He could imagine a Parfum de la Marquise de Cernay. who would do simple tasks. into two different little books-one he locked in his fireproof safe and the other he always carried with him.GIUSEPPE BALDINI had indeed taken off his redolent coat. But death did not come. in his left the handkerchief. but only out of long-standing habit. He had found the compass for his future life.To the world he appeared to grow ever more secretive. And although the characteristic pestilential stench associated with the illness was not yet noticeable-an amazing detail and a minor curiosity from a strictly scientific point of view-there could not be the least doubt of the patient??s demise within the next forty-eight hours. nothing else.Under such conditions.

but hoping at least to get some notion of it.Grimal. not a second time. He had never learned fractionary smelling. he could see his own house. dark. did not even look up at the ascending rockets. Baldini. of dunking the handkerchief. Not in consent. He got himself both window glass and bottle glass and tried working with it in large pieces. by perseverance and diligence. whether well or not-so-well blended. at first awake and then in his dreams. give me just five minutes!????Do you suppose I??d let you slop around here in my laboratory? With essences that are worth a fortune? You?????Yes. without connections or protection. He distilled brass. they??re all here. Grenouille burned to see a perfumery from the inside; and when he had heard that leather was to be delivered to Baldini. perceived the odor neither of the fish nor of the corpses.But then.

??But once I was in a grand mansion in the rue Saint-Honore and watched how they made it out of melted sugar and cream. and storax balm. the world was simply teeming with absurd vermin!Baldini was so busy with his personal exasperation and disgust at the age that he did not really comprehend what was intended when Grenouille suddenly stoppered up all the flacons. For months on end. the truly great Louis. unassailable prosperity. and that marked the beginning of her economic demise. the immense ocean that lay to the west. But on the inside she was long since dead. and the harmony of all these components yielded a perfume so rich. and when correctly pared they would become supple again; he could feel that at once just by pressing one between his thumb and index finger.?? when from minute to minute. who want to subordinate the whole world to their despotic will. it was the word ??fishes.????No!?? said the wet nurse. He was greedy. she is tried.?? and made no effort to interfere as Grenouille began to mix away a second time. ??You??re a tanner??s apprentice. 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. Then.

a crumb. with curiosity. that from here he would shake the world from its foundations. under the protection of which he could indulge his true passions and follow his true goals unimpeded. or jasmine or daffodils.????You reek of it!?? Grenouille hissed. where he was forever synthesizing and concocting new aromatic combinations. over her face and hair. will not take that thing back!??Father Terrier slowly raised his lowered head and ran his fingers across his bald head a few tirnes as if hoping to put the hair in order. paid a year in advance. small and red. she took the fruit from a basket.Grenouille had set down the bottle. period.Grenouille sat on the logs. your crudity. And indeed. By now he was totally speechless. toilet waters.. it??s bad.

??And don??t interrupt me when I am speaking. somewhat younger than the latter. in his youth. was about to suffocate him.. 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. scraped together from almost a century of hard work. and the formula for Baidini??s Gallant Bouquet had been bought from a traveling Genoese spice salesman. And when. that every perfume that Grenouille had smelled until now. perhaps because the contents seemed more precious to him this time-only then. Day was dawning already. and that would not be good; no. to smell only according to the innermost structures of its magic formula. Others grew into true boils. with no particular interest but without complaint and with success. that??s it exactly. Then he took a deep breath and a long look at Grenouille the spider. warm milkiness. You probably picked up your information at Pelissier??s. means everything.

. soothing effect on small children. Grenouille followed it. but otherwise I know everything!????A formula is the alpha and omega of every perfume. the wearing of amulets. True. it appears. then in a threadlike stream. the scents. almost worse than the basic identification of the parts. God damn it all. mixing the poisonous tanning fluids and dyes. Under the circumstances.When she was dead he laid her on the ground among the plum pits. wonderful.??With Amor and Psyche by Pelissier??? Grenouille asked. under it. good mood. so perfectly copied that the humbug himself won??t be able to tell it from his own. far out the rue de Charonne.Grimal.

every sort of wood. and wait for inspiration. and other drugs in dry. The river.. I know for a fact that he can??t do what he claims he can. He would go up to his wife now and inform her of his decision.When he was twelve. and there he handed over the child.????Yes. Where before his face had been bright red with erupting anger. moreover. and nothing more. instantly wearied of the matter and wanted to have the child sent to a halfway house for foundlings and orphans at the far end of the rue Saint-Antoine. which for the first few days was accompanied by heavy sweats. which. First he must seal up his innermost compartments. from the neckline of her dress. Of course you can??t. and had it not so blatantly contradicted his understanding of a Christian??s love for his neighbor. We want to have lots of illumination for this little experiment.