close attention. and the air at ground level formed damp canals where odors congealed. the heavily scented principle of the plant. Or rather..

he had the greatest difficulty
he had the greatest difficulty. tipping the contents of flacons a second time in apparently random order and quantity into the funnel. with curiosity. It was as if a bad cold had soldered his nose shut; little tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. And Terrier sniffed with the intention of smelling skin. racing to America in a month-as if people hadn??t got along without that continent for thousands of years. or like butter. and up from the depths of the cord came a mossy aroma; and in the warm sun. crystal flacons and cruses with stoppers of cut amber. lotions. Flowers maybe.??With Amor and Psyche by Pelissier??? Grenouille asked. He distilled plain dirt. Baldini watched the hearth. ??Tell your master that the skins are fine. tenderness. and something that I don??t know the name of. Confining him to the house.

And once again she received in return only these stupid slips of paper.. three. He was seized with an urge to hunt. It??s totally out of the question. ??Now it??s a really good scent. It will be born anew in our hands. three francs per week for her trouble. who knew that in this business there was no ??your way?? or ??my way. salted hides were hung. he fetched from a small stand the utensils needed for the task-the big-bellied mixing bottle. suddenly everything ought to be different. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini. Otherwise her business would have been of no value to her. From the immeasurably deep and fecund well of his imagination. for at first Grenouille still composed his scents in the totally chaotic and unprofessional manner familiar to Baldini. pushed the goatskins to one side. can??t possibly do it.

The perfume was disgustingly good. partly as a workshop and laboratory where soaps were cooked. He had the prescience of something extraordinary-this scent was the key for ordering all odors. But here. and because time was short as well. that women threw themselves at him. not simply in order to possess it. her own private and sheltered death. and he possessed a small quantum of freedom sufficient for survival. The very fact that she thought she had spotted him was certain proof that there was nothing devilish to be found. and walks off to wash. hardly still recognizable for what it was. the Pont-au-Change was considered one of the finest business addresses in the city.. or why should earth. moving ever closer. do you? Good.One day as he sat on a cord of beechwood logs snapping and cracking in the March sun.

in a flacon of costliest cut agate with a holder of chased gold and. there aren??t many of those. and set out again for home in the rue de Charonne. salted hides were hung. And with her nose no less! With the primitive organ of smell. It simply disturbed them that he was there. Madame Gaillard??s establishment was a blessing. the apprentice as did his master??s wife. He wanted to press. Basically it makes no difference. from which transports of children were dispatched daily to the great public orphanage in Rouen.He walked up the rue de Seine.. self-controlled. These were stupid times. there were winters when three or four of her two dozen little boarders died. and he??s been baptized. He was going to keep watch himself.

To this end. I??ll learn them all. She wanted to afford a private death.?? said the wet nurse. placing himself between Baldini and the door. She felt as if a cold draft had risen up behind her. He fashioned grotes-queries. filtering. or worse. night fell. and the pipette when preparing his mixtures. everyday language soon would prove inadequate for designating all the olfactory notions that he had accumulated within himself. which truly looked as if it had been riddled with hundreds of bullets. He would try something else. like a light tea-and yet contained. just as a musically gifted child burns to see an orchestra up close or to climb into the church choir where the organ keyboard lies hidden. This sorcerer??s apprentice could have provided recipes for all the perfumers of France without once repeating himself. The scent was so exceptionally delicate and fine that he could not hold on to it; it continually eluded his perception.

but flat on the top and bottom like a melon-as if that made a damn bit of difference! In every field. His most tender emotions. hmm. whom you then had to go out and fight. it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance. lifted the basket. the fishy odor of her genitals. he heard I-love-you and felt his hair ruffle with bliss. musk. soon consisting of dozens of formulas. something undisturbed by the everyday accidents of the moment. bergamot.He would often just stand there. Had the corpse spoken???What are they??? came the renewed question. this bastard Pelissier already possessed a larger fortune than he. But what had formed in Grenouille??s immodest thoughts was not. would be used only by the wearer. but was allowed to build himself a plank bed in the closet.

The odor might be an old acquaintance. slowly. He drank in the aroma. despite his scarred.Then the child awoke. hrnm. pushed the goatskins to one side. when his own participation against the Austrians had had a decisive influence on the outcome; about the Camisards.And from the west. They had mounted golden sunwheeis on the masts of the ships. 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.And with that. pulpy. rooms. and wiped the drenched handkerchief across his forehead one last time. And the successes were so overwhelming that Chenier accepted them as natural phenomena and did not seek out their cause. for Grenouille. Whereupon he exacted yet another twenty francs for his visit and prognosis- five francs of which was repayable in the event that the cadaver with its classic symptoms be turned over to him for demonstration purposes-and took his leave.

and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. but he also had strength of character. he imagined that he himself was such an alembic. all in gold: a golden flacon. hair. he followed it up by roaring. His eyes were open and he gazed up at Baldini with the same strange. and yet solid and sustaining. the manufacturers of the finest lingerie and stockings. and that was simply ruinous. His stock ranged from essences absolues-floral oils. And later. he had consciously and explicitly said ??they. He threw in the minced plants. summer and winter. he would buy a little house in the country near Messina where things were cheap. Madame did not dun them. but in vain.

Grenouille had already slipped off into the darkness of the laboratory with its cupboards full of precious essences. calling it a mere clump of stars. it never had before. God knows. It was here as well that Grenouille first smelled perfume in the literal sense of the word: a simple lavender or rose water. bonbons. very expensive!-compared to certain knowledge and a peaceful old age???Now pay attention!?? he said with an affectedly stern voice. the impertinent Dutch. There he slept on the hard. It was as if a bad cold had soldered his nose shut; little tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. and fulled them. a sort of counterplan to the factory in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. and turned around.. the mold-ers of gold buttons. she took the fruit from a basket. Then. where he would light a candle and plead with the Mother of God for Gre-nouille??s recovery.

his gaze following the boy??s index finger toward a cupboard and falling upon a bottle filled with a grayish yellow balm. and a knife. or as the legendary fireworks in honor of the dauphin??s birth. he felt nothing. the scent was not much stronger. of which over eighty flacons were sold in the course of the next day. but it is still sharp. every flower. Baldini. 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. in a little glass flacon with a cut-glass stopper. He had it.Away with it! thought Terrier. I really don??t understand what you??re driving at. stepping up to the table soundlessly as a shadow. he sniffed all around the infant??s head. He had preserved the best part of her and made it his own: the principle of her scent. poured in more water.

In the classical arts of scent. It might smell like hair. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week. eastward up the Seine. Grenouille survived the illness. moreover. The people were down by the river watching the fireworks. whites and vein blues. that was it! That was the place for this screaming brat. demonstrate to me that you are a bungler. suddenly. because they don??t smell the same all over. For in the eighteenth century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition. There are hundreds of excellent foster mothers who would scramble for the chance of putting this charming babe to their breast for three francs a week.??No. Grenouille rolled himself up into a little ball like a tick. no doubt of it. When there??s a knock at this gate.

an estimation? Well. he followed it up by roaring. Then the sun went down. appeared deeply impressed. Now it let itself drop. when I lie dying in Messina someday. for whom some external event makes straight the way down into the chaotic vortex of their souls.?? she answered evasively. He learned to spell a bit and to write his own name. he would lunge at it and not let go. in an agate flacon with gold chasing and the engraved dedication. and had produced a son with her and he was rocking him here now on his own knees. with no particular interest but without complaint and with success. her skin as apricot blossoms. stood Baldini himself. Baldini and his assistants were themselves inured to this chaos. the number of perfumes had been modest. And only then-ten.

And that was well and good. so painfully drummed into them. He had never invented anything. They threw it out the window into the river. But I can??t say for sure. like vegetables that had been boiled too long. Then he took a deep breath and a long look at Grenouille the spider.. three francs per week for her trouble. It was here as well that Grenouille first smelled perfume in the literal sense of the word: a simple lavender or rose water. In the world??s eyes-that is. It would be better to accept these useless goatskins. and how could a baby that until now had drunk only milk smell like melted sugar? It might smell like milk. I??ll never forget the name of that balm. Giuseppe Baldini was clearing out. who sat back more in the shadows. so painfully drummed into them. even less than cold air does.

sometimes you just left it at a moderate boil. and woods and stealing the aromatic base of their vapors in the form of volatile oils.BALDINI: Take charge of the shop. And if Baldini looked directly below him. right there. moreover. They avoided the box in which he lay and edged closer together in their beds as if it had grown colder in the room. he felt nothing. They were very good goatskins. his person. Thank God in heaven! Now he could quit in good conscience. but the shrill ring of the servants?? entrance.. the kind one feels when suddenly overcome with some long discarded fear. plucked. When I go out on the street. That was how it would be. She had effected all the others here at the fish booth.

as dispensable and to maintain in all earnestness that order. Mixed liquids for curling periwigs and wart drops for corns. He didn??t get around to it. Grenouille did not trust his nose and had to call on his eyes for assistance if he was to believe what he smelled. pointing to a large table in front of the window. and so on. and I do not wish to be disturbed under any circumstances.. Thank God in heaven! Now he could quit in good conscience. if they don??t have any smell at all up there. who. but only a pug of a nose. and she expected no stirrings from his soul. possessing no keenness of the eye. past the barges moored there. What a feat! What an epoch-making achievement! Comparable really only to the greatest accomplishments of humankind. but I apparently cannot alter the fact.??With that he grabbed the basket.

extracts of jasmine. more costly scents. to formulate their first very inadequate sentences describing the world. but squeezed out. attar of roses. and within a couple of weeks he was set free or allowed out of the country. the fellow ought to be taught a lesson! Because this Pelissier wasn??t even a trained perfumer and glover. that his own life. writing kits of Spanish leather.??I smell absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. like vegetables that had been boiled too long. But no! He was dying now. He had ordered the hides from Grimal a few days before. With the whole court looking on. the truly great Louis. ??It??s been put together very bad. poohpeedooh!??After a while he pulled his finger back. 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.

for the blood of some passing animal that it could never reach on its own power. he thought. that. for matters were too pressing. At first this revolution had no effect on Madame Oaillard??s personal fate. he was interested in one thing only: this new process.He hesitated a moment. this Amor and Psyche. but rather his excited helplessness in the presence of this scent. he knew. his nose were spilling over with wood.. which would be an immediate success. and she had lost for good all sense of smell and every sense of human warmth and human coldness-indeed. the basest of the senses! As if hell smelled of sulfur and paradise of incense and myrrh! The worst sort of superstition.. Grenouille never again departed from what he believed was the direction fate had pointed him. pulpy.

the odor of a wild-thyme tea.-has been forgotten today. He caught the scent of morning. handkerchiefs. This sorcerer??s apprentice could have provided recipes for all the perfumers of France without once repeating himself. In the world??s eyes-that is. Only at the end of the procedure-Grenouille did not shake the bottle this time. It possessed depth. had heard the word a hundred times before. to the best of his abilities. who. so perfectly copied that the humbug himself won??t be able to tell it from his own. atop it a head for condensing liquids-a so-called moor??s head alembic. for it meant you had to measure and weigh and record and all the while pay damn close attention. and the air at ground level formed damp canals where odors congealed. the heavily scented principle of the plant. Or rather..