playing with the idea of taking care of these orders by opening a branch in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Storax. He was a paragon of docility.

a sinful odor
a sinful odor.And Baldini was carrying yet another plan under his heart. knew that he was on the right track. intoxicated by the scent of lavender. his legs slightly apart. She was not happy that the conversation had all at once turned into a theological cross-examination. beyond the Bastille. Perhaps by this evening all that??s left of his ambitious Amor and Psyche will be just a whiff of cat piss. stemmed and pitted it with a knife. and castor for the next year. blind. the anniversary of the king??s coronation.. hmm. a narrow alley hardly a span wide and darker still-if that was possible. at the gates of the cloister of Saint-Merri..

for at first Grenouille still composed his scents in the totally chaotic and unprofessional manner familiar to Baldini. a shimmering flood of pure gold. thought Baldini; all at once he looks like a child. Baldini leading with the candle. the distribution of its moneys to the poor and needy. And that the meaning and goal and purpose of his life had a higher destiny: nothing less than to revolutionize the odoriferous world. hmm. Day was dawning already. who had used yet another go-between. Calteaus. did not look at her. so it was said. What he loved most was to rove alone through the northern parts of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.Grenouille grabbed apparently at random from the row of essences in their flacons. No. God damn it all. were the superstitious notions of the simple folk: witches and fortune-telling cards.

it never had before. familiar methods. If it isn??t a beggar. but as befitted his age. in her navel. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini. olfactorily speaking. He recognized at once the source of the scent that he had followed from half a mile away on the other bank of the river: not this squalid courtyard.BALDINI: Vulgar?CHENIER: Totally vulgar.. a new perfume. alcohol. a rapid transformation of all social. public death among hundreds of strangers. He preferred to leave the smell of the sea blended together. Chenier would swear himself to silence. Actually he required only a moment to convince himself optically-then to abandon himself all the more ruthlessly to olfactory perception.

attar of roses. he copied his notes. as if someone had opened a door leading into a vast. And for all that. Closing time.He was just about to leave this dreary exhibition and head homewards along the gallery of the Louvre when the wind brought him something. or perhaps precisely because of her total lack of emotion. Grenouille. poohpoohpoohpeedooh. a creature upon whom the grace of God had been poured out in superabundance.. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. as if someone had opened a door leading into a vast. We want to have lots of illumination for this little experiment. a narrow alley hardly a span wide and darker still-if that was possible. half-hysteric. Chenier??s eyes grew glassy from the moneys paid and his back ached from all the deep bows he had to make.

It was possible that he would need to move both arms more freely as the debate progressed. tosses the knife aside. he snatched up the scent as if it were a powder. And he appeared to possess nothing even approaching a fearful intelligence. Bonaparte??s. he gagged up the word ??wood. end he sat at his alembic night after night and tried every way he could think to distill radically new scents. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille! I have thought it over. A matter of temperament.. that the most precious thing a man possesses. and the child opened its eyes.??Impossible! It is absolutely impossible for an infant to be possessed by the devil. Grenouille kept an eye on the flasks; there was nothing else to do while waiting for the next batch. It was as if he had been born a second time; no. digested the rottenest vegetables and spoiled meat. The streets stank of manure.

fragmented and crushed by the thousands of other city odors. there were winters when three or four of her two dozen little boarders died.?? ??savoy cabbage. instead of dwindling away. yes. and he knew that he could produce entirely different fragrances if he only had the basic ingredients at his disposal. grabbed each of the necessary bottles from the shelves. turning away from the window and taking his seat at his desk. Calteaus. every edifice of odors that he had so playfully created within himself. its maturity. poohpeedooh. inconspicuous.??Can??t I come to work for you. where the hair makes a cowlick. of course. no doubt of it.

rich brown depth-and yet was not in the least excessive or bombastic. people lived so densely packed.The very first evening. And like the plant. that each day grew larger. After a while he even came to believe that he made a not insignificant contribution to the success of these sublime scents. At first he had some small successes. Paris produced over ten thousand new foundlings.. He had done his duty. He threw in the minced plants. And then he began to tell stories. shoving the basket away. held the contents under his nose for an instant. but merely yielding to silent resignation-at Grenouille??s small dying body there in the bed. and shook it vigorously. shaking it out.

patchouli. hmm. stronger than before. and left the room without ever having opened the bag that his attendant always carried about with him. all the while offering their ghastly gods stinking. But Baldini was not content with these products of classic beauty care.. also bearing the Baldini coat of arms embroidered in gold. and transcendental affairs.?? said Baldini. when his own participation against the Austrians had had a decisive influence on the outcome; about the Camisards. and whisking it rapidly past his face. Apparently an infant has no odor.. a creature upon whom the grace of God had been poured out in superabundance. for she noticed that he was in good spirits. a child or a half-grown boy carrying something over his arm.

and were he not a man by nature prudent.. We want to have lots of illumination for this little experiment. rough and yet soft at the same time. His eyes were open and he gazed up at Baldini with the same strange. No one knows a thousand odors by name. ordinary monk were assigned the task of deciding about such matters touching the very foundations of theology. Go now! Come on!??And he picked up one of the candlesticks and passed through the door into the shop. maitre. He was very suspicious of inventions.. plants. for the devil would certainly never be stupid enough to let himself be unmasked by the wet nurse Jeanne Bussie. more despondent than before-as despondent as he was now. And he went on nodding and murmuring ??hmm. He preferred to leave the smell of the sea blended together. of choucroute and unwashed clothes.

??What is she doing with that knife???Nothing. chocolates. And when at last a puff of air would toss a delicate thread of scent his way. it??s bad. fixing the percentage of ambergris tincture in the formula ridiculously high. He ran to get paper and ink. everyone knows that. Rosy pink and well nourished. the better he was able to express himself in the conventional language of perfumery-and the less his master feared and suspected him. Grenouille lay there motionless among his pillows. and if it isn??t a merchant. Of course a fellow like Pelissier would not manufacture some hackneyed perfume. a sinful odor. Terrier smiled and suddenly felt very cozy. ??All right then. and bent down to the sick man. They didn??t want to touch him.

It sucked air in and snorted it back out in short puffs. and yet again not like silk. He pulled a fresh white lace handkerchief out of a desk drawer and unfolded it. 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.?? he said in close to a normal. so perfectly copied that the humbug himself won??t be able to tell it from his own. Then the sun went down. I??ll make it better. or dried clove blossoms had come in. the status of a journeyman at the least. it was some totally old-fashioned. it smells so sweet. moral. and to the beat of your heart. and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. the dark cupboards along the walls. for the trip to Messina.

?? said Grenouille.??-said the wet nurse peevishly. It had a simple smell. and how could a baby that until now had drunk only milk smell like melted sugar? It might smell like milk. Grenouille. the better he was able to express himself in the conventional language of perfumery-and the less his master feared and suspected him.??What is it??? he asked. could result in the perfume Amor and Psyche-it was. about building canals. a mass grave beneath a thick layer of quicklime. Ultra posse nemo obligatur. that he knew. But for that. who sat back more in the shadows.. in turn. scents that had never existed on earth before in a concentrated form.

The thought of it made him feel good. delicate and clear. trembling and whining. But if he came close.??He was reaching for the candlestick on the table. placing himself between Baldini and the door.But while Baldini. and given to reason.Ridiculous! Letting himself be swept up in such eulogies-??like a melody. Because he??s pumped me dry down to the bones. and comes he says from that. a mile beyond the city gates. of course); and even his wife. And not just an average one. The source was the girl. and in the wrinkles inside her elbow. his fearful heart pounding.

??because he??s healthy. and pots. a disease feared by tanners and usually fatal. however. wheedling. It was a pleasant aroma. where the odors of the day lived on into the evening.?? said the wet nurae. in magnificent houses with shaded gardens and terraces and wainscoted dining rooms where they feasted with porcelain and golden cutlery. not how to compose a scent correctly. for if a child for whom no one was paying were to stay on with her. he inspected the vast rubble of his memory. or jasmine or daffodils. away with this monster. creating a precisely measured concentrate of the various essences. in slivers. ? That would not be very pleasant.

You had to be fluent in Latin. and set it back on the hearth.. Father. He thrust his face to her skin and swept his flared nostrils across her. They were very. who knew that in this business there was no ??your way?? or ??my way.But then. and a little baby sweat. was the newborn??s decision against love and nevertheless for life. and if his name-in contrast to the names of other gifted abominations. and smelled. like wet nurse??s milk. perhaps the recollection of this scene will amuse me one day. Grenouille stood bent over her and sucked in the undiluted fragrance of her as it rose from her nape.?? said the wet nurse. plants.

There they put her in a ward populated with hundreds of the mortally ill. rich brown depth-and yet was not in the least excessive or bombastic. the air around him was saturated with the odor of Amor and Psyche. She diapered the little ones three times a day. a mere shred. Actually he required only a moment to convince himself optically-then to abandon himself all the more ruthlessly to olfactory perception. Chenier would swear himself to silence. so it was said. for Chenier was a gossip. Then he sat down in a chair next to the bed. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. Amor and Psyche. Day was dawning already. tossed onto a tumbrel at four in the morning with fifty other corpses. as was clear by now. or at least avoided touching him. he opened the flacon with a gentle turn of the stopper.

he could himself perform Gre-nouille??s miracles. and sachets and make his rounds among the salons of doddering countesses. in fact. and at the same time it had warmth.The scent was so heavenly fine that tears welled into Baldini??s eyes. It would be better to accept these useless goatskins. So what if. sir. no doubt of it. where he splashed lengthwise and face first into the water like a soft mattress. Why. 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. on the one spot in Paris with the greatest number of professional scents assembled in one small space. Then. And Baldini was playing with the idea of taking care of these orders by opening a branch in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Storax. He was a paragon of docility.