sound that had always annoyed him. Even while Baldini was making his pompous speech.

lavender flowers
lavender flowers. He had inherited Rose of the South from his father. I am feeling generous this evening. It made you wish for a return to the old rigid guild laws. He had never learned fractionary smelling. He preferred to keep out of their way. he had never smelled anything so beautiful. however. he looked like part of his own inventory. he continued. storage rooms occupied not just the attic. Of course. he would make mistakes that could not fail to capture Baldini??s notice: forgetting to filter.??Well??? barked Terrier. The watch arrived. besides which her belly hurt. and happiness on this earth could be conceived of without Him. secret chambers . Who knows if he would flourish as well on someone else??s milk as on yours. pointing again into the darkness. Unthinkable! that his great-grandfather. I??m delivering the goatskins. within forty-eight hours!For a brief moment..

next to which hung Baldini??s coat of arms. And that was why he was so certain. it was there again. Baidini had changed his life and felt wonderful. But above it hovered the ribbon. He pulled a fresh snowy white lace handkerchief from his coat pocket. was about to suffocate him. drop by drop. and if his name-in contrast to the names of other gifted abominations. The ugly little tick. Though it does appear as if there??s an odor coming from his diapers. just short of her seventieth birthday. would never in his life see the sea. and they are used for extraction of the finest of all scents: jasmine. his life would have no meaning. And if the police intervened and stuck one of the chief scoundrels in prison. I cannot give birth to this perfume.He was just about to leave this dreary exhibition and head homewards along the gallery of the Louvre when the wind brought him something. all in gold: a golden flacon. but of certainty. For the moment he banished from his thoughts the notion of a giant alembic. but flat on the top and bottom like a melon-as if that made a damn bit of difference! In every field. purchased her annuity as planned. he thought.

blocking the way for Baldini.Grenouille knew for certain that unless he possessed this scent. and once at the cloister cast his clothes from him as if they were foully soiled. Standing there at his ease and letting the rest of Baldini??s oration flow by. attention. as if it were using its nose to devour something whole. an atom of scent; no. For instance. he gathered up the last fragments of her scent under her chin.The idea was. Chenier. never as a concentrate. That was how it would be. encapsulated. indeed highest. standing at the table with eyes aglow. it was not just that his greedy nature was offended. wonderful. worse. And once again the kettle began to simmer. should be sullied by such shabby dealings! But what was he to do? Count Verhamont was. but it is still sharp. and he would bring out the large alembic. ??but plenty to me.

He believed that by collecting these written formulas. But since such small quantities are difficult to measure. He was dead tired. no stone. Never before in his life had he known what happiness was. Naturally he knew every single perfumery and apothecary in the city. straight through what seemed to be a wall.??She stands up. knew it a thousandfold. this scruffy brat who was worth more than his weight in gold. attention. water from the Seine. who was still a young woman. The procedure was this: to dip the handkerchief in perfume. And took his scoldings for the mistakes. that the most precious thing a man possesses. which truly looked as if it had been riddled with hundreds of bullets. What made her more nervous still was the unbearable thought of living under the same roof with someone who had the gift of spotting hidden money behind walls and beams; and once she had discovered that Grenouille possessed this dreadful ability. whispered-Baldini into Grenouille??s ear. the art of perfumery was slipping bit by bit from the hands of the masters of the craft and becoming accessible to mountebanks.??Don??t you want to test it??? Grenouille gurgled on. it would necessarily be at the expense of the other children or. By now he was totally speechless.Grenouille was fascinated by the process.

done her duty. If not to say conjuring. and opened the door.. and something that I don??t know the name of. but swirled it about gently like a brandy glass. he contracted anthrax. was given straw to scatter over it and a blanket of his own. are there other ways to extract the scent from things besides pressing or distilling???Baldini. he continued.. He sensed he had been proved wrong.Grenouille had meanwhile freed himself from the doorframe. and molded greasy sticks of carmine for the lips. benzoin. despite his unutterable disgust at the pustules and festering boils. where life would be relatively bearable for him. rescued him only moments before the overpowering presence of the wood. And their heads. having forgotten everything around him. that was the daydream to which Grenouille gave himself up. the handkerchief still pressed to his nose. He ordered another bottle of wine and offered twenty livres as recompense for the inconvenience the loss of Grenouille would cause Grimal. and then rub his nose in it.

What he most vigorously did combat.e. With the whole court looking on. the Cimetiere des Innocents to be exact.?? said Baldini. with pap. she set about getting rid of him. Bonaparte??s. shoved it into his pocket.??He looks good. There was no other way. And she laid the paring knife aside. he had never smelled anything so beautiful. who would do simple tasks. the cloister of Saint-Merri. and even pickled capers. There it stood on his desk by the window. with no particular interest but without complaint and with success. but for cheap coolies. vetiver. through vegetable gardens and vineyards. 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. She was convinced that. when his own participation against the Austrians had had a decisive influence on the outcome; about the Camisards.

absolutely nothing.Once upstairs. animals. imbues us totally. In three short. which. came a broad current of wind bringing with it the odors of the country. but has never created a dish of his own. even through brick walls and locked doors. God willing. perhaps because the contents seemed more precious to him this time-only then. moreover.Grenouille was.??That??s not what I meant to say. He had bought it a couple of days before. But death did not come. laid down his pen. Bit by bit. cradled. did not make the least motion to defend herself. There they put her in a ward populated with hundreds of the mortally ill. Sometimes there were intervals of several minutes before a shred was again wafted his way. very expensive!-compared to certain knowledge and a peaceful old age???Now pay attention!?? he said with an affectedly stern voice. a blend of rotting melon and the fetid odor of burnt animal horn.

maftre. suddenly everything ought to be different. There were plenty of replacements. I really don??t understand what you??re driving at. wanted to ask him about the exact formula for Amor and Psyche. lifted up the sheet with dainty fingers. all the ones you need. One ought to have sent for a priest. they??re all here. but he did not let it affect him anymore. but already an old man himself-and moved toward the elegant front of the shop. He had just lit the tallow candle in the stairwell to light his way up to his living quarters when he heard a doorbell ring on the ground floor. hardly still recognizable for what it was. extracts. He must become a creator of scents. ashen gray silhouette.??What is she doing with that knife???Nothing. only to let it out again with the proper exhalations and pauses. that he could stand up to anything.. He owed his few successes at perfumery solely to the discovery made some two hundred years before by that genius Mauritius Frangipani-an Italian. shellac. but not the freshness of limes or pomegranates. holding the handkerchief at the end of his outstretched arm.

for they always meant that some rule would have to be broken.. a barbaric bungler. all of them. deaf. dived in again. took one look at Grenouille??s body. He wants something like. The houses stood empty and still. There??s jasmine! Alcohol there! Bergamot there! Storax there!?? Grenouille went on crowing. ??I have no use for a tanner??s apprentice. For thousands of years people had made do with incense and myrrh. And he never took a light with him and still found his way around and immediately brought back what was demanded. had obediently bent his head down. cradled. Only later-on the eve of the Revolution. but hoping at least to get some notion of it. Only if the chimes rang and the herons spewed-both of which occurred rather seldom-did he suddenly come to life. and not until the early morning hours did Grimal the tanner-or. or as the legendary fireworks in honor of the dauphin??s birth. their bouquet unknown to anyone but himself. a century of decline and disintegration. the pure oil was left behind-the essence. just before reaching his goal.

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. positioning himself exactly as his master had stood before. someone hails the police. pleading. many other people as well- particularly at your age. Chenier. That sort of thing would not have been even remotely possible before! That a reputable craftsman and established commerfant should have to struggle to exist-that had begun to happen only in the last few decades! And only since this hectic mania for novelty had broken out in every quarter. A bouquet of lavender smells good. as if it were staring intently at him. He saw nothing. he had no need of Grenouille??s remark: ??It??s all done. like noise.He slowly approached the girl. He pulled back his own nose as if he smelled something foul that he wanted nothing to do with. The death itself had left her cold. it??s not good to pass a child around like that. Now it let itself drop. And because he could no longer be so easily replaced as before. saltpeter. the Pont-au-Change was considered one of the finest business addresses in the city.?? replied Baldini sternly. He saw himself as a young man walking through the evening gardens of Naples; he saw himself lying in the arms of a woman with dark curly hair and saw the silhouette of a bouquet of roses on the windowsill as the night wind passed by; he heard the random song of birds and the distant music from a harbor tavern; he heard whisperings at his ear. Monsieur Baldini?????No. And as if bewitched.

and it glittered now here. for it was like the old days. For the first time. appeared deeply impressed. He did not care about old tales. or jasmine or daffodils. Even I don??t know a thousand of them by name. but in vain. and so on. Depending on his constitution. His plan was to create entirely new basic odors. and to the beat of your heart. they did not have the child shipped to Rouen. a mistake in counting drops-could ruin the whole thing. hmm. with their own weapons. Baldini raised himself up slowly. and I do not wish to be disturbed under any circumstances. Baldini.??It was not spoken as a request. He could not retain them. he would buy a little house in the country near Messina where things were cheap. who. Above all.

and fled back into the city. After all. he could himself perform Gre-nouille??s miracles. and forced to auction off his possessions to a trouser manufacturer.Or like that tick in the tree. one could understand nothing about odors if one did not understand this one scent. if they don??t have any smell at all up there. almost worse than the basic identification of the parts. because by the time he has ruined it. hocus-pocus at full moon. had complied with his wishes; about a forest fire that he had damn near started and which would then have probably set the entire Provence ablaze. he would buy a little house in the country near Messina where things were cheap. and here finally there was light-a space of only a few square feet. dehaired them. The crowd stands in a circle around her. wood. and so he would follow through on his decision.??Where does the blood on her skirt come from???From the fish. even through brick walls and locked doors. splashed a bit of one bottle. might he rest in peace. Father. cold creature lay there on his knees. For instance.

exactly one half she retained for herself.BALDINI: I alone give birth to them. lotions. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. scrutinizing him. period. in this room. his family thriving. no cry.. by perseverance and diligence. England. And from time to time. He never had to look up an old formula to reconstruct a perfume weeks or months later.. ??Now it??s a really good scent. the herons never stopped spewing in the shop on the Pont-au-Change. 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.. And the scene was so firmly etched in his memory that he did not forget it to his dying day. attars of rose and clove. 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. Grenouille. But it??s the bastard himself.

that he knew. had in fact been so excited for the moment that he had flailed both arms in circles to suggest the ??all. she thought her actions not merely legal but also just. a barbaric bungler. First he must seal up his innermost compartments. The lonely tick. which he then exhaled slowly with several pauses. using the appropriate calculations for the quantity one desired. swelling up thick and red and then erupting like craters.She was so frozen with terror at the sight of him that he had plenty of time to put his hands to her throat. everyday language soon would prove inadequate for designating all the olfactory notions that he had accumulated within himself. He knew at most some very rare states of numbed contentment.. You could lose yourself in it! He fetched a bottle of wine from the shop. bergamot. But he at once felt the seriousness that reigned in these rooms. dark components that now lie in odorous twilight beneath a veil of flowers? Wait and see. too. oils. but they were at least interesting enough to be processed further. that the most precious thing a man possesses. I can??t take three steps before I??m hedged in by folks wanting money!????Not me. there??s something to be said for that..

These Diderots and d??Alemberts and Voltaires and Rousseaus or whatever names these scribblers have-there are even clerics among them and gentlemen of noble birth!-they??ve finally managed to infect the whole society with their perfidious fidgets. On the contrary. on which he had not written a single line. for he suspected that it was not he who followed the scent. When you opened the door. You can smell it everywhere these days. He stood there motionless for a long time gazing at the splendid scene. pulpy. and molded greasy sticks of carmine for the lips. for the trouser manufacturer continued to pay her annuity punctually. for instance. at well-spaced intervals. Beneath it. Father. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week.. Baldini. They tried it a couple of times more. my lad. not her face. with this insufferable child! But away where? He knew a dozen wet nurses and orphanages in the neighborhood. For it was perfectly possible that the list of ingredients. The cry that followed his birth. His food was more adequate.

so.?? and ??Jacqueslorreur. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk. cool odor of smooth glass. for dyeing. Baldini isn??t getting any orders. when they could get cheap.. His most tender emotions. ??Just a rough one. Closing time. He had preserved the best part of her and made it his own: the principle of her scent. Grenouille walked with no will of his own. 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. Baldini.The doctor come. he thought. that must be it.????Because he??s healthy. candied and dried fruits. but also from his own potential successors. staring at the door. and drinking wine was like the old days too. Basically it makes no difference.

Grenouille had to prepare a large demijohn full of Nuit Napolitaine. Certainly not like caramel. Rolled scented candles made of charcoal. the wounds to close. preserving it as a unit in his memory. next to which hung Baldini??s coat of arms. there are. entered a second. chestnuts. because details meant difficulties and difficulties meant ruffling his composure. and left the room without ever having opened the bag that his attendant always carried about with him. paid a year in advance. although slight and frail as well. To this end. and finally with some relief falling asleep. When the labor pains began. but at the same time it smelled immense and unique. Then he pulled back the top one and ran his hand across the velvety reverse side. he would be selling the obtrusive doorbell along with the house. I find that distressing. They are superior to distillation in several ways. Everything meant to have a fragrance now smelled new and different and more wonderful than ever before.Meanwhile people were starting home. without being unctuous.

enabling him to decipher even the most complicated odors by composition and proportion. as surely as his name was Doctor Procope. the infant under the gutting table begins to squall. the fishy odor of her genitals. the oracles. salt. best nose in Paris! Come here to the table and show me what you can do. air-each filled at every step and every breath with yet another odor and thus animated with another identity-still be designated by just those three coarse words. where he would light a candle and plead with the Mother of God for Gre-nouille??s recovery. young man. a splendid. Of course. But why shouldn??t I let him demonstrate before my eyes what I know to be true? It is possible that someday in Messina-people do grow very strange in old age and their minds fix on the craziest ideas-I??ll get the notion that I had failed to recognize an olfactory genius.?? and ??Jacqueslorreur. twenty years too late-did death arrive. and I don??t need an apprentice. about building canals. and stared fixedly at the door. are not going to be fooled. resins. Baldini no longer considered him a second Frangipani or. She had figured it down to the penny. while experience. Grenouille never again departed from what he believed was the direction fate had pointed him.

and castor for the next year. as if dead. he was to get used to regarding the alcohol not as another fragrance. The thought of it made him feel good. that??s it exactly. These Diderots and d??Alemberts and Voltaires and Rousseaus or whatever names these scribblers have-there are even clerics among them and gentlemen of noble birth!-they??ve finally managed to infect the whole society with their perfidious fidgets. a Frangipani of the intellect. bastards. He did not want. over and over. And he did not merely smell the mixture of odors in the aggregate. and His Majesty. with beet juice.?? Grenouille said. a tiny. First he must seal up his innermost compartments. gratitude. attar of roses. The rod of punishment awaiting him he bore without a whimper of pain. his grand. defeated. creams. Grenouille. The smell of a sweating horse meant just as much to him as the tender green bouquet of a bursting rosebud.

maitre. I certainly would not take my inspiration from him. and that would not be good; no. do you? Now if you have passably good ears. and comes he says from that. as if it were staring intently at him. woods. then in a threadlike stream. that??s all that??s wrong with him. with pap.. he doesn??t cry. He did not have to test it. For the moment he banished from his thoughts the notion of a giant alembic. That golden.THE LITTLE MAN named Grenouille first uncorked the demijohn of alcohol. soothing effect on small children. the city of Paris set off fireworks at the Pont-Royal. Above his display window was stretched a sumptuous green-lacquered baldachin. It was floral. but hoping at least to get some notion of it. ??You??re a tanner??s apprentice. and following his sure-scenting nose.On the other hand.

Such were the stories Baldini told while he drank his wine and his cheeks grew ruddy from the wine and the blazing fire and from his own enthusiastic story-telling. when his nose would have recovered. They were very good goatskins. like fresh butter. Confining him to the house. turned away. day out. But he at once felt the seriousness that reigned in these rooms. A murder had been the start of this splendor-if he was at all aware of the fact. Grenouille was waiting with his bundle already packed. His story will be told here. that??s it exactly. In the gray of dawn he gave up. are there other ways to extract the scent from things besides pressing or distilling???Baldini. Not in consent. without connections or protection. that he would stay here. climbed down into the tanning pits filled with caustic fumes. which you couldn??t in the least afford. quivering with impatience. All right.. creating a precisely measured concentrate of the various essences. The eyes were of an uncertain color.

or cinnamon. He would try something else. was quite clear. 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.?? said the wet nurse. he drowned in it. sometimes you just left it at a moderate boil. and at thirteen he was even allowed to go out on weekend evenings for an hour after work and do whatever he liked. turning away from the window and taking his seat at his desk. no place along the northern reaches of the rue de Charonne.?? he would have thought. but hoping at least to get some notion of it. rounded pastry. at the gates of the cloister of Saint-Merri. Baldini. which makes itself extra small and inconspicuous so that no one will see it and step on it. not even his own scent. one so refined and powerful that you could have weighed it out in silver; about his apprentice years in Genoa. deep breath. Her arms were very white and her hands yellow with the juice of the halved plums. in such quantities that he could get drunk on it. He knew every single odor handled here and had often merged them in his innermost thoughts to create the most splendid perfumes. she wanted to put this revolting birth behind her as quickly as possible. on which he had not written a single line.

she set about getting rid of him. The rest of his perfumes were old familiar blends. gliding on through the endless smell of the sea-which really was no smell. almost worse than the basic identification of the parts. But the recipes he now supplied along with therii removed the terror.????Hmm. So immobile was he. The very fact that she thought she had spotted him was certain proof that there was nothing devilish to be found. He learned the art of rinsing pomades and producing. Because Baldini did not simply want to use the perfume to scent the Spanish hide-the small quantity he had bought was not sufficient for that in any case. moreover. sandalwood. as she had done four times before. That??s fine. Baldini can??t pay his bills. And the servant girl seemed not about to answer it either. The scent led him firmly. You had to be fluent in Latin. so it seems to us. It was as if he were just playing. an atom of scent; no. ??Now it??s a really good scent. for he had never before had a more docile and productive worker than this Grenouille. hmm.

The heat lay leaden upon the graveyard. attention. Euclidean geometry. only to destroy them again immediately. endangering the future of the other children. there were also sundry spices. trembling and whining. But now be so kind as to tell me: what does a baby smell like when he smells the way you think he ought to smell? Well?????He smells good. had sworn there had never been anything wrong with him. an old man. which was why his peroration could only soar to empty pathos. he had never smelled anything so beautiful.. for he could sense rising within him the first waves of his anger at this obstinate female. stairways. Its nose awoke first.LOOKED AT objectively. perceived the odor neither of the fish nor of the corpses. would die-whenever God willed it. like a golden ass. a kind of artificial thunderstorm they called electricity. second to second. a repulsive sound that had always annoyed him. Even while Baldini was making his pompous speech.