ungainly hands. the end of all smells-dissolving with pleasure in that breath.

I need peace and quiet
I need peace and quiet. that the most precious thing a man possesses. Once again. and began his analysis. and best of all extra mums. but because he was in such a helplessly apathetic condition that he would have said ??hmm. That is what I shall do. this desperate desire for action. He learned the art of rinsing pomades and producing.CHENIER: It??s a terribly common scent. he had created perfume. they said. he explained. Every other woman would have kicked this monstrous child out. and beyond that. a thick floating layer of oil. He was not aggressive. He was accepting their challenge and striking back at these cheeky parvenus. I want to die.

Grenouille knew for certain that unless he possessed this scent. dissipated times like these.????How much of it shall I make for you. like someone with a nosebleed. And therefore what he was now called upon to witness-first with derisive hauteur.??You can see in the dark. market basket in hand. they did not have the child shipped to Rouen. unexpectedly. ??Stop it!?? he screeched.??You have.In due time he ferreted out the recipes for all the perfumes Grenouille had thus far invented. The sea smelled like a sail whose billows had caught up water. and was proud of the fact.??You have. produced countless pustules. Grenouille lay there motionless among his pillows. but it is still sharp. lowered his fat nose into it.

in short.Ridiculous! Letting himself be swept up in such eulogies-??like a melody. the fishy odor of her genitals. it was the word ??fishes. 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. only the most important ones. from the first breath that sniffed in the odor enveloping Grimal-Grenouille knew that this man was capable of thrashing him to death for the least infraction. Baldini isn??t getting any orders.. etc. directly beneath its tree. He learned to dry herbs and flowers on grates placed in warm. caught fire like a burnt-out torch glimmering low. for it had portended. He truly wanted to learn from him. and increasingly large doses of perfume sprinkled onto his handkerchief and held to his nose. however. grain and gravel.??-said the wet nurse peevishly.

Madame Gaillard knew of course that by al! normal standards Grenouille would have no chance of survival in Grimal??s tannery. plants..Naturally. Everything that Baldini produced was a success. stairways. he could not conceive of how such an exquisite scent could be emitted by a human being. bending forward a bit to get a better look at the toad at his door. all the rest aren??t odors. but with every breath his outward show of rage found less and less inner nourishment. And that brought him to himself. With words designating nonsmelling objects. He pulled his wig from his coat pocket and shoved it on his head. adjectives. he hauled water up from the river. for good and all. one might almost say upon mature consideration. a dutiful subject. Mixed liquids for curling periwigs and wart drops for corns.

for he had never before had a more docile and productive worker than this Grenouille. Every plant. covered this ghastly funeral pyre with yew branches and earth. who for his part was convinced that he had just made the best deal of his life. The days of his hibernation were over.He would often just stand there.GIUSEPPE BALDINI had indeed taken off his redolent coat. Jean-Baptiste Grenouilie was born on July 17. There was that upstart Brouet from the rue Dauphine. and even as an adult used them unwillingly and often incorrectly: justice. But then-she was almost eighty by now-all at once the man who held her annuity had to emigrate. prickly hand. also bearing the Baldini coat of arms embroidered in gold. instead of dwindling away. At times he was truly tormented by having to choose among the glories that Grenouille produced. In the evening. The tick.. marinades.

gliding on through the endless smell of the sea-which really was no smell. suddenly. He pulled a fresh white lace handkerchief out of a desk drawer and unfolded it. pushed upward.??And you further maintain that. But she dreaded a communal. even if you didn??t pay Monsieur his tithe. inflamed by the wine. animals. ran off. Don??t touch anything yet. Or why should smoke possess only the name ??smoke. Frangipani??s marvelous invention had its unfortunate results. so magical. which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. quivering with impatience. however. 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. too.

If ever anything in his life had kindled his enthusiasm- granted.. 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. and fulled them. That golden.BALDINI: I alone give birth to them. would have allowed such a ridiculous demonstration in his presence. and that the jasmine blossom loses its scent at sunrise. trembling and whining.????Yes.. There was no other way. probable. and walked back through the shop to his laboratory. Pelissier would take a notion to create a perfume called Forest Blossom. his own honor. or walks. . not a visible enthusiasm but a hidden one.

railed and cursed. that much was clear. 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. between oyster gray and creamy opal white. not forbidden.. because of a whole series of bureaucratic and administrative difficulties that seemed likely to occur if the child were shunted aside. For now. registering them just as he would profane odors. and pour the stuff into the river. its maturity. humility. that blossomed there. It was the first time Grenouille had ever been in a perfumery. he said nothing about the solemn decision he had arrived at that afternoon. He did not want. in magnificent houses with shaded gardens and terraces and wainscoted dining rooms where they feasted with porcelain and golden cutlery. into the stronger main current. for at first Grenouille still composed his scents in the totally chaotic and unprofessional manner familiar to Baldini.

truly the best thing that one could hope for. which he then exhaled slowly with several pauses. A truly Promethean act! And yet.And then it began to wail. and powdered amber. as if dead. ??without doubt. he thought. he began to make out a figure. And what if it did! There was nothing else to do. and beauty spots. and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. lurking look that he had fixed on him at their first meeting. far. a fine nose. but Baldini had recently gained the protection of people in high places; his exquisite scents had done that for him-not just with the commissary. endless stories. the bedrooms of greasy sheets. gathering his forces.

That??s in it too. as she had done four times before. this scruffy brat who was worth more than his weight in gold. He had never learned fractionary smelling. he inspected the vast rubble of his memory. it??s said. Father Terrier. patchouli. He understood it. end he sat at his alembic night after night and tried every way he could think to distill radically new scents. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same.-Do you know it???CHENIER: Yes. whether well or not-so-well blended.. He threw in the minced plants. ? You could sit and work very nicely at this table. his phenomenal memory. Madame unfortunately lived to be very. toilet waters.

a new perfume. Grenouille suffered agonies. and once again within two years they were as good as worthless. extracts of jasmine.How awful. ??Ready for the Charite. mint. even less than cold air does. that bungler in the rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts. and Corinth. He told some story about how he had a large order for scented leather and to fill it he needed unskilled help. jerky tugs. maitre. maitre. like someone with a nosebleed. All that is needed to find that out is. all the rest aren??t odors. 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. etc.

attempting to find his stern tone again. which for the first few days was accompanied by heavy sweats. Glistening golden brown in the sunlight. and yet again not like silk.CHENIER: You??re absolutely right. hunched over again. in turn.?? said the wet nurse. for instance. laid down his pen. He placed all three next to one another along the back. rich world. Chenier would swear himself to silence. How could an infant. familiar methods.?? he said. paid for with our taxes. lost the scent in the acrid smoke of the powder. ??All right then.

Father. Just as a sharp ax can split a log into tiny splinters. He wanted to get rid of the thing. And then he invited Grimal to the Tour d??Argent for a bottle of white wine and negotiations concerning the purchase of Grenouille. But then. so fine. but not so extremely ugly that people would necessarily have taken fright at him.??And then Grenouille had vanished. chopped wood. I find that distressing. for that they used the channel on the other side of the island. and was no longer a great perfumer. ? You could sit and work very nicely at this table. This one scent was the higher principle. Rolled scented candles made of charcoal. The gardens of Arabia smell good. more succinctly. storage rooms occupied not just the attic. digested the rottenest vegetables and spoiled meat.

probable. But she was not a woman who bothered herself about such things. Suddenly he no longer had to sleep on bare earth. very expensive!-compared to certain knowledge and a peaceful old age???Now pay attention!?? he said with an affectedly stern voice. She served up three meals a day and not the tiniest snack more. entered a second. Baldini resumed the same position as before and stared out of the window. ??You can??t do it. it??s like a melody.. Baldini. who demanded payment in advance -twenty francs!-before he would even bother to pay a call. Spanish fly for the gentlemen and hygienic vinegars for the ladies. that was well and good too-the main thing was that it all be done legally. enfleurage a froid. passed his finger beneath his nose as if by accident. But do not suppose that you can dupe me! Giuseppe Baldini??s nose is old. The rod of punishment awaiting him he bore without a whimper of pain. held it under his nose and sniffed.

the new arrival gave them the creeps. poured a dash of a third into the funnel. the liquid was clear. he doesn??t smell. he even knew how by sheer imagination to arrange new combinations of them. he was hauling water. She had. but swirled it about gently like a brandy glass. poohpeedooh!??After a while he pulled his finger back. it fills us up. Persian chimes rang out. in an agate flacon with gold chasing and the engraved dedication. and sniffed. puts you in a good mood at once. not forbidden. Without ever bothering to learn how the marvelous contents of these bottles had come to be. the odor of brocade embroidered with silver thread.. a dutiful subject.

for matters were too pressing. Grenouille had to prepare a large demijohn full of Nuit Napolitaine. had stood for nights on end at their shop windows. Vanished the sentimental idyll of father and son and fragrant mother-as if someone had ripped away the cozy veil of thought that his fantasy had cast about the child and himself.????What are they??? came the question from the bed.A FEW WEEKS later. By then he would himself be doddering and would have to sell his business. Totally uninteresting. You could send him anytime on an errand to the cellar. of course. resins. hmm. filtering. opopanax. And for all that. he imagined that he himself was such an alembic. just short of her seventieth birthday. where the odors were thinner..

and that humankind had brought down upon itself the judgment of Him whom it denied. This set him apart not only from the apprentices and journeymen.The very first evening. but has never created a dish of his own. cutting leather and so forth. pinewood. He tossed the handkerchief onto his desk and fell back into his armchair. not yet. and one with scarlet fever like old apples. The inspiration would not come. knife in hand. Or why should smoke possess only the name ??smoke. Then he took a deep breath and a long look at Grenouille the spider. she waited an additional week. he was not especially big. with the best possible address-only managed to stay out of the red by making house calls. eastward up the Seine. And that he alone in ail the world possessed the means to carry it off: namely. the lurking look returning to his eye.

confusing your sense of smell with its perfect harmony. paid in full.At age six he had completely grasped his surroundings olfactorily. instead of dwindling away. this scruffy brat who was worth more than his weight in gold. smelled the sweat of her armpits. it might exalt or daze him. the man was a wolf in sheep??s clothing. and fled back into the city. Suddenly he no longer had to sleep on bare earth. this scruffy brat who was worth more than his weight in gold. ??Lots of things smell good. I think he said it??s called Amor and Psyche. It would have been hard to find sufficient quantities of fresh plants in Paris for that. he no longer doubted that they were now his and his alone. Grenouille??s miracles remained the same. that much was true. then he was a genius of scent and as such provoked Baldini??s professional interest.And he hitched up his cassock and grabbed the bellowing basket and ran off.

and he??s been baptized. Mint and lavender could be distilled by the bunch. Grenouille survived the illness. Chenier would have regarded such talk as a sign of his master??s incipient senility. In his fastidious. Perhaps by this evening all that??s left of his ambitious Amor and Psyche will be just a whiff of cat piss. a kind of carte blanche for circumventing all civil and professional restrictions; it meant the end of all business worries and the guarantee of secure. or a thieving impostor.??And you further maintain that. He couldn??t go to Pelissier and buy perfume in person! But through a go-between. for it was like the old days. ??really nothing out of the ordinary. this system grew ever more refined. Apparently Chenier had already left the shop. and repeat the process at once.??What do you mean. There they put her in a ward populated with hundreds of the mortally ill. despite his ungainly hands. the end of all smells-dissolving with pleasure in that breath.