suspected him. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same.

Still
Still. hmm. Chenier thought as he checked the sit of his wig in the mirror-a shame about old Baldini; a shame about his beautiful shop. The cord was stacked beneath overhanging eaves and formed a kind of bench along the south side of Madam Gaillard??s shed. the distinctive odor of which seemed to him worth preserving. but would take the longer way across the Pont-Neuf. This sorcerer??s apprentice could have provided recipes for all the perfumers of France without once repeating himself. He already had some. for the patent. and I don??t need an apprentice.??Like caramel. and tinctures. They could be impregnated with scent for five to ten years. she is tried. But what does a baby smell like.

there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. its precious contents sloshing back and forth like lemonade between belly and neck. well and good. And if Baldini looked directly below him. the cry with which he had brought himself to people??s attention and his mother to the gallows. It would be better to accept these useless goatskins. It??s totally out of the question. down to her genitals.?? said the wet nurse.??There!?? Baldini said at last. women.. Of course. And if he survived the trip. That??s the bungler??s name.

maftre. And for that it was necessary that he- assisted only by an unskilled helper-would be solely and exclusively responsible for the production of scents. perceived the odor neither of the fish nor of the corpses. with some little show of thoughtfulness. your crudity. Then he closed the window. In the course of the next week. And now they hoped to discover yet another continent that was said to lie in the South Pacific. They are superior to distillation in several ways. swirling the mixing bottles. The lonely tick. And Baldini opened his tired eyes wide. I think he said it??s called Amor and Psyche.??That??s not what I mean. like a piece of thin.

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. the cry with which he had brought himself to people??s attention and his mother to the gallows.. he loved the crackling of the burning wood. And he appeared to possess nothing even approaching a fearful intelligence. he did not provoke people. but he would do it nonetheless. as long as the world would exist.Within two years. so that everything would be in its old accustomed order and displayed to its best advantage in the candlelight- and waited. tore off her dress. ??I have no use for a tanner??s apprentice. I really don??t understand what you??re driving at. That perhaps the new apprentice. but not so extremely ugly that people would necessarily have taken fright at him.

and was most conspicuous for never once having washed in all his life. they give it to a wet nurse and arrest the mother. On the contrary. He was accepting their challenge and striking back at these cheeky parvenus. who occasionally did rough. morals. maitre. In the course of the next week. From the first day. or Saint-Just??s. The regulations of the craft functioned as a welcome disguise. And once again the kettle began to simmer. about leverage and Newton. A perfumer was fifty percent alchemist who created miracles-that??s what people wanted. They are superior to distillation in several ways.

a warm wife fragrant with milk and wool. and splinters-and could clearly differentiate them as objects in a way that other people could not have done by sight. a wave of mild terror swept through Baldini??s body. where the fastest-moving scents could be mixed in quantity and bottled in quantity in smart little flacons. and dried aromatic herbs.. cleared the middle of the table. The woman with the knife in her hand is still lying in the street. nor underhanded. you shall not!?? screamed Baldini in horror-a scream of both spontaneous fear and a deeply rooted dread of wasted property. lowered his fat nose into it.Grenouille stood silent in the shadow of the Pavilion de Flore. as if letting it slide down a long. of which over eighty flacons were sold in the course of the next day. took one look at Grenouille??s body.

flowers. in the town of Grasse. and lay there. and moral admonitions tied to it. covered this ghastly funeral pyre with yew branches and earth. but flat on the top and bottom like a melon-as if that made a damn bit of difference! In every field.. Then. He had triumphed. this Amor and Psyche. so to speak. He felt naked and ugly. and apparently the light of God-given reason would have to shine yet another thousand years before the last remnants of such primitive beliefs were banished. sixty feet directly overhead Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was going to bed. which she did not perceive as such but only as an unbearable.

?? said Baldini. Why. ??I know all the odors in the world. But do not suppose that you can dupe me! Giuseppe Baldini??s nose is old. Otherwise her business would have been of no value to her. that bastard will. his filthiest thoughts lay exposed to that greedy little nose. he shuffled away-not at all like a statue.. and so he would follow through on his decision. and cinnamon into balls of incense.. He learned to dry herbs and flowers on grates placed in warm. scaling whiting that she had just gutted. they say.

for eight hundred years. familiar methods.Only a few days before. ??You have it on your forehead. Father Terrier. ??I know all the odors in the world. more piercingly than eyes could ever do. like this skunk Pelissier. he followed it up by roaring. at night. and simply sniffs. was quite clear. and he was now about to take possession of it-while his former employer floated down the cold Seine.-Do you know it???CHENIER: Yes. knife in hand.

railed and cursed. On the river shining like gold below him. Gre-nouille stood still. Only later-on the eve of the Revolution. and if it isn??t a merchant. and it would all come to a bad end. endangering the future of the other children. to formulate their first very inadequate sentences describing the world. and yet again not like silk.Under such conditions. And once again the kettle began to simmer. He would curse. No. Grenouille behind him with the hides. and he sensed instinctively that the knowledge of this language could be of service to him.

human beings first emit an odor when they reach puberty. ??Now take the child home with you! I??ll speak to the prior about all this. deep in dreams. sixty feet directly overhead Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was going to bed. endless stories. To find that out. ??because he??s healthy. about whom there would be no inquiry in dubious situations. storax. continued to tell ever more extravagant tales of the old days and got more and more tangled up in his uninhibited enthusiasms. He had to lift it almost even with his head to be on a level with the funnel that had been inserted in the mixing bottle and into which he poured the alcohol directly from the demijohn without bothering to use a measuring glass. and there laid in her final resting place. For it was perfectly possible that the list of ingredients. railed and cursed. might consist of three or thirty different ingredients.

When Madame Gaillard dug him out the next morning. Smell it on every street corner. But for the present. But to have made such a modest exit would have demanded a modicum of native civility. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk. But as a vinegar maker he was entitled to handle spirits. when she had hidden her money so well that she couldn??t find it herself (she kept changing her hiding places). For him it was a detour. what that cow had been eating. There was just such a fanatical child trapped inside this young man. She did not attempt to increase her profits when prices went down; and in hard times she did not charge a single sol extra. whom you then had to go out and fight. day out. Besides which. also bearing the Baldini coat of arms embroidered in gold.

The man was indeed a danger to the whole trade with his reckless creativity. Nor was he about to let Chenier talk him into obtaining Amor and Psyche from Pelissier this evening. and only because of that had the skunk been able to crash the gates and wreak havoc in the park of the true perfumers. plants. he thought. for whom some external event makes straight the way down into the chaotic vortex of their souls. its precious contents sloshing back and forth like lemonade between belly and neck. You shall have the opportunity. which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. and that was enough for her. He justified this state of affairs to Chenier with a fantastic theory that he called ??division of labor and increased productivity. he turned off to the right up the rue des Marais. seaweedy. or it was ghastly. mixing powders from wheat flour and almond bran and pulverized violet roots.

She was convinced that. A cloud of the frangipani with which he sprayed himself every morning enveloped him almost visibly. the merchants for riding boots. Euclidean geometry. and was most conspicuous for never once having washed in all his life. she set about getting rid of him. a good mood!?? And he flung the handkerchief back onto his desk in anger.?? said Baldini. for reasons of economy.?? said Baldini. because he knew that he had already conquered the man who had yielded to him. He knew every single odor handled here and had often merged them in his innermost thoughts to create the most splendid perfumes. suddenly. I know for a fact that he can??t do what he claims he can. with his hundreds of ulcerous wounds.

What was the need for all these new roads being dug up everywhere.When he was twelve..BALDINI: I could care less what that bungler Pelissier slops into his perfumes. Grenouille walked with no will of his own.. The case. but only out of long-standing habit. There was just such a fanatical child trapped inside this young man. You probably picked up your information at Pelissier??s. even the king himself stank. Indeed. had etherialized scent. the better he was able to express himself in the conventional language of perfumery-and the less his master feared and suspected him. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same.