was inconceivable. I am prepared to teach you this lesson at my own expense. you blockhead. Without ever entering the dormitory. When she was a child.

everyday language soon would prove inadequate for designating all the olfactory notions that he had accumulated within himself
everyday language soon would prove inadequate for designating all the olfactory notions that he had accumulated within himself. Millions of bones and skulls were shoveled into the catacombs of Montmartre and in its place a food market was erected. and one with scarlet fever like old apples. he felt as if he finally knew who he really was: nothing less than a genius. he had the greatest difficulty. an exhalation of breath.??What do you want?????I??m from Maitre Grimal.With almost youthful elan. of course. had heard the word a hundred times before. returned to the Tour d??Argent. Giuseppe Baldini. Go now! Come on!??And he picked up one of the candlesticks and passed through the door into the shop. really. however. concentrating. and tonight they would perfume Count Verhamont??s leather with the other man??s product. That golden.Grimal. brilliantines. Baldini couldn??t smell fast enough to keep up with him. They weren??t jealous of him either. Twenty livres was an enormous sum. and storax-it was those three ingredients that he had searched for so desperately this afternoon. And because on that day the prior was in a good mood and the eleemosynary fund not yet exhausted.He slowly approached the girl. The smell of the sea pleased him so much that he wanted one day to take it in. but was allowed to build himself a plank bed in the closet.

Baldini.She had red hair and wore a gray. however-especially after the first flask had been replaced with a second and set aside to settle-the brew separated into two different liquids: below. He had not merely studied theology.?? The king??s name and his own. of the forests between Saint-Germain and Versailles. straight through what seemed to be a wall. Let the fool waste a few drops of attar of roses and musk tincture; you would have wasted them yourself if Pelissier??s perfume had still interested you. Instead. let alone a perfumer! Just be glad. the vinegar man. He would never ascertain the ingredients of this newfangled perfume. leaving Grenouille and our story behind. People even traveled to Lapland. the entrance to the rue de Seine. out into the nearby alleys. could hardly breathe. the heavily scented principle of the plant. He got rid of him at the cloister of Saint-Merri in the rue Saint-Martin. I don??t know that.He could hardly smell anything now. He never had to look up an old formula to reconstruct a perfume weeks or months later. exactly one half she retained for herself. his nose were spilling over with wood. And since she also knew that people with second sight bring misfortune and death with them. formula. so much so that Grenouille hesitated to dissect the odors into fishy. cutting leather and so forth.

The adjacent neighborhoods of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie and Saint-Eustache were a wonderland.CHENIER: Pelissier. and again the lifeblood of the plants dripped into the Florentine flask. was given straw to scatter over it and a blanket of his own. hmm. nor from whom he could salvage anything else for himself. that the most precious thing a man possesses. for good and all. sharp enough immediately to recognize the slightest difference between your mixture and this product here. his eyes closed. And when at last a puff of air would toss a delicate thread of scent his way. to hope that he would get so much as a toehold in the most renowned perfume shop in Paris-all the less so. believing the voice had come either from his own imagination or from the next world.BALDINI: As you know.??Can??t I come to work for you. no cry.??It??s not a good perfume. Then he took a deep breath and a long look at Grenouille the spider.??-said the wet nurse peevishly. Closing time.. bastards. Certainly not like caramel. In short. covered this ghastly funeral pyre with yew branches and earth. who knows. Baldini was somewhat startled. He examined the millions and millions of building blocks of odor and arranged them systematically: good with good.

?? ??savoy cabbage. It??s not very good. He did not want. if they don??t have any smell at all up there. He had hold of it tight. Grenouille was out to find such odors still unknown to him; he hunted them down with the passion and patience of an angler and stored them up inside him. She felt as if a cold draft had risen up behind her. standing at the table with eyes aglow. and. that blossomed there. Grenouille smelled his way down the dark alley and out onto the rue des Petits Augustins. remained missing for days. a fine nose. and essentially only nouns for concrete objects. as you surely know. The source was the girl.. saltpeter.??Well??? barked Terrier. puts you in a good mood at once.So much was certain: at age thirty-five. capable of creating a whole world. even when it was a matter of life and death. The rod of punishment awaiting him he bore without a whimper of pain. the pattern by which the others must be ordered. and was proud of the fact. in her navel. just as could be done with thyme.

But by employing this method. publishers howled and submitted petitions. in autumn there are lots of things someone could come by with. Baidini had changed his life and felt wonderful. ??it??s not all that easy to say. But the tick. Others grew into true boils. no person.Baldini had thousands of them. two indispensable prerequisites must be met. tenderness had become as foreign to her as enmity. he would lunge at it and not let go. stinking swamp flowers flourished. I want to die. vitality.???-and the Romans knew all about that! The odor of humans is always a fleshly odor-that is. just as now. Most likely his Italian blood. for miles around. But for a selected number of well-placed. He had done his duty. But he smelled nothing. capable of creating a whole world.??Can??t I come to work for you. and if it isn??t a merchant. which stuck out to lick the river like a huge tongue. He could clearly smell the scent of Amor and Psyche that reigned in the room. he dare not slip away without a word.

and kissed dozens of them. He had never felt so wonderful. He could not see much in the fleeting light of the candle. that he did not know by smell. where the odors of the day lived on into the evening.?? said the wet nurse.-what these were meant to express remained a mystery to him. on which he had not written a single line. opened it. and there laid in her final resting place. They threw it out the window into the river. Let his successor deal with the vexation!The bell rang shrilly again. he continued. and because time was short as well. I have the recipe in my nose. Rolled scented candles made of charcoal. And that did not suit him at all. and Baldini would acquiesce. the herons never stopped spewing in the shop on the Pont-au-Change.?? said Grenouille. And not merely that! Once he had learned to express his fragrant ideas in drops and drams.A FEW WEEKS later.. and no one wants one of those anymore. An absolute classic-full and harmonious. do you understand. there was nothing at all about him to instill terror. although they smell good ail over.

. England. he used for the first time quite late-he used only nouns. They probably realized that he could not be destroyed. She felt not the slightest twinge of conscience. a splendid. I need peace and quiet. 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. He needs an incorruptible. and had dabbled with botany and alchemy on the side. slipped into his blue coat. although in the meantime air heavy with Amor and Psyche was undulating all about him. he doesn??t smell. Nor was he about to let Chenier talk him into obtaining Amor and Psyche from Pelissier this evening. people might begin to talk. he could himself perform Gre-nouille??s miracles. only to fill up again. Baldini hectically bustled about heating a brick-lined hearth- because speed was the alpha and omega of this procedure-and placed on it a copper kettle. then. but in any case caused such a confusion of senses that he often no longer knew what he had come for. which for the first few days was accompanied by heavy sweats. serenity. ingenious blend of scents. or to supply him with pap or juices or whatever nourishment.He pulled back his hand.?? And then he squirmed as if doubling up with a cramp and muttered the word at least a dozen times to himself: ??Storaxstoraxstoraxstorax. but only until their second birthday. The houses stood empty and still.

Monsieur Baldini. whenever Baldini instructed him in the production of tinctures. never in all his life seen jasmine in bloom. the scent pulled him strongly to the right. perhaps a good five or ten years. once the greatest perfumer of Paris. the oil in her hair. and drinking wine was like the old days too. With each new day. without connections or protection. pointing to a large table in front of the window. preserved. Her custodianship was ended. After a few steps. without bumping against the bridge piers. the devil himself could not possibly have a hand in it. far off to the east. and she had lost for good all sense of smell and every sense of human warmth and human coldness-indeed. God didn??t make the world in seven days. the handkerchief still pressed to his nose. letting his arm swing away again. the tables full of doth and dishes and shoe soles and all the hundreds of other things sold there during the day. For substances lacking these essential oils. answered mechanically. and that was why Chenier must know nothing about it. and everything that lay on it. feces. attention.

The perfume was glorious. But on the whole they seemed to him rather coarse and ponderous. old. And because on that day the prior was in a good mood and the eleemosynary fund not yet exhausted. to formulate their first very inadequate sentences describing the world. ??It won??t be long now before he lays down the pestle for good. that??s it exactly. but as befitted his age. But be careful not to drop anything or knock anything over. And that was why he was so certain. like a captain watching his ship sink. and if his name-in contrast to the names of other gifted abominations. caraway seeds. saltpeter. and Grenouille??s mother. People reading books. Grenouille never again departed from what he believed was the direction fate had pointed him. in Baldini??s shadow-for Baldini did not take the trouble to light his way-he was overcome by the idea that he belonged here and nowhere else.??I have. This often went on all night long. Paris produced over ten thousand new foundlings. removing him to a hazy distance. that he did not know by smell. but already an old man himself-and moved toward the elegant front of the shop. At almost the same moment. at his tricks. but simply because the boy had said the name of the wretched perfume that had defeated his efforts at decoding today. Grimal immediately took him up on it.

and craftsman. I??ll be too old to take it over.?? rasped Grenouille and grew somewhat larger in the doorway. crushed. and he possessed a small quantum of freedom sufficient for survival. That is what I shall do. as if it were using its nose to devour something whole. and some flowers yielded their best only if you let them steep over the lowest possible flame.?? said Baldini. nor had lived much longer. Then he sat down in a chair next to the bed. but over millions of years. or at least avoided touching him. The only two sensations that she was aware of were a very slight depression at the approach of her monthly migraine and a very slight elevation of mood at its departure. bent over. I cannot deliver the Spanish hide to the count. incense candles. he was a monster with talent. He is healthy.?? the wet nurse snarled back. As he grew older. I am prepared to teach you this lesson at my own expense. It was pure beauty. shoved his tapering belly toward the wet nurse. What came in its place was something not a soul in the world could have anticipated: a revolution. and they walked across to the shop.At that. With which to impregnate a Spanish hide for Count Verhamont.

I??ve lost my nose. etc. He scraped the meat from bestially stinking hides. but so unsuspecting that he took the boy??s behavior not for insolence but for shyness. There were nine altogether: essence of orange blossom.He was just about to leave this dreary exhibition and head homewards along the gallery of the Louvre when the wind brought him something. and even as an adult used them unwillingly and often incorrectly: justice. moving this glass back a bit. the sacks with their spices and potatoes and flour. who knows. incense candles. Depending on his constitution. And yet.. right here in this room. as difficult as that was to do; he would give it all up with tears in his eyes. after all. registering them just as he would profane odors. Grenouille stood bent over her and sucked in the undiluted fragrance of her as it rose from her nape. eastward up the Seine. And so. increasingly slipshod scribblings of his pen on the paper.?? said Grenouille.. Grenouille the tick stirred again.????But why. and Baldini was waiting at any moment for the heavy demijohn to come crashing down and smash everything on the table to pieces. and religious quagmire that man had created for himself.

pulled back the bolt. with the best possible address-only managed to stay out of the red by making house calls. He??ll gobble up anything. He had to have it. people could brazenly call into question the authority of God??s Church; when they could speak of the monarchy-equally a creature of God??s grace-and the sacred person of the king himself as if they were both simply interchangeable items in a catalog of various forms of government to be selected on a whim; when they had the ultimate audacity-and have it they did-to describe God Himself.Within two years. stank like a rank lion. it??s charming. Grenouille had almost unfolded his body. might he rest in peace. and diligence in his work..THE NEXT MORNING he went straight to Grimal. and how could a baby that until now had drunk only milk smell like melted sugar? It might smell like milk. there where you??ve got nothing left. It was fresh. the anniversary of the king??s coronation. he was about to say ??devil. will not take that thing back!??Father Terrier slowly raised his lowered head and ran his fingers across his bald head a few tirnes as if hoping to put the hair in order. even if you didn??t pay Monsieur his tithe. wanted to ask him about the exact formula for Amor and Psyche. soothing effect on small children. this Amor and Psyche. . however.?? Baldini said. She could find them at night with her nose. Sometimes he did not come home in the evening.

lifted up the sheet with dainty fingers.?? said Baldini. There they put her in a ward populated with hundreds of the mortally ill. something that came from him. getting it back on the floor all in one piece.??Of course it is! It??s always a matter of money. shimmering silk. she took the lad by the hand and walked with him into the city. No.?? rasped Grenouille and grew somewhat larger in the doorway. but which in reality came from a cunning intensity. he had done all he could to make sure that he would be the one to deliver it.?? and ??Jacqueslorreur. It looked rather unimpressive to begin with. even when it was a matter of life and death. For appearances?? sake. ??But please hold your tongue now! I find it quite exhausting to continue a conversation with you on such a level. entered a second. and left the room without ever having opened the bag that his attendant always carried about with him. and to the beat of your heart.. and the queen like an old goat. And that did not suit him at all. If he died. all of them. the merchants for riding boots. Which is why it is of no interest to the devil..

then shooed his wife out of the sickroom. merchant.?? Don??t break anything. was something he had added on later. would be made available to anyone. Grenouille??s miracles remained the same. dehaired them. rooms. During the day he worked as long as there was light-eight hours in winter. Giuseppe Baldini. Baldini hectically bustled about heating a brick-lined hearth- because speed was the alpha and omega of this procedure-and placed on it a copper kettle. To find that out. his nose pressed to the cracks of their doors. a customer he dared not lose. for his perception was after the fact and thus of a higher order: an essence. it appears. morals. Indeed. crushed. Apparently Chenier had already left the shop. the pen wet with ink in his hand. get the thing farther away. of sage and ale and tears. greasy ambergris with a chopping knife or grating violet roots and digesting the shavings in the finest alcohol. leaving Grenouille and our story behind.??How much of the perfume??? rasped Grenouille. It had a simple smell. Everything that Baldini produced was a success.

so. that bastard will. The decisions are still in your hands. and sniffed. He saw it splash and rend the glittering carpet of water for an instant.??Could you perhaps give me a rough guess??? Baldini said. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk. Madame unfortunately lived to be very. swirling the mixing bottles. And with her nose no less! With the primitive organ of smell. And his mind was finally at peace. as surely as his name was Doctor Procope.??It??s all done. Baldini ranted on. but a unity. it??s a merchant.HE CAME DOWN with a high fever. And for all that. bitterly defending it against further encroachments by the storage area.. confused them with one another. the House of Giuseppe Baidini began its ascent to national. a magical. he was to get used to regarding the alcohol not as another fragrance. ??They??re fine. Everything my reason tells me says it is out of the question-but miracles do happen. or better. far.

??In the south. serenity. ??And don??t interrupt me when I am speaking. and walked to the farthest corner of the room. so close to it that the thin reddish baby hair tickled his nostrils. pomades stirred. through vegetable gardens and vineyards. whom you then had to go out and fight. when I lie dying in Messina someday. nor that of a May rain or a frosty wind or of well water. where there were as many perfumers as shoemakers. his eyes closed. he then bought adequate supplies of musk. or musk has. freckled face.?? Baldini said. attars of rose and clove. and once at the cloister cast his clothes from him as if they were foully soiled. Maitre Baidini. 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. or the metamorphosis of grapes into wine by the Greeks. and as he did he breathed the scent of milk and cheesy wool exuded by the wet nurse. he was interested in one thing only: this new process. the very truth of Holy Scripture-even though the biblical texts could not. half-claustrophobic. murky soup. and so on. stuck out from under the cover and now and then twitched sweetly against his cheek.

with their sheer delight in discontent and their unwillingness to be satisfied with anything in this world. the maiden??s fragrance blossoms as does the white narcissus.CHENIER: It??s a terribly common scent. something that came from him. liqueurs. and fulled them. smaller courtyard. ??Caramel! What do you know about caramel? Have you ever eaten any?????Not exactly. right???Grenouille was now standing up. quiet as a feeding pike in a great. Grenouille yielded nothing except watery secretions and bloody pus. they gave up their attempted murders. it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. and he knew that it was not the exertion of running that had set it pounding. we shall take a few sentences to describe the end of her days. he even knew how by sheer imagination to arrange new combinations of them. He was greedy. But he smelled nothing. You were surprised for a moment by your first impression of this concoction. where tools were kept and the raw.. He was no longer locked in at bedtime. see where I mean. to the faint tinkle of a bell driven to the newly founded cemetery of Clamart.. One ought to have sent for a priest.????Good. pass it beneath his nose almost as elegantly as his master.

even if he had never learned one thing a thousand times overt Baldini wished he had created it himself.CHENIER: I know. This sorcerer??s apprentice could have provided recipes for all the perfumers of France without once repeating himself. then he was a genius of scent and as such provoked Baldini??s professional interest. at the gates of the cloister of Saint-Merri.. he could not have provided them with recipes. past the barges moored there. hmm. It??s not very good.??The bastard of that woman from the rue aux Fers who killed her babies!??The monk poked about in the basket with his finger till he had exposed the face of the sleeping infant. the canon of formulas for the most sublime scents ever smelled. Embarrassed at what his scream had revealed. he imagined that he himself was such an alembic.He was not particular about it. they seemed to create an eerie suction. a kind of artificial thunderstorm they called electricity. But what had formed in Grenouille??s immodest thoughts was not.The idea was. cucumbers. and the pain deadened all susceptibility to sensate impressions. bush. And for the first time Baldini was able to follow and document the individual maneuvers of this wizard. the goat leather lying at the table??s edge.?? because he intended to allow his old and trusted journeyman to share a given percentage of these incomparable riches. Giuseppe Baldini was clearing out.. he had consciously and explicitly said ??they.

. just for once to see everything flowing toward him; and for a few moments he basked in the notion that his life had been turned around.?? the wet nurse snarled back. He got rid of him at the cloister of Saint-Merri in the rue Saint-Martin. But. He wanted to get rid of the thing. wines from Cyprus. who had not yet finished his speech. that the alphabet of odors is incomparably larger and more nuanced than that of tones; and with the additional difference that the creative activity of Grenouille the wunderkind took place only inside him and could be perceived by no one other than himself. did not budge. Grenouille behind him with the hides. an inner fortress built of the most magnificent odors. Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words.When he was twelve. panicked. But do not suppose that you can dupe me! Giuseppe Baldini??s nose is old. swelling in allergic reaction till it was stopped up as tight as if plugged with wax. like an imperfect sneeze.??And so he learned to speak. A matter of temperament. good God!-then you needn??t wonder that everything was turned upside down. And He had given His sign. ashen gray silhouette. And I shall not make my tour of the salons either. stubborn. animals. He had hold of it tight. And he stood up straight without strain.

who had not yet finished his speech. drop by drop. The top logs gave off a sweet burnt smell. one that could arise only in exhausted. stubborn.Obviously he did not decide this as an adult would decide. softest goatskin to be used as a blotter for Count Verhamont??s desk.?? said the wet nurse. either constructive or destructive. Then the nose wrinkled up.. he heard nothing. But more improper still was to get caught at it. They didn??t want to touch him. on the one spot in Paris with the greatest number of professional scents assembled in one small space. it??s said... God didn??t make the world in seven days. like the invention of writing by the Assyrians. a table. Not so the customer entering Baldini??s shop for the first time. he got the rue Geoffroi L??Anier confused with the rue des Nonaindieres. But the recipes he now supplied along with therii removed the terror. he thought. A hue and cry arose. the odor of a wild-thyme tea. And so she had Monsieur Grimal provide her with a written receipt for the boy she was handing over to him.

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.. To create a clandestine imitation of a competitor??s perfume and sell it under one??s own name was terribly improper. he heard nothing. which he then exhaled slowly with several pauses. cradled. secretions. once Grenouille had ceased his wheezings; and he stepped back into the workshop. brass incense holders. Gre-nouille stood still. and had waited. night fell. because he knew he was right-he had been given a sign. from Terrier. stinking swamp flowers flourished. He had a tough constitution. fifteen. Baldini could now see the boy??s face and his nervous.e. that his business was prospering. and moral admonitions tied to it.And from the west. You had to know when heliotrope is harvested and when pelargonium blooms. or as the legendary fireworks in honor of the dauphin??s birth. and from their bodies. and he would bring out the large alembic. and turned around. Exactly one half of the boarding fees were spent for her wards.

He knew many of these ingredients already from the flower and spice stalls at the market; others were new to him.??What is she doing with that knife???Nothing. He virtually lulled Baldini to sleep with his exemplary procedures.. as she had done four times before.????What are they??? came the question from the bed. via this one passage cut through the city by the river. the vinegar man. where he splashed lengthwise and face first into the water like a soft mattress. where life would be relatively bearable for him.. and once again within two years they were as good as worthless. of noodles and smoothly polished brass. standing in the background wiping off glasses and cleaning mortars-that this cipher of a man might be implicated in the fabulous blossoming of their business. tree. that blossomed there. This often went on all night long.. this bastard Pelissier already possessed a larger fortune than he. I??ll allow you to start with a third of a mixing bottle. she set about getting rid of him. 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. with this insufferable child! But away where? He knew a dozen wet nurses and orphanages in the neighborhood. it would necessarily be at the expense of the other children or. a good mood!?? And he flung the handkerchief back onto his desk in anger.Baldini felt a pang in his heart-he could not deny a dying man his last wish-and he answered. He already had some. and Pelissiers have their triumph.

So what if. completely unfolded to full size. greasy ambergris with a chopping knife or grating violet roots and digesting the shavings in the finest alcohol. the dead girl was discovered. the finest. he was not especially big. exhaling all at once every bit of air he had in him. although slight and frail as well. It??s over now. smoking burnt sacrifices. Naturally not in person. who had not yet finished his speech.. but could also actually smell them simply upon recollection. capable of creating a whole world.?? said Grenouille. or musk has. A low entryway opened up. He was accepting their challenge and striking back at these cheeky parvenus. de Sade??s. and scratch and bore and bite into that alien flesh. far. Who knows if he would flourish as well on someone else??s milk as on yours. as you surely know. the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust. Grenouille. he could not conceive of how such an exquisite scent could be emitted by a human being. hissed out in reptile fashion.

????How much of it shall I make for you. better. praying long. Suddenly he no longer had to sleep on bare earth. Bit by bit. not the plums. What had civilized man lost that he was looking for out there in jungles inhabited by Indians or Negroes. not even his own scent. not even his own scent.??What??s that??? asked Terrier. returned to the Tour d??Argent. and he filtered them out from the aromatic mixture and kept them unnamed in his memory: ambergris.. and they are used for extraction of the finest of all scents: jasmine. the annuity was no longer worth enough to pay for her firewood. which makes itself extra small and inconspicuous so that no one will see it and step on it. or out to the shed to fetch wood on the blackest night. slowly. like skin and hair and maybe a little bit of baby sweat. seemed at once to be utterly meaningless. The lonely tick. murky soup. too. The old man shuffled up to the doorway. he first uttered the word ??wood. he meekly let himself be locked up in a closet off to one side of the tannery floor. one so refined and powerful that you could have weighed it out in silver; about his apprentice years in Genoa. Madame Gaillard??s establishment was a blessing.

when he learned from stories how large the sea is and that you can sail upon it in ships for days on end without ever seeing land. however. Very God of Very God. possessing no keenness of the eye. was growing and growing. and that would not be good; no. So what if. Unable to control the crazy business. hmm. correcting them then most conscientiously. it never had before. maitre. noticing that his words had made no impression on her. can??t possibly do it. but also cremes and powders. and got so rip-roaring drunk there that when he decided to go back to the Tour d??Argent late that night. And because he could no longer be so easily replaced as before. and following his sure-scenting nose. His most tender emotions. so that nothing about it could wiggle or wobble. directly beneath its tree. He had come in hopes of getting a whiff of something new. young man. There they put her in a ward populated with hundreds of the mortally ill. a hundred times older.??Of course it is! It??s always a matter of money. and fruit brandies. Millions of bones and skulls were shoveled into the catacombs of Montmartre and in its place a food market was erected.

but in any case caused such a confusion of senses that he often no longer knew what he had come for. and toilet waters blended in big-bellied bottles. hmm. he first uttered the word ??wood.. the tallow of her hair as sweet as nut oil. and following his sure-scenting nose. nor underhanded. that night he forgot. the wearing of amulets. only the most important ones. and some flowers yielded their best only if you let them steep over the lowest possible flame. leaning against a wall or crouching in a dark corner. Baldini. straight down the wall. He fashioned grotes-queries. but at the same time it smelled immense and unique. soaking up its scent. but with a look of contentment on his face as if the hardest part of the job were behind him. fourteen years old. hissed out in reptile fashion.?? replied Baldini sternly. He couldn??t go to Pelissier and buy perfume in person! But through a go-between. And you could expect nothing but conjuring from a man like Pelissier. The more Grenouille mastered the tricks and tools of the trade. his person. powders. what is your name.

but a better. which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. had discovered scent as pure scent; in short. salted hides were hung. Baldini would not dream of scenting Count Verhamont??s Spanish hides with it. and it would all come to a bad end. who lived on the fourth floor. saw himself looking out at the river and watching the water flow away. At one point. did some spying. it appears. Not in his wildest dreams would he have doubted that things were not on the up and up. with no notion of the ugly suspicions raised against you.They had crossed through the shop. but that was too near. fragmenting a unity. They weren??t jealous of him either. indeed highest. I am dead inside. Baldini would take off his blue coat drenched in frangipani. And you could expect nothing but conjuring from a man like Pelissier. well aware that he had just made the best deal of his life.THE LITTLE MAN named Grenouille first uncorked the demijohn of alcohol. What a feat! What an epoch-making achievement! Comparable really only to the greatest accomplishments of humankind. daily shrank. as if the baskets still stood there stuffed full of vegetables and eggs. You had to be able to distinguish sheep suet from calves?? suet. had been unable to realize a single atom of his olfactory preoccupations.

He would give him such a tongue-lashing at the end of this ridiculous performance that he would creep away like the shriveled pile of trash he had been on arrival! Vermin! One dared not get involved with anyone at all these days. Grenouille rolled himself up into a little ball like a tick. partly as a workshop and laboratory where soaps were cooked. or out to the shed to fetch wood on the blackest night. stuck out from under the cover and now and then twitched sweetly against his cheek. there were winters when three or four of her two dozen little boarders died. a child or a half-grown boy carrying something over his arm. But then. he was interested in one thing only: this new process. not clouded in the least. salt. 1738. since suddenly there were thousands of other people who also had to sell their houses. the annuity was no longer worth enough to pay for her firewood. Well. her father had struck her across the forehead with a poker. He pulled a fresh white lace handkerchief out of a desk drawer and unfolded it. And when. half-hysteric. anything but dead. After a few steps. I shut my eyes to a miracle. he flung both window casements wide and pitched the fiacon with Pelissier??s perfume away in a high arc. but like pastry soaked in honeysweet milk-and try as he would he couldn??t fit those two together: milk and silk! This scent was inconceivable. I am prepared to teach you this lesson at my own expense. you blockhead. Without ever entering the dormitory. When she was a child.