He turned to go. There at the door stood this little deformed person he had almost forgotten about. Theyre fine, Baldini said. Tell your master that the skins are fine. Ill come by in the next few days and pay for them.
Yes, sir, said Grenouille, but stood where he was, blocking the way for Baldini, who was ready to leave the workshop. Baldini was somewhat startled, but so unsuspecting that he took the boys behavior not for insolence but for shyness.
What is it? he asked. Is there something else I can do for you? Well? Speak up!
Grenouille stood there cowering and gazing at Baldini with a look of apparent timidity, but which in reality came from a cunning intensity.
I want to work for you, Maitre Baldini. Work for you, here in your business.
It was not spoken as a request, but as a demand; nor was it really spoken, but squeezed out, hissed out in reptile fashion. And once again, Baldini misread Grenouilles outrageous self-confidence as boyish awkwardness. He gave him a friendly smile. Youre a tanners apprentice, my lad, he said. I have no use for a tanners apprentice. I have a journeyman already, and I dont need an apprentice.
You want to make these goatskins smell good, Maitre Baldini? You want to make this leather Ive brought you smell good, dont you? Grenouille hissed, as if he had paid not the least attention to Baldinis answer.
Yes indeed, said Baldini.
With Amor and Psyche by Pelissier? Grenouille asked, cowering even more than before.
At that, a wave of mild terror swept through Baldinis body. Not because he asked himself how this lad knew all about it so exactly, but simply because the boy had said the name of the wretched perfume that had defeated his efforts at decoding today.
How did you ever get the absurd idea that I would use someone elses perfume to
You reek of it! Grenouille hissed. You have it on your forehead, and in your right coat pocket is a handkerchief soaked with it. Its not very good, this Amor and Psyche, its bad, theres too much bergamot and too much rosemary and not enough attar of roses.
Aha! Baldini said, totally surprised that the conversation had veered from the general to the specific. What else?
Orange blossom, lime, clove, musk, jasmine, alcohol, and something that I dont know the name of, there, you see, right there! In that bottle! And he pointed a finger into the darkness. Baldini held the candlestick up in that direction, his gaze following the boys index finger toward a cupboard and falling upon a bottle filled with a grayish yellow balm.
Storax? he asked.
Grenouille nodded. Yes. Thats in it too. Storax. And then he squirmed as if doubling up with a cramp and muttered the word at least a dozen times to himself: Storaxstoraxstoraxstorax
Baldini held his candle up to this lump of humankind wheezing storax and thought: Either he is possessed, or a thieving impostor, or truly gifted. For it was perfectly possible that the list of ingredients, if mixed in the right proportions, could result in the perfume Amor and Psyche-it was, in fact, probable. Attar of roses, clove, and storax-it was those three ingredients that he had searched for so desperately this afternoon. Joining them with the other parts of the composition-which he believed he had recognized as well-would unite the segments into a pretty, rounded pastry. It was now only a question of the exact proportions in which you had to join them. To find that out, he, Baldini, would have to run experiments for several days, a horrible task, almost worse than the basic identification of the parts, for it meant you had to measure and weigh and record and all the while pay damn close attention, because the least bit of inattention-a tremble of the pipette, a mistake in counting drops-could ruin the whole thing. And every botched attempt was dreadfully expensive. Every ruined mixture was worth a small fortune
He wanted to test this mannikin, wanted to ask him about the exact formula for Amor and Psyche. If he knew it, to the drop and dram, then he was obviously an impostor who had somehow pinched the recipe from Pelissier in order to gain access and get a position with him, Baldini. But if he came close, then he was a genius of scent and as such provoked Baldinis professional interest. Not that Baldini would jeopardize his firm decision to give up his business! This perfume by Pelissier was itself not the important thing to him. Even if the fellow could deliver it to him by the gallon, Baldini would not dream of scenting Count Verhamonts Spanish hides with it, but But he had not been a perfumer his life long, had not concerned himself his life long with the blending of scents, to have lost all professional passions from oae moment to the next. Right now he was interested in finding out the formula for this damned perfume, and beyond that, in studying the gifts of this mysterious boy, who had parsed a scent right off his forehead. He wanted to know what was behind that. He was quite simply curious.
You have, it appears, a fine nose, young man, he said, once Grenouille had ceased his wheezings; and he stepped back into the workshop, carefully setting the candlestick on the worktable, without doubt, a fine nose, but
I have the best nose in Paris, Maitre Baldini, Grenouille interrupted with a rasp. I know all the odors in the world, all of them, only I dont know the names of some of them, but I can learn the names. The odors that have names, there arent many of those, there are only a few thousand. Ill learn them all, Ill never forget the name of that balm, storax, the balm is called storax, its called storax
Silence! shouted Baldini. Do not interrupt me when Im speaking! You are impertinent and insolent. No one knows a thousand odors by name. Even I dont know a thousand of them by name, at best a few hundred, for there arent more than a few hundred in our business, all the rest arent odors, they are simply stenches.
During the rather lengthy interruption that had burst from him, Grenouille had almost unfolded his body, had in fact been so excited for the moment that he had flailed both arms in circles to suggest the all, all of them that he knew. But at Baldinis reply he collapsed back into himself, like a black toad lurking there motionless on the threshold.
I have, of course, been aware, Baldini continued, for some time now that Amor and Psyche consisted of storax, attar of roses, and cloves, plus bergamot and extract of rosemary et cetera. All that is needed to find that out is, as I said, a passably fine nose, and it may well be that God has given you a passably fine nose, as He has many, many other people as well particularly at your age. A perfumer, however-and here Baldini raised his index finger and puffed out his chest-a perfumer, however, needs more than a passably fine nose. He needs an incorruptible, hardworking organ that has been trained to smell for many decades, enabling him to decipher even the most complicated odors by composition and proportion, as well as to create new, unknown mixtures of scent. Such a nose-and here he tapped his with his finger-is not something one has, young man! It is something one acquires, by perseverance and diligence. Or could you perhaps give me the exact formula for Amor and Psyche on the spot? Well? Could you?
Grenouille did not answer.
Could you perhaps give me a rough guess? Baldini said, bending forward a bit to get a better look at the toad at his door. Just a rough one, an estimation? Well, speak up, best nose in Paris!
But Grenouille was silent.
You see? said Baldini, equally both satisfied and disappointed; and he straightened up. You cant do it. Of course you cant. Youre one of those people who know whether there is chervil or parsley in the soup at mealtime. Thats fine, theres something to be said for that. But that doesnt make you a cook, not by a long shot. Whatever the art or whatever the craft and make a note of this before you go!-talent means next to nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything.