SCH. But who has got my purse?
(They all feel their pockets which are empty; none can explain the sudden disappearance of SCHAUNARD'S purse, and they look at each other in surprise.)
STREET ARABS. Will they come along this way?
WORK GIRLS and STUDENTS. No; from there.
STREET ARABS. They are coming down this way.
WORK GIRLS and STUDENTS. Here they come!
CITIZENS. Way there!
HAWKERS. Way there!
SOME BOYS. Oh! let me see!
OTHERS. Oh! let me hear!
BOYS. Mother, do let me see!
OTHERS. Papa, do let me hear!
MOTHERS. Lisette, do be quiet!
Tony, do have done! do be quiet!
MUS. (to the waiter)
And my bill, please, bring to me.
(To waiter who brings the bill)
Thank you.
Just make one bill of the two.
The gentleman will pay
Who came to sup with me.
RUD., MAR., SCH. and COL. Yes, he will pay!
MAR. (aside) He will pay!
SCH. and COL. Yes, he will pay!
MUS. (placing both bills at ALCINDORO's place)
And, after this pleasant meeting,
This shall be my greeting!
RUD., MAR., SCH. and COL. And, after our pleasant meeting,
This shall be her greeting!
(The crowd fills the stage and the patrol advances gradually.)
WORK GIRLS. They will come along this way.
STUDENTS, CITIZENS and HAWKERS. Yes, this way!
STREET ARABS. When it gets nearer,
We'll march along beside it.
(Several windows are opened at which mothers and their children appear and eagerly await the coming of the patrol.)
HAWKERS. In that patrol perceive
The country's noble might!
STREET ARABS. Now, look out! they're coming!
STUDENTS, WORK GIRLS and CITIZENS. Do stand back, for here they come!
MAR. See, the patrol is coming!
COL. Look out that old boy
Don't catch you with his darling!
RUD. See, the patrol is coming!
MAR. and SCH. Now the crowd is tremendous:
T' escape will be so easy.
(The patrol enters, headed by a gigantic drum-major, who dexterously twists his baton, showing the way.)
STREET ARABS and WORK GIRLS. And there's the drum-major!
CITIZENS and SHOP-KEEPERS. As proud as a warrior of old!
MIMI, MUS. and RUD. Quick, or you will miss them!
MAR., SCH. and COL. Quick, or you will miss them!
STREET ARABS and HAWKERS. The drum-major, look! what a dandy!
STUDENTS and WORK GIRLS. What swagger! What a figure!
STREET ARABS. There go the sappers!
CITIZENS. What a dandy!
STUDENTS and CITIZENS. Like a general he appears!
He passes by and heeds us not!
WORK GIRLS. Like a general he appears!
Of all our hearts the conqueror!
(MUSETTA being without her shoe, cannot walk, so MARCEL and COLLINE carry her through the crowd, as they endeavor to follow the patrol. The mob, seeing her borne along in this triumphal fashion, give her a regular ovation. MARCEL and COLLINE with MUSETTA follow the patrol; RUDOLPH and MIMI follow arm in arm; SCHAUNARD goes next, blowing his horn; while the students, work-girls, street-lads, women and towns-folk merrily bring up the rear.)
(Marching in time with the music, the whole vast crowd gradually moves off as it follows the patrol. Meanwhile ALCINDORO, with a pair of shoes carefully wrapped up, returns to the café in search of MUSETTA. The waiter by the table takes up the bill left by MUSETTA and ceremoniously hands it to ALCINDORO, who, seeing the amount, and perceiving that they have all left him there alone, falls back into a chair, utterly dumbfounded.)
ACT III
"Mimi's voice seemed to go through Rudolph's heart like a death-knell. His love for her was a jealous, fantastic, weird, hysterical love. Scores of times they were on the point of separating.
"It must be admitted that their existence was a veritable 'hell-up-on-earth.'
"Thus (if life it was) did they live; a few happy days alternating with many wretched ones, while perpetually awaiting a divorce."
"Either as a congenital defect or as a natural instinct, Musetta possessed a positive genius for elegance.
"Even in her cradle this strange creature must surely have asked for a mirror.
"Intelligent, shrewd, and above all, hostile to anything that she considered tyranny, she had but one rule—caprice.
"In truth the only man that she really loved was Marcel; perhaps because he alone could make her suffer. Yet extravagance was for her one of the conditions of well-being."
ACT III
_Beyond the toll-gate, the outer boulevard is formed in the background by the Orleans high-road, half hidden by tall houses and the misty gloom of February. To the left is a tavern with a small open space in front of the toll-gate. To the right is the Boulevard d'Enfer; to the left, that of St. Jacques.
On the right also there is the entrance of the Rue d'Enfer, leading to the Quartier Latin.
Over the tavern, as its sign-board, hangs MARCEL's picture, "The Passage of the Red Sea," while underneath, in large letters, is the inscription. "At the Port of Marseilles." On either side of the door are frescoes of a Turk and a Zouave with a huge laurel-wreath round his fez. From the ground-floor windows of the tavern, which faces the toll-gate, light gleams. The plane-trees, grey and gaunt, which flank the toll-gate square, lead diagonally towards the two boulevards. Between each tree is a marble bench. It is towards the close of February; snow covers all.
As the curtain rises, the scene is merged in the dim light of early dawn. In front of a brazier are seated, in a group, snoring custom-house officers. From the tavern at intervals one may hear laughter, shouts, and the clink of glasses. A custom-house official comes out of the tavern with wine. The toll-gate is closed.
Behind the toll-gate, stamping their feet and blowing in their frost-bitten fingers, stand several street-scavengers._
SCAVENGERS. What ho, there! What ho, there! Admit us!
Make haste and let us pass,
The sweepers are we. (stamping their feet)
Look how it's snowing! What ho, there!
We are frozen!
AN OFFICIAL. (yawning and stretching himself) All right!
(Goes to open the gate; the scavengers pass through to the Rue d'Enfer. The official closes the gate again.)
CHORUS. (from the tavern; the clink of glasses forms an accompaniment
to the song)
Pass the glass,
Let each toast his lass;
Pass the glass,
Let each lad toast his lass;
Ha! Ha!
Each one as he sips,
As he sips his wine,
Shall dream of lips
Made for love divine!
MUS. (from the tavern)
Ah!
As the toper loves his glass,
So the gallant loves his lass.
CHORUS. (all bursting into laughter) Noah and Eve!
MILK WOMEN. (from within) Houp-la! Houp-la!
(A sergeant comes out of the guard-house and orders the toll-gate to be opened.)
CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICIAL. Here come the women with their milk.
(A tinkling of cart-bells is heard.)
CARTERS. (from within) Houp-la!
(Carts pass along the outer boulevard, lighted by large lanterns.)
MILK WOMEN. (quite close) Houp-la!
(The gloom gradually gives way to daylight.)
MILK WOMEN. (to the officials who admit them to the toll-gate)
Good-morrow!
PEASANT WOMEN. (who enter carrying baskets)
Butter! Cheese!
Chickens and eggs!
SOME. Which way, then, are you going?
OTHERS. Up to Saint Michael's.
SOME. Well, shall we see you later?
OTHERS. At twelve o'clock.
(They go off in various directions, and the officials remove the bench and brazier.)
(_Enter MIMI from the Rue d'Enfer; she looks about her as if anxious to make sure of her whereabouts. On reaching the first plane-tree she is seized by a violent fit of coughing. Then recovering herself, she sees the sergeant, whom she approaches._)
MIMI. Oh! Please, sir, tell me the name of that tavern
Where now a painter's working?
SERGEANT. (pointing to the tavern) There it is.
MIMI. Thank you.
(_A serving woman comes out of the tavern; MIMI goes to her._)
Oh! my good woman, pray do me this favor!
Can you find me the painter, Marcel?
I fain would see him; the matter's urgent;
Just tell him softly that Mimi awaits him.
SERGEANT. (to a passer-by) Ho! there! What's in the basket?
OFFICIAL. (after searching the basket) Empty.
SERGEANT. Pass, there!
(Other folk now pass through the toll-gate and move off in different directions. The bell of the Hospice Ste. Therese rings for matins.)
MAR. (coming out of the inn) Mimi!
MIMI. I hoped that I should find you here.
MAR. Aye, here we've been for a month:
So to pay for our footing,
Musetta teaches singing
To those who come here.
And I, well—I paint warriors—
There, on the house front!
MIMI. Where is Rudolph?
MAR. Here. 'Tis bitter, pray enter!
MIMI. (bursting into tears)
Enter I cannot, no!
MAR. Why not?
MIMI. Oh! good Marcel! oh! help me!
MAR. Say, what has happened?
MIMI. Rudolph is madly jealous!
He loves and yet avoids me!
A glance, a touch, a token,
Suffice to make him jealous,
And start his senseless fury!
And oft at night,
When feigning to be sleeping,
I felt his eyes were watching
to spy upon my slumbers!
How oft he would reproach me!
"You are not mine, Mimi!
You love another gallant!"
Alas! 'tis jealousy that prompts him.
Yet how may I reply?
MAR. Two that live thus, I reckon,
Would be surely better parted.
MIMI. You are right, you speak truly:
'Twere best we were parted.
Will you aid us, then,
Will you aid us to part?
Oft to do this we have striven, but in vain.
Ah! 'tis true, to part were the best.
MAR. I'm happy with Musetta,
And she's happy with me.
Because 'tis mirth that binds us together.
Laughter, music and song,
Ever our love prolong.
MIMI. Ah! then, aid us, I pray you!
MAR. 'Tis well, 'tis well! Now will I wake him.
MIMI. Wake him?
MAR. Overcome with fatigue,
Just as dawn was approaching,
On the bench fast lie slumbers,
(Motions MIMI to look through the tavern window)
Behold him! (MIMI coughs persistently)
What coughing!
MIMI. Unceasingly it shakes me,
And Rudolph now forsakes me.
And says to me, "It is over!"
At daybreak swift escaping,
I hurried here to find him.
MAR. (watching RUDOLPH inside the tavern)
He's moving, waking, and wants me.
Come, then.
MIMI. He must not see me.
MAR. Well, hide yourself out there.
(Points to the plane-trees. MIMI hides behind the trees.)
RUD. (coming out of the inn, hastens towards MARCEL)
Marcel! at last I've found you,
Where none can hear us.
I want a separation from Mimi.
MAR. Is that your latest whim?
RUD. Love in my heart was dying, almost was dead,
But her blue eyes new glory on me shed.
Love, swift revived, all me; what woe is mine!
MAR. Ah! would you now such bitter pain recall?
(MIMI warily approaches to listen)
RUD. Yes, always.
MAR. Nay, be prudent! Love is not worth the keeping,
That only ends in weeping.
Love must thrive in mirth and gladness,
Or else it is but madness.
'Tis that you're jealous!
RUD. Aye, somewhat;
And choleric, and lunatic,
And a victim of vile suspicion,
Unhappy, and stubborn!
MIMI. (aside)
He's getting in a rage;
Poor little Mimi!
RUD. Mimi's a heartless maiden,
Prone to flirting with all.
A scented dandy, some lordling,
Now striveth to win her caresses.
With bosom swaying,
One foot displaying,
Doth she lure him on
With the magic of her smile.
MAR. Shall I be frank? I think 'tis hardly true.
RUD. No, 'tis not true.
In vain, in vain I smother
All the torture that racks me.
I love Mimi, she is my only treasure!
I love her, but, oh! I fear it!
(Mimi surprised, comes closer and closer, under cover of the trees)
Mimi's so sickly, so ailing,
Every day she grows weaker,
The poor girl, as I think, is dying.
MAR. (fearing MIMI may overhear them, tries to keep RUDOLPH further off) Oh! Rudolph!
MIMI. What's he saying?
RUD. By fierce, incessant coughing
Her fragile frame is shaken,
While in her cheeks so pallid
The fires of fever waken.
MAR. (agitated, perceiving that Mimi is listening) Softly!
MIMI. (weeping) Woe is me! I'm dying!
RUD. And my room's but a squalid hovel,
No fire there burneth,
Only the cruel night wind
Waileth, waileth there ever.
Yet she's merry and smiling,
While, remorseful, despairing,
I feel that 'tis I that am guilty.
MAR. (eager to draw RUDOLPH aside) List but a moment!
MIMI. (disconsolately) Ah! I'm dying!
RUD. Mimi's a hot-house flower!
MAR. Nay, but listen!
MIMI. Ah me! ah me!
All is over, life and loving,
All are ended!
Mimi must die!
MAR. Softly!
RUD. Want has wasted her beauty,
And to bring her back to life
Would need far more than love.
MAR. Nay, Rudolph, but listen!
(Mimi's violent coughing and sobbing reveal her presence.)
RUD. Ha! Mimi! You here!
You heard, you heard me?
Swayed by each light suspicion,
A trifle yet alarms me;
Come, come inside here!
(Seeks to take her into the tavern)
MIMI. No, that odor is stifling me!
RUD. (affectionately embracing her) Ah, Mimi!
(From the tavern Musetta's brazen laugh is heard.)
MAR. (running to look through the window.)
Tis Musetta that's laughing!
Laughing, flirting!
Ah! what a hussy!
I'll not allow it. (enters the tavern impetuously)
MIMI. (disengaging herself from RUDOLPH'S embrace.) Farewell!
RUD. (surprised) What! Going?
MIMI. To the home that she left
At the voice of her lover.
Sad, forsaken Mimi
Must turn back, heavy-hearted.
For love and her lover
Are gone, and she must die,
Farewell, then!
I wish you well!
Nay, listen! listen! those things,
Those few old things I've left behind me,
Within my trunk safely arc stored.
That bracelet of gold,
The prayer-book you gave me,
Pray wrap them up together in my little apron,
And I will send to fetch them.
Yet stay! Beneath the pillow
You'll find my little bonnet—
Who knows?
Maybe you'd like to keep it
To remind you of our love!
Farewell! Good-bye! I wish you well!
RUD. Then, you are going to leave me?
Yes, you are going, my little Mimi?
Ah! farewell, sweet dream of love!
MIMI. Farewell! farewell!
Glad awakenings in the morning!
RUD. Farewell, our sweet love that vanished,
Yet that your smile reviveth!
MIMI. (playfully) Farewell to jealousy and fury!
Farewell suspicion, and its bitter anguish!
RUD. Kisses sweet that, as poet,
I bought back with caresses!
MIMI and RUD. Lonely in winter,
With Death as sole companion!
But in glad springtime
There's the sun, the glorious sun!
(From the tavern the sound of breaking plates and glasses is heard)
MUS. (from within) What d'ye mean? What d'ye mean? (running out)
MAR. (from within)
You were laughing, you were flirting
By the fireside with that stranger!
(_stopping on the threshold of the inn and confronting _MUSETTA)
And how you colored
When I caught you in the corner!
MUS. (defiantly) Stuff and nonsense! all he said was:
"Are you very fond of dancing?"
And, half blushing, I made answer:
"I'd be dancing all day long, sir."
MAR. This is talk that only leads to things dishonest.
MUS. My own way I mean to have!
MAR. (_half menacing _MUSETTA)
I will teach you better manners;
Now if I catch you once more flirting—
MUS. What a bother!
Why this anger?
Why this fury?
We're not married yet, thank goodness!
MAR. You shall not do as you like, miss!
I will stop your little game!
MUS. I abhor that sort of lover
Who pretends he is your husband!
MAR. I'm not going to be your blockhead,
Just because you're fond of flirting!
MUS. I shall flirt just when it suits me!
MAR. You're most frivolous, Musetta!
MUS. Yes, I shall! yes, I shall!
I shall flirt just when it suits me!
MAR. You can go, and God be with you!
MUS. Musetta's going away;
Yes, going away!
MAR. And for me 'tis a good riddance!
MUS. Fare you well, sir!
MAR. Fare you well, ma'am!
MUS. I say farewell with all my heart!
MAR. Farewell, ma'am, pray begone!
(She retreats in a fury, but suddenly stops.)
MUS. (shouting) Go back and paint your house front!
MAR. Viper! (enters the tavern)
MUS. Toad! (exit)
MIMI. I'm so happy in the spring!
RUD. As comrades you've lilies and roses.
MIMI. Forth from each nest
Comes a murmur of birdlets!
RUD. and MIMI. When the hawthorn-bough's in blossom,
When we have the glorious sun,
Murmur the silver fountains,
The breezes of the evening
Waft fragrant balsams
To the world and its sorrow.
Shall we await another spring?
MIMI. (_moving away with _RUDOLPH) Always yours forever!
RUD. and MIMI. Our time for parting's when the roses blow!
MIMI. Ah! that our winter might last forever!
RUD. and MIMI. Our time for parting's when the roses blow!
ACT IV
"At that period, indeed, for some time past, the friends had led lonely lives.
"Musetta had once more become a sort of semi-official personage; for three or four months Marcel had never met her.
"And Mimi, too, no word of her had Rudolph ever heard except when he talked about her to himself when he was alone.
"One day, as Marcel furtively kissed a bunch of ribbons that Musetta had left behind, he saw Rudolph hiding away a bonnet, that same pink bonnet which Mimi had forgotten.
"'Good!' muttered Marcel, 'he's as craven-hearted as I am.'"
* * * * *
"A gay life, yet a terrible one."
ACT IV
IN THE ATTIC
(As in Act I)
(MARCEL,_as before, stands in front of his easel, while RUDOLPH sits at his writing table; each trying to make the other believe that he is working indefatigably, whereas they are really only gossiping.)_
MAR. (resuming his talk) In a coupé?
RUD. Yes, in carriage and pair did she merrily hail me.
"Well, Musetta," I questioned:
"How's your heart?"
"It beats not—or I don't feel it—Thanks
to this velvet I'm wearing!"
MAR. (endeavoring to laugh) I'm glad, very glad!
RUD. (aside) You humbug, you! You're fretting and fuming!
MAR. It beats not! Bravo! (commences to paint with great vigor) Then I saw, too—
RUD. Musetta?
MAR. Mimi.
RUD. You saw her? How strange! (stops painting)
MAR. Rode in her carriage in grand apparel.
Just like a duchess.
RUD. Delightful! I'm glad to hear it.
MAR. (aside) You liar! you're pining with love.
RUD. and MAR. Now to work! (they go on working)
RUD. (throwing down his pen) This pen's too awful! (remains seated, apparently lost in thought)
MAR. (flinging away his brush) This infamous paint-brush! (Stares at his canvas, and then without RUDOLPH observing it, he takes from his pocket a bunch of ribbons and kisses it.)
RUD. Ah! Mimi! false, fickle-hearted!
Ah! beauteous days departed!
Those hands so dainty!
Oh! fragrant, shining tresses!
Ah! snow-white bosom!
Ah! Mimi! those brief, glad, golden days!
MAR. (putting away his ribbons and staring anew at his canvas)
How is it that my brush
With speed mechanical keeps moving,
And plasters on the colors
Quite against my will?
And though I would be painting landscapes,
Meadows, woodlands fair in Spring-tide,
My brush refuses to perform its office;
But paints dark eyes, and two red, smiling lips;
The features of Musetta haunt me still!
RUD. (taking Mimi's old bonnet from the table drawer)
And thou, O! rose-pink bonnet,
That 'neath her pillow lay,
That in her hour of parting she forgot—Thou
wert the witness of our joy!
Come to my heart, ah! come!
Lie close against my heart, since my love is dead!
(clasps the bonnet to his heart)
MAR. Ah! frivolous Musetta! thee can I ne'er forget!
My grief affords her pleasure,
And yet my weak heart is fain
To call her to my fond arms again.
RUD. (endeavoring to conceal his emotion from Marcel, carelessly questions him) What time is it now?
MAR. (roused from his reverie, gaily replies) Time for our yesterday's dinner.
RUD. But Schaunard's not back yet. (Enter Schaunard and Colline; the former carries four rolls, and the latter a paper bag.)
SCH. Here we are!
RUD. How now?
MAR. How now?
(SCHAUNARD places the rolls on the table.)
MAR. (disdainfully) Some bread!
COL. (taking a herring out of the bag, and putting it on the table)
A dish that's worthy of Demosthenes:
'Tis a herring!
SCH. 'Tis salted!
COL. 'Our dinner is ready! (Seating themselves at the table, they pretend to be having a sumptuous meal.)
MAR. This is a food that the gods might envy.
SCH. (placing Colline's hat on the table, and thrusting a bottle of water into it) Now the champagne in the ice must go.
RUD. (to MARCEL, offering him some bread) Choose, my lord marquis—salmon or turbot? (_His offer is accepted, when, turning to _SCHAUNARD, he proffers another crust of bread.) Now, duke, here's a choice vol-au-vent with mushrooms. (He politely declines, and pours out a glass of water, which he hands to Marcel.)
SCH. Thank you, I dare not, this evening I'm dancing! (The one and only tumbler is handed about. Colline, after voraciously devouring his roll, rises.)
RUD. (to Colline) What? sated?
COL. (with an air of great importance) To business! The king awaits me.
MAR. (eagerly) What plot is brewing?
RUD. What's in the wind?
SCH. (rises and approaches Colline, observing with droll inquisitiveness) What's in the wind?
MAR. What's in the wind?
(COLLINE struts up and down, full of self-importance.)
COL. The king requires my services.
(The others surround COLLINE, bowing low to him.)
SCH. Bravo!
MAR. Bravo!
RUD. Bravo!
COL. (with a patronizing air) And then I've got to see Guizot!
SCH. Give me a goblet.
MAR. (giving him the only glass) Aye, quaff now a bumper!
SCH. (solemnly gets on to a chair and raises his glass) Have I permission, oh! my most noble courtier?
RUD. and COL. (interrupting) Stop that.
COL. No more fooling.
MAR. Stop that. No more nonsense.
COL. Give me that tumbler. (taking the glass from SCHAUNARD)
SCH. (motioning his friends to let him speak) With ardor irresistible Poetry fills my spirit.
COL. and MAR. (yelling) No.
SCH. (complacently) Then something choreographic may suit you!
RUD., MAR. and COL. Yes, yes! (Amid applause they surround Schaunard and make him get off the chair.)
SCH. Some dancing, accompanied by singing?
COL. Well, clear the stage for action. (Moving chairs and tables aside, they prepare for a dance; they suggest various dances.)
COL. Gavotte.
MAR. Minuet.
RUD. Pavanella.
SCH. (imitating a Spanish measure) Fandango.
COL. I vote we dance quadrilles first. (the others approve)
RUD. Now take your partners.
COL. I'll lead it. (pretends to be very busy arranging a quadrille)
SCH. (improvising, beats time with comic pomposity of manner)
La-lera, la-lera, la-lera!
RUD. (approaching MARCEL_, and bowing very low, offers him his hand as he gallantly says_) Oh! maiden fair and gentle!
MAR. (with coy bashfulness of manner, counterfeiting a woman's voice) My modesty respect, sir, I beg you.
SCH. Lal-lera, lal-lera, lal-lera, la!
COL. (giving directions as to the figures, while RUDOLPH and
MARCEL dance the quadrille) Balancez!
MAR. (in his ordinary voice) Lal-lera, lal-lera, lal-lera!
SCH. (teasingly) First there's the Rond.
COL. No, stupid!
SCH. (with exaggerated contempt) You've manners like a clown!
COL. (offended) As I take it, you're insulting!
Draw your sword, sir!
(rushes to the fireplace and seizes the tongs)
SCH. (taking up the poker) Ready! Have at you! (preparing to receive his adversary's attack) Thy hot blood would I drink!
COL. (doing likewise) One of us shall now be gutted! (Rudolph and
Marcel stop dancing and burst out laughing.)
SCH. Now get a stretcher ready.
COL. And get a grave-yard, too.
(SCHAUNARD and COLLINE fight.)
RUD. and MAR. (gaily) While they beat each other's brains out, Our fandango we will finish. (They dance round the combatants, whose blows fall faster. The door opens and Musetta enters in a state of great agitation.)
MAR. (amazed) Musetta! (All anxiously cluster round Musetta)
MUS. (hoarsely) 'Tis Mimi—'tis Mimi who is with me—And is ailing!
RUD. Mimi!
MUS. She has not strength to climb the staircase. (_Through the open door RUDOLPH spies MIMI, seated on the topmost stair; he rushes to her, followed by _MARCEL.)
SCH. (_to _COLLINE) Here's the bed: we'll put her on it. (they drag the bed forward)
RUD. (_supporting MIMI and leading her towards the bed, aided by _MARCEL) There! some water!
(MUSETTA brings a glass of water and makes MIMI sip it.)
MIMI. (passionately) Oh, Rudolph!
RUD. Gently, lie down there. (gently lowers her on the bed)
MIMI. (embracing RUDOLPH) My darling Rudolph! Ah! let me stay with you!
RUD. Darling Mimi! stay here ever! (_He induces Mimi to lie down at full length on the bed, and draws the coverlet over her; he then carefully adjusts the pillow be neath her head._)
MUS. (taking the others aside and whispering to them) I heard them
saying that Mimi
Had left the rich old viscount;
And now was almost dying.
Ah! but where? After searching,
I met her alone just now,
Almost dead with exhaustion.
She murmured: "I'm dying! dying!
But listen; I want to die near him.
Maybe he's waiting!
Take me thither, Musetta!"
MAR. Hush! (MUSETTA moves farther away from MIMI.)
MIMI. I feel so much better.
All here seems just the same as ever.
(with a sweet smile)
Ah! It is all so pleasant here!
Saved from sadness,
All is gladness;
Once again new life is mine!
RUD. Lips delightful, speak again to me!
Once more enchant me!
MIMI. Ah! beloved! Ah! leave me not!
MUS. (aside to the others) What is there to give her?
MAR. and COL. Nothing!
MUS. No coffee? no wine?
MAR. (in great dejection) Nothing; the larder's empty.
SCH. (looking closely at Mimi) In an hour she'll be dead!
MIMI. I feel so cold!
If I had but my muff here!
My poor hands are simply frozen!
How shall I get them warm?
(Mimi coughs; Rudolph takes her hands in his and chafes them.)
RUD. In mine, in mine, love!
Silence! for speaking tires you.
MIMI. Tis coughing tires me.
I'm used to that, though.
(seeing RUDOLPH'S friends, she calls them by name, when they hasten
to her side)
Good-morrow, Marcel!
Schaunard, Colline, good-morrow!
All are here, as I see, glad to welcome Mimi.
RUD. Hush! Mimi, do not talk.
MIMI. I'll speak low; don't be frightened.
(SCHAUNARD and COLLINE mournfully withdraw; the former sits at the table, burying his face in his hands, the latter is a prey to sad thoughts.)
MIMI. (motioning Marcel to approach) Marcel, now believe me,
A good girl is Musetta.
MAR. (giving Musetta his hand) I know, I know.
MUS. (drawing Marcel away from Mimi, takes off her earrings and gives them to him as she whispers) Look here! sell them, And buy some tonic for her— Send for a doctor! (Mimi gradually grows drowsy; Rudolph takes a chair and sits down beside the bed.)
RUD. Keep quiet.
MIMI. You will not leave me?
RUD. No, no! (MARCEL is about to go, when Musetta stops him and takes him still further from Mimi.)
MUS. Stay, listen! Maybe, what she has asked us
Will be her last request on earth, little darling!
I'll go for the muff—I'll come with you.
MAR. How good you are, Musetta!
(MUSETTA and MARCEL hastily go out.)
COL. (who has removed his overcoat while Marcel and Musetta were
talking)
Garment antique and rusty!
A last good-bye! farewell!
Faded friend, so tried and trusty,
We must part, you and I.
For never yet your back did you bow
To rich man or mighty!
How oft,
Safe in your pockets spacious,
Have you concealed philosophers and poets!
Now that our pleasant friendship is o'er,
I would bid thee once more,
Oh! companion tried and trusty,
Farewell! farewell!
(He folds up the coat, puts it under his arm, and is about to go, but
seeing Schaunard, he approaches him, pats him on the back, and
mournfully exclaims)
Schaunard, our methods possibly may differ,
But yet two kindly acts we'll do: (pointing to the coat)
Mine's this one, and yours—leave them alone in there.
SCH. (overcome by emotion) Philosopher, you're right! 'Tis true; I'll go! (He looks about him: then, to justify his exit, he takes up the water bottle and goes out after Colline, gently closing the door. Mimi opens her eyes, and seeing that all have gone, holds out her hand to Rudolph, who affectionately kisses it.)
MIMI. Have they left us? (Rudolph nods)
To sleep I only feigned,
For I wanted to be alone with you, love.
So many things there are that I would tell you.
There is one, too, as spacious as the ocean,
As the ocean, profound, without limit:
You are my love, my all, and all my life!
(putting her arms round Rudolph's neck)
RUD. Ah! Mimi! my pretty Mimi!
MIMI. (letting her arms drop) You still think I'm pretty!
RUD. Fair as the dawn in Spring!
MIMI. No, the simile fits not; you meant to say:
Fair as the flame of sunset.
"They call me Mimi; (like an echo)
They call me Mimi, but I know not why."
RUD. (in tender, caressing tones)
Back to her nest comes the swallow in Spring-tide. (He takes out the bonnet and gives it to Mimi.)
MIMI. (gaily) Why, that's my bonnet! (motions RUDOLPH to put the
bonnet on her head)
Why, that's my bonnet!
(makes RUDOLPH sit next to her, and rests her head on his breast)
Ah! do you remember how we both went shopping
When first we fell in love?
RUD. Yes, I remember.
MIMI. This room was all in darkness!
RUD. While you, you were so frightened!
Then the key you mislaid, love.
MIMI. And to find it you went groping in the darkness.
RUD. Yes, searching, searching.
MIMI. And you, my young master,
Now I can tell you frankly,
That you soon managed to find it.
RUD. It was Fate that did help me.
MIMI. It was dark, and my blushes were unnoticed. (_faintly repeating Rudolph's words_) "Your tiny hand is frozen, Let me warm it into life!" It was dark, and my hand then you clasped— (a sudden spasm half suffocates her; she sinks back fainting)
RUD. (raising her in alarm) Oh! God! Mimi!
(_At this moment Schaunard returns, and hearing Rudolph's exclamation, hastens to the bedside._)
SCH. What now?
MIMI. (_opens her eyes and smilingly reassures Rudolph and _Schaunard) Nothing; I'm better.
RUD. (gently lowering her) Gently, for goodness' sake!
MIMI. Yes, forgive me: now it's over.
(MUSETTA and MARCEL_ cautiously enter; MUSETTA carrying a muff, and her companion a phial._)
MUS. (to RUDOLPH) Sleeping?
RUD. (approaching MARCEL) Just resting.
MAR. I have seen the doctor.
He'll come—I bade him hasten.
Here's the tonic.
(Takes a spirit lamp, and placing it upon the table, lights it.)
MIMI. Who is it?
MUS. I—Musetta. (Approaches Mimi and gives her the muff. Helped by Musetta, she sits up in bed, and, with almost infantine glee, seizes the muff)
MIMI. So soft it is and feathery!
No more will my poor fingers be frozen,
For this muff shall keep them warm. (_to _Rudolph)
Did you give me this present?
MUS. (eagerly) Yes!
MIMI. You thoughtless fellow! Thank you.
It cost you dear. (Rudolph bursts into tears)
Weep not: I'm better.
Why should you weep for me?
Here love . . . ever with you! . . .
(thrusts her hands into the muff; then she gradually grows drowsy,
gracefully nodding her head, as one who is overcome by sleep)
My hands are much warmer: now I will sleep!
(RUDOLPH,_ reassured at seeing MIMI fall asleep, gently moves away from the bedside, and motioning the others not to make any noise, approaches _MARCEL.)
RUD. What said the doctor?
MAR. He'll come.
MUS. (_who is busily heating the medicine, brought by MARCEL, over the spirit-lamp, as she unconsciously murmurs a prayer_) Oh! Mary! Blessed Virgin! Save, of thy mercy, this poor maiden! Save her, Madonna mine, from death! (Rudolph, Marcel and Schaunard_ whisper together. Every now and then Rudolph goes on tiptoe to the bed, and then rejoins his companions. Musetta, interrupting, bids Marcel place a book upright on the table, so as to shade the lamp._) Here there should be a shade, Because the lamp is flickering! Like this. (resuming her prayer) And, oh! may she recover! Madonna! holy mother! I merit not thy pardon, But our little Mimi is an angel from Heaven! (Rudolph _approaches Musetta, while Schaunard goes on tiptoe to the bedside; with a sorrowful gesture he goes back to _Marcel.)
RUD. I still have hope. Do you think it serious?
MUS. Not serious.
SCH. (hoarsely) Marcel, she is dead! (Marcel in his turn goes up to the bed, and retreats in alarm; a ray of sunshine falls through the window upon Mimi's face; Musetta points to her cloak, which, with a grateful glance, Rudolph takes, and standing upon a chair, endeavors to form a screen by stretching the cloak across the window-pane.)
COL. (quietly entering and putting some money on the table near
Musetta) How is she?
RUD. See, now! She's tranquil.
(RUDOLPH, turning round, sees MUSETTA, who makes a sign to him that the medicine is ready; getting off the chair, he is suddenly aware of the strange demeanor of MARCEL and SCHAUNARD.)
RUD. (huskily, almost in a speaking voice)
What's the meaning of this going and this coming,
And these glances so strange?
(He glances from one to the other in consternation.)
MAR. (_unable to bear up any longer, hastens to embrace Rudolph as he murmurs_) Poor fellow!
RUD. (_flings himself on Mimi's bed, lifts her up, shakes her by the hand, and exclaims in tones of anguish_) Mimi! Mimi! (he falls, sobbing, upon her lifeless form) (_Terror-stricken, MUSETTA rushes to the bed, utters a piercing cry of grief; then kneels sobbing, at the foot of the bed. SCHAUNARD, overcome, sinks back into a chair; to the left, COLLINE stands at the foot of the bed, dazed at the suddenness of this catastrophe. MARCEL, sobbing, turns his back to the footlights. The curtain slowly falls._)