La Boheme | Page 7

go on. There keep us
places; we will follow quickly.
(_Remains still at the window to make sure of his friends going._)
MAR., SCH. and COL. (_gradually departing_) Momus, Momus,
Momus! Gently and soft to supper let us go.
MAR. And poetry let flow.
SCH. and COL. Momus, Momus, Momus!
(MIMI _goes nearer the window, so that the moon's rays fall on her
while_ RUDOLPH _contemplates her ecstatically._)
RUD. Lovely maid in the moonlight!
MAR. And poetry let flow.
RUD. Your face entrancing. Like radiant seraph from on high appears!
The dream that I would ever, ever dream, returns.
RUD. | MIMI. | | Love alone o'er hearts has sway Heart to heart and
soul to soul | Ah Love! to thee do we surrender. Love binds us in his
fetters. | (_yielding to her lover's (placing his arm around MIMI
embrace_) Love now shall rule our hearts | Sweet to my soul the magic
voice alone, | Of love its music chanteth, Life's fairest flower is love! |
Life's fairest flower is love! Life's fairest flower is love! | (RUDOLPH
_kisses her._)
MIMI. (_disengaging herself_) No, I pray you!
RUD. My sweetheart!
MIMI. Your comrades await you!
RUD. Do you then dismiss me?
MIMI. I should like--no, I dare not!
RUD. Say!
MIMI. (coquettishly) Could I not come with you?
RUD. What, Mimi? It would be much more pleasant here to stay.
Outside 'tis chilly!
MIMI. To you I'll be neighbor! I'll be always near you.
RUD. On returning?
MIMI. (archly) Who knows, sir?
RUD. Take my arm, my little maiden!
MIMI. (giving her arm to RUDOLPH) I obey you, my lord!
(They go, arm in arm, to the door.)
RUD. You love me? Say!
MIMI. (with abandon) I love thee!

RUD. and MIMI. My love! My love!

ACT II
"...Gustave Colline, the great philosopher; Marcel, the great painter;
Rudolph, the great poet, and Schaunard, the great musician --as they
were wont to style them selves--regularly frequented the Cafe Momus,
where, being inseparable, they were nicknamed 'The Four Musketeers.'
"Indeed, they always went about together, played together, dined
together, often without paying the bill, yet always with a beautiful
harmony worthy of the Conservatoire Orchestra.
"Mademoiselle Musetta was a pretty girl of twenty.
"Very coquettish, rather ambitious, but without any pretensions to
spelling.
"Oh! those delightful suppers in the Quartier Latin!
"A perpetual alternative between a blue brougham and an omnibus;
between the Rue Breda and the Quartier Latin.
"...Well! what of that? From time to time I feel the need of breathing
the atmosphere of such a life as this. My madcap existence is like a
song; each of my love-episodes forms a verse of it, but Marcel is its
refrain!"

ACT II
IN THE LATIN QUARTER
CHRISTMAS EVE
A conflux of streets; where they meet, a square, flanked by shops of all
sorts; on one side the Café Momus.
Aloof from the crowd, RUDOLPH and MIMI; COLLINE is near a
rag-shop, SCHAUNARD stands outside a tinker's, buying a pipe and a
horn, MARCEL is being hustled hither and thither.
A vast, motley crowd; soldiers, serving maids, boys, girls, children,
students, work girls, gendarmes, etc. It is evening. The shops are
decked with tiny lamps; a huge lantern lights up the entrance to the
Café Momus. The café is so crowded that some of the customers are
obliged to seat themselves outside.
HAWKERS. (outside their shops)
Come, buy my oranges! Hot roasted chestnuts! Trinkets and crosses!

Fine hardbake! Excellent toffee! Flowers for the ladies! Try our candy!
Cream for the babies! Fat larks and ortolans! Look at them! Fine
salmon! Look at our chestnuts! Who'll buy my carrots?
THE CROWD.
CITIZENS. What a racket!
WOMEN. What uproar!
STUDENTS and WORK GIRLS. Hold fast to me; come along!
A MOTHER. (calling her children) Lisa! Emma!
CITIZENS. Ho! make way there!
THE MOTHER. Emma, don't you hear me?
STUDENTS and WORK GIRLS. Rue Mazarin's the nearest.
WOMEN. Let's get away, I'm choking!
CITIZENS. See! the café is near!
(At the Café)
CITIZENS. Come here, waiter! Come along! Come along! Come here!
To me! Some beer! A glass! Vanilla! Come along! Come along! Some
beer! Some coffee! Hurry up!
SCH. (_blowing the horn_) D! D! D! what a dreadful D!
(_Haggling with the tinker._)
What's the price of the lot?
COL. (_to the clothes dealer, who has been mending a jacket for him_)
It's rather shabby, but sound and not expensive.
(_He pays, and then carefully consigns the books to the various pockets
of his long coat._)
(_MARCEL alone in the midst of the crowd, with a parcel under his
arm, making eyes at the girls who jostle against him in the crowd._)
MAR. I feel somehow as if I fain must shout: Ho! laughing lassies, will
you play at love?