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