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)