Page:The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter.djvu/201

his mouth, and, in a very serious tone, addressed the rash Carolus, saying,

“You cultivate the fine arts?”

“I labor humbly in those noble fields of intelligence,” replied the other, who felt bound to hang out the colors of his style.

Colline found the phrase well turned, and bowed in acknowledgment.

“You understand music?” he continued.

“I have played on the bass-viol.”

“A very philosophical instrument. Then, if you understand music, you also understand that one cannot, without violation of the laws of harmony, introduce a fifth performer into a quartette; it would cease to be a quartette.”

“Exactly, and become a quintette.”

“A quintette; very well; now attend to me. You understand astronomy?”

“A little; I’m a bachelor of arts.”

“There is a song about that,” said Colline; “‘Dear bachelor, says Lisette’—I have forgotten the tune. Well, then, you know that there are four cardinal points. Now suppose there were to turn up a fifth cardinal point, all the harmony of Nature would be upset. What they call a cataclysm—you understand?”

“I am waiting for the conclusion,” said Carolus, whose intelligence began to be a little shaky.

“The conclusion—yes, that is the end of argument, as death is the end of life, and marriage of love. Well, my dear sir, I and my friends are accustomed to live together, and we fear to impair, by the introduction of another person, the harmony which reigns in our habits, opinions, tastes, and dispositions. To speak frankly, we are going to be, some day, the four cardinal points of contemporary