Page:The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter.djvu/237

proud of his new conquest than Paris after the rape of Helen.

On seeing her lover appear, Mademoiselle Mimi seemed somewhat surprised. She came up to him, and for five minutes they talked very quietly together. They then parted, each on their separate way. Their separation was agreed upon.

Rodolphe returned home, and spent the day in packing up all the things belonging to his mistress.

During the day that followed his divorce, he received the visit of several friends, and announced to them what had happened. Every one congratulated him on this event as on a piece of great good fortune.

“We will aid you, oh poet!” said one of those who had been the most frequent spectator of the annoyances Mademoiselle Mimi had made Rodolphe undergo; “we will help you to free your heart from the clutches of this evil creature. In a little while you will be cured, and quite ready to rove with another Mimi along the green lanes of Aulnay and Fontenay-aux-Roses.”

Rodolphe swore that he had for ever done with regrets and despair. He even let himself be led away to the Bal Mabille, where his dilapidated get-up did scant honor to “The Scarf of Iris,” his editorship of which produced him free admission to this garden of elegance and pleasure. There Rodolphe met some fresh friends, with whom he began to drink. He related to them his woes with an unheard of luxury of imaginative style, and for an hour was perfectly dazzling with liveliness and go.

“Alas!” said the painter Marcel, as he listened to the flood of irony pouring from his friend’s lips, “Rodolphe is too lively, far too lively.”

“He is charming,” replied a young woman to whom Rodolphe had just offered a bouquet, “and although he is