Page:The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter.djvu/251

“There, my children, your business is plain. Each has tried to play cunning, and both have lost. It is the story of Mimi and myself. We shall soon have run through two almanacs quarreling day and night. It is by that system that marriages are rendered eternal. Wed a ‘yes’ to a ‘no,’ and you obtain the union of Philemon and Baucis. Your domestic interior will soon match mine; and if Schau- nard and Phémie come and live in the house, as they have threatened, our trio of establishments will render it a very pleasant place of residence.”

At that moment Gustave Colline came in. He was informed of the accident that had befallen Musette and Marcel.

“Well, philosopher,” said the latter, “what do you think of this?”

Colline rubbed the hat that served him for a roof, and murmured:

“I felt sure of it beforehand. Love is a game of chance. He who plays at bowls may expect rubbers. It is not good for man to live alone.”

That evening, on returning home, Rodolphe said to Mimi—

“There is something new; Musette dotes on Marcel, and will not leave him.”

“Poor girl!” replied Mimi. “She who has such a good appetite, too.”

“And on his side, Marcel is hard and fast in love with Musette.”

“Poor fellow!” said Mimi; “he who is so jealous.”

“That is true,” observed Rodolphe; “he and I are pupils of Othello.”

Shortly afterwards the households of Rodolphe and Marcel were reinforced by the household of Schaunard, the musician moving into the house with Phémie Teinturière.