MUS. (irritated, still watching MARCEL) He won’t look round!  Now I could beat him!

ALC.  What’s the matter?

MUS. (sharply) I meant the waiter!

ALC.  Manners!  Manners!
(Takes the bill from the waiter and orders the supper.)

MUS. (more irritated)
Such a bore! 
Just let me have my own way. 
If you please; I won’t be ruled by you!

MIMI. (looking curiously at RUDOLPH) Do you know who she is?

MAR.  You had better ask me. 
Well, her name is Musetta
Her surname is Temptation. 
As to her vocation: 
Like a rose in the breezes,
So she changes lover for lover without number. 
And like the spiteful screech owl,
A bird that’s most rapacious,
The food that most she favors is the heart! 
Her food the heart is;
Thus have I now none left!
(to his friends, concealing his agitation)
So pass me the ragout!

SCH. (to COLLINE)
Now the fun’s at its climax,
To one she speaks because the other listens.

COL. (to SCHAUNARD)
The other will not hear,
Feigns not to see the girl:  which makes her mad.

RUD. (to MIMI)
Now let me tell you
I never would forgive you.

MIMI. (to RUDOLPH)
I love you, love you fondly,
Am wholly yours, my dearest! (eating)

COL.  What’s that about forgiveness?

(coquettishly watching MARCEL, who becomes agitated)

MUS. (watching MARCEL; in a loud voice to MARCEL) Why, don’t you know me?

ALC. (thinking MUSETTA spoke to him) Well, I’m giving the order, dear.

MUS. (as above) But your heart is a-throbbing!

ALC. (as above) Not so loud.

MUS. (to herself) But your heart is a-throbbing!

ALC.  Do be quiet!

MUS.  As through the streets I wander onward merrily,
See how the folk look round,
Because they know I’m charming,
A very charming girl. 
And then ’tis mine to mark the hidden longing,
And all the passion in their eyes;
And then the joy of conquest overcomes me,
Every man is my prize!

And thus their hearts, their hearts I capture,
As if by magic all my own, ah! rapture! 
Tis mine alone! 
Now you that once your love for me betrayed,
Why should you be dismayed? 
Yet though deep in your heart
Rankles the smart. 
You’d ne’er confess—­but rather die!

(SCHAUNARD and COLLINE rise and stand aside, watching the scene with interest, while RUDOLPH and MIMI remain seated and continue their talk.  MARCEL nervously quits his seat, and is about to go, but is spell-bound by MUSETTA’S voice.)

ALC.  This odious singing upsets me entirely!

(ALCINDORO vainly endeavors to induce MUSETTA to resume her seat at the table where the supper is ready.)