from Mimi.

MAR. Is that your latest whim?

RUD. Love in my heart was dying, almost was dead,
But her blue eyes new glory on me shed.
Love, swift revived, all me; what woe is mine!

MAR. Ah! would you now such bitter pain recall?

(_MIMI warily approaches to listen_)

RUD. Yes, always.

MAR. Nay, be prudent! Love is not worth the keeping,
That only ends in weeping.
Love must thrive in mirth and gladness,
Or else it is but madness.
'Tis that you're jealous!

RUD. Aye, somewhat;
And choleric, and lunatic,
And a victim of vile suspicion,
Unhappy, and stubborn!

MIMI. (_aside_)
He's getting in a rage;
Poor little Mimi!

RUD. Mimi's a heartless maiden,
Prone to flirting with all.
A scented dandy, some lordling,
Now striveth to win her caresses.
With bosom swaying,
One foot displaying,
Doth she lure him on
With the magic of her smile.

MAR. Shall I be frank? I think 'tis hardly true.

RUD. No, 'tis not true.
In vain, in vain I smother
All the torture that racks me.
I love Mimi, she is my only treasure!
I love her, but, oh! I fear it!

(_Mimi surprised, comes closer and closer, under cover of the trees_)

Mimi's so sickly, so ailing,
Every day she grows weaker,
The poor girl, as I think, is dying.

MAR. (_fearing MIMI may overhear them, tries to keep RUDOLPH further
off_) Oh! Rudolph!

MIMI. What's he saying?

RUD. By fierce, incessant coughing
Her fragile frame is shaken,
While in her cheeks so pallid
The fires of fever waken.

MAR. (_agitated, perceiving that Mimi is listening_) Softly!

MIMI. (_weeping_) Woe is me! I'm dying!

RUD. And my room's but a squalid hovel,
No fire there burneth,
Only the cruel night wind
Waileth, waileth there ever.
Yet she's merry and smiling,
While, remorseful, despairing,
I feel that 'tis I that am guilty.

MAR. (_eager to draw RUDOLPH aside_) List but a moment!

MIMI. (_disconsolately_) Ah! I'm dying!

RUD. Mimi's a hot-house flower!

MAR. Nay, but listen!

MIMI. Ah me! ah me!
All is over, life and loving,
All are ended!
Mimi must die!

MAR. Softly!

RUD. Want has wasted her beauty,
And to bring her back to life
Would need far more than love.

MAR. Nay, Rudolph, but listen!

(_Mimi's violent coughing and sobbing reveal her presence._)

RUD. Ha! Mimi! You here!
You heard, you heard me?
Swayed by each light suspicion,
A trifle yet alarms me;
Come, come inside here!

(_Seeks to take her into the tavern_)

MIMI. No, that odor is