THE HOUSE WARMING This took place some time after the union of the poet Rodolphe and Mademoiselle Mimi.

For a week the whole of the Bohemian brotherhood were grievously perturbed by the disappearance of Rodolphe, who had suddenly become invisible.

They had sought for him in all his customary haunts, and had everywhere been met by the same reply-- "We have not seen him for a week." Gustave Colline above all was very uneasy, and for the following reason.
A few days previously he had handed to Rodolphe a highly philosophical article, which the latter was to insert in the columns of "The Beaver," the organ of the hat trade, of which he was editor.

Had this philosophical article burst upon the gaze of astonished Europe?
Such was the query put to himself by the astonished Colline, and this anxiety will be understood when it is explained that the philosopher had never yet had the honor of appearing in print, and that he was consumed by the desire of seeing what effect would be produced by his prose in pica.

To procure himself this gratification he had already expended six francs in visiting all the reading rooms of Paris without being able to find "The Beaver" in any one of them.