We may go back to leg-of-mutton sleeves and frilled trousers, and some fine day see hats come into fashion which would afflict the universe and call down the wrath of heaven.
And now the moment is come to relate the loves of our friend Rodolphe and Mimi.

It was just as he was turned four and twenty that Rodolphe was suddenly smitten with the passion that had such an influence upon his life.

At the time he met Mimi he was leading that broken and fantastic existence that we have tried to describe in the preceding chapters of this book.

He was certainly one of the gayest endurers of poverty in the world of Bohemia.

When in course of the day he had made a poor dinner and a smart remark, he walked more proudly in his black coat (pleading for help through every gaping seam) along the pavement that often promised to be his only resting place for the night, than an emperor in his purple robe.