"If I get it in I will devote it to buying you a fashionable fig leaf." "And I," said Phemie to Schaunard, "my gown is in ribbons." Schaunard took three sous from his pocket and gave them to his mistress, saying, "Here is enough to buy a needle and thread with.

Mend your gown, that will instruct and amuse you at the same time, _utile dulci_." Nevertheless, in a council kept very secret, Marcel and Schaunard agreed with Rodolphe that each of them should endeavor to satisfy the justifiable coquetry of their mistresses.
"These poor girls," said Rodolphe, "a trifle suffices to adorn them, but then they must have this trifle.

Latterly fine arts and literature have been flourishing; we are earning almost as much as street porters." "It is true that I ought not to complain," broke in Marcel.

"The fine arts are in a most healthy condition, one might believe oneself under the sway of Leo the Tenth." "In point of fact," said Rodolphe.

"Musette tells me that for the last week you have started off every morning and do not get home till about eight in the evening.