Bohemia Village Voice

 PART 21 (OF 24) The story so far … homeless artist and musician Alexandre Schaunard has been traipsing the streets of Paris, searching for anyone from whom he can borrow a few francs.  He meets a philosopher, Gustave Colline, and later two gentlemen, M. Mouton and M. Rodolphe. Schaunard, forgetting he is homeless, invites everyone back to his lodgings, only to discover Marcel, the new tenant, in occupation. The misunderstanding is eventually cleared up and a meal – with wine – is suggested. Now read on ..

The four young men proceeded to attack a piece of cold veal that Colline and Rodolphe had cajoled from the wine-shop.
  Marcel explained what had occurred that morning between himself and the landlord.
  ‘In that case,’ said Rodolphe, ‘the gentleman is quite right; we are in his home.’
  ‘You are in your own home,’ Marcel said politely.
But it was very difficult indeed to make Schaunard understand what had happened. The situation was further complicated by a comical incident. Whilst looking for something in a cupboard, Schaunard found the change of the five-hundred-franc note that Marcel had given M. Bernard in the morning.
  ‘Ah, I knew that Fortune would not forsake me!’ he exclaimed. ‘I remember now – I went out this morning in search of her. Of course, because of the rent business, she must have come while I was out. We missed each other, that’s all. How right I was to leave the key on the chest-of-drawers!’
  ‘Sweet self-deception!’ Rodolphe murmured, as Schaunard arranged the money in equal piles.
  ‘Dreams and deceit, of such is life,’ said the philosopher. Marcel laughed. An hour later, all four were asleep. They awoke next day at noon, and at first seemed astonished to find themselves together. Schaunard, Colline and Rodolphe behaved like strangers, calling each other ‘sir’. Marcel had to remind them that they had arrived together during the night. Old Durand came into the room.
  ‘Today, sir,’ he said to Marcel, ‘is April the ninth, 184–, there is mud in the streets, and His Majesty Louis Philippe is still King of France and Navarre… Why, there’s M. Schaunard! How did you get in?’
  ‘By telegraph.’
  ‘Come, come, so you’re still up to your tricks, eh?’
  ‘Durand,’ said Marcel, ‘I do not wish the staff to join in my conversation. You will go to the restaurant near by, and have them send up luncheon for four. Here is the bill-of-fare.’ He handed Durand a scrap of paper on which he had written the names of dishes. ‘You may go.’
‘And now, gentlemen,’ Marcel continued, ‘you invited me to supper yesterday evening. Permit me today to invite you to luncheon, not in my apartment, but in our apartment.’ He held out his hand to Schaunard.
[To be continued]
Vie de Bohème by Henry Mürger, a vivid portrait of the ‘Bohemian’ life of the artistic quarter of Paris in the nineteenth century was originally published (by Michel Lévy) in 1851. The extract above is taken from a translation by Norman Cameron, published by Hamish Hamilton. The illustration is by Dodi Masterman.