"Oh yes!" said Schaunard, taking him up:

"They put all four into one big bed,
Two at the feet and two at the head."

"Think I don't know it?" Marcel continued:

"There came a sister of Charity--
Ty! Ty! tee! tee!"

"If you don't stop," said Schaunard, who suspected signs of mental
alienation, "I'll play the allegro of my symphony on 'The Influence of
Blue in the Arts.'" So saying, he approached the piano.

This menace had the effect of a drop of cold water in a boiling fluid.
Marcel grew calm as if by magic. "Look there!" said he, passing the
letter to his friend. It was an invitation to dine with a deputy, an
enlightened patron of the arts in general and Marcel in particular,
since the latter had taken the portrait of his country-house.

"For today," sighed Schaunard. "Unluckily the ticket is not good for
two. But stay! Now I think of it, your deputy is of the government
party; you cannot, you must not accept. Your principles will not permit
you to partake of the bread which has been watered by the tears of the
people."

"Bah!" replied Marcel, "my deputy is a moderate radical; he voted
against the government the other day. Besides, he is going to get me an
order, and he has promised to introduce me in society. Moreover, this
may be Friday as much as it likes; I am famished as Ugolino, and I mean