Act III. A gate to the city of Paris on the Orleans road. A toll house
at the gate. To the left a tavern, from which, as a signboard hangs _Marcel's_ picture of the Red Sea. Several plane trees. It is February. Snow is on the ground. The hour is that of dawn. Scavengers, milk women, truckmen, peasants with produce, are waiting to be admitted to the city. Custom-house officers are seated, asleep, around a brazier. Sounds of revelry are heard from the tavern. These, together with characteristic phrases, when the gate is opened and people enter, enliven the first scene.
Into the small square comes _Mimi_ from the Rue d'Enfer, which leads from the Latin Quarter. She looks pale, distressed, and frailer than ever. A cough racks her. Now and then she leans against one of the bare, gaunt plane trees for support.
A message from her brings _Marcel_ out of the tavern. He tells her he finds it more lucrative to paint signboards than pictures. _Musetta_ gives music lessons. _Rudolph_ is with them. Will not _Mimi_ join them? She weeps, and tells him that _Rudolph_ is so jealous of her she fears they must part. When _Rudolph_, having missed _Marcel_, comes out to look for him, _Mimi_ hides behind a plane tree, from where she hears her lover tell his friend that he wishes to give her up because of their frequent quarrels. "Mimi รจ una civetta" (Mimi is a heartless creature) is the burden of his song. Her violent coughing reveals her presence. They decide to part--not angrily, but regretfully: "Addio, senza rancor" (Farewell, then, I wish you well), sings _Mimi_.
[Music]
Meanwhile _Marcel_, who has re-entered the tavern, has caught _Musetta_ flirting with a stranger. This starts a quarrel, which brings them out into the street. Thus the music becomes a quartet: "Addio, dolce svegliare" (Farewell, sweet love), sing _Rudolph_ and _Mimi_, while _Marcel_ and _Musetta_ upbraid each other. The temperamental difference between the two women, _Mimi_ gentle and melancholy, _Musetta_ aggressive and disputatious, and the difference in the effect upon the two men, are admirably brought out by the composer. "Viper!" "Toad!" _Marcel_ and _Musetta_ call out to each other, as they separate; while the frail _Mimi_ sighs, "Ah! that our winter night might last forever," and she and _Rudolph_ sing, "Our time for parting's when the roses blow."