Mimi

“ I love Mimi, she is my only treasure!
I love her, but, oh! I fear it!
(Mimi surprised, comes closer and closer, under cover of the trees)
Mimi's so sickly, so ailing,
Every day she grows weaker,
The poor girl, as I think, is dying.
MAR. (fearing MIMI may overhear them, tries to keep RUDOLPH further off) Oh! Rudolph!
MIMI. What's he saying?
RUD. By fierce, incessant coughing
Her fragile frame is shaken,
While in her cheeks so pallid
The fires of fever waken.
MAR. (agitated, perceiving that Mimi is listening) Softly!
MIMI. (weeping) Woe is me! I'm dying! ”

“ If Sue had not come she might even have chosen her from all the Prep students for her roommate. Chloe was exquisite to look at—shining black hair, wide dark eyes which were never looking squarely at you but beyond you; slim hands with shapely well cared for nails. She was sensitive and shy and lived way down inside of herself somewhere. It seemed strange to Mimi to have slept in the same bed with a girl, to run in and out of the same room a whole day and not exchange more than a dozen words with her. If Mimi couldn’t be friendlier than this she shouldn’t have been an honor camper. ”

“ And tomorrow?
KARL
No.
MIMI, sad
Good-bye. (Wipes her eyes.) You don't love me any more ... you don't love me any more.
KARL
Oh! It's going to start again!
MIMI
Ever since last fall you've been different. I knew it right away when you started to paint landscapes. When you are in love you paint Venuses. I know what it means when you start to paint trees.
KARL
You're silly, Mimi.
MIMI
I know it. With her hat and coat on every model is silly.
KARL
Go home, Mimi.
MIMI, goes to head of couch
Yes, yes. Go home! Be a good girl. For a week now you've sent me home without my even taking my gloves off. ”

“ And the same delicate conscience prevented him from supporting Mimi pecuniarily. He said, and she confirmed, that there should be no tie between them but love—that no other gift was fitting from one to the other. The woman of the future would have no need of protection, or to barter herself for care and a home; she would love out of a sphere of fine, grand independence, self-reliance—so would and should Mimi. ”

“ Chloe had an art conference so it was Mimi who helped Sue throw her things together and shut her trunk. The janitor would bring it in the morning. They felt like intruders when they butted Betsy’s half-opened door wide open—they had no hands to turn the knob. “Lazy Man’s loads” Cissy would call them.
“Landslide?” a caller asked Betsy.
“No, my roommate.”
“But I thought Laura Lou?”
“So did I, but she isn’t, girls, this is Sue and you all know Mimi by now I imagine. Red-headed people always manage to be known.” ”

“ ACT I "...Mimi was a charming girl specially apt to appeal to Rudolph, the poet and dreamer. Aged twenty-two, she was slight and graceful. Her face reminded one of some sketch of high-born beauty; its features had marvellous refinement.
"The hot, impetuous blood of youth coursed through her veins, giving a rosy hue to her clear complexion that had the white velvety bloom of the camellia.
"This frail beauty allured Rudolph. But what wholly served to enchant him were Mimi's tiny hands, that, despite her household duties, she contrived to keep whiter even than the Goddess of Ease." ”

“ Mimi, of course, had a beautifully tailored habit. She had taken good care of her patent leather boots. The other girls had jodphurs, so by exchanging blouses and sweaters a few times they managed to fit themselves out becomingly. Chloe had the worst time of all. Everything she had on but her jodphurs was borrowed. She had never been on a horse in her life. She wasn’t too keen on the idea but tried not to show how she felt, Mimi guessed. ”

“ Mimi watched from the edge of the crowd. Betsy, she knew, had what it took—pep, poise, and that innate gift of leadership.
Between the end of the last yell and the singing of Alma Mater, Mimi was conscious of lowered voices behind her. Two faculty members strolling through the hall had paused to listen.
“The Buchanan girl is a born leader,” one of the voices said.
“I am too,” Mimi wanted to answer. Instead, she resolved to show them. “Actions,” Cissy had told her so often, “speak louder than words.”
CHAPTER V
TUMBLE INN Under ordinary circumstances Mimi would have liked Chloe. ”

“ Mimi called reassuringly. “Be as still as you can, so you won’t make any more cracks. Stop, girls! Miss Bassett, please keep them back,” Mimi pleaded. “Here comes Dit with a plank and we’ll have her out in a jiffy.”
Mimi helped Dit slip the board along the ice until Madge could clutch it with her numb little hands. ”

“ He is a past master in the art of guiding a novice through the mazes of flirtation and emerging free from entanglement.
At the end of it all Mimi's heart is touched but not broken. Perhaps she Was even slightly disillusioned by the calmness with which her "correct" admirer met the crisis of her departure from the Caucasus. ”

“ Poor Mimi! Poor Mimi!
MIMI, wiping her eyes with handkerchief, then returning it to ELSA.
I—hope—you will be—hap—happy—too!
ELSA
I—happy?
MIMI
You are going to marry Karl—
ELSA
No—no—I'm not.
MIMI
But it's you he's in love with—
ELSA
No, Mimi; I'm not the one—it's some one else.
MIMI
You don't mean Mrs. Zanden—it can't be—why, she's your friend.
ELSA
She was.
MIMI
I don't believe it—it's not love—it's a madness—a—
ELSA, jumping at the idea
An infatuation?
MIMI
Yes, that's it—he's not in love with her—he's not himself.
ELSA
You think so?
MIMI
Yesterday he acted as if he were under some strange ”

“ We all love you, no matter who your Mother and Father were.”
“I know they were fine, too, Mimi. But it’s this awful suspense of not knowing. I might have brothers and sisters and pass right by them any day and not know them. My mother must be tortured imagining horrible things have happened to me. I’d—I’d rather—believe—she is dead than that she has worried about me all these years.”
The letter which Mimi had quickly thrust in her belt when she took Chloe in her arms, crackled as the two girls sat down on the bed. ”

“ DEATH BELLS “Madge?” Mimi said, putting her arm around her. She was wide awake now. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“I—know—it but I can’t stop. Every time I close my eyes I hear them—thump—thump—thump. Oh Mimi it’s awful! You don’t know unless you’ve heard them.”
“What’s up?” Betsy whispered. She scrawled over Jill and poked her head between theirs. “Am I missing something?”
“Sh—sh—” Mimi said to Betsy, but she had her arm around Madge, patting her shoulder. “Madge—er, Madge doesn’t feel well.” ”

“ The striped runners of wandering jew falling over the edges of the hanging baskets brushed her hair as she ducked under and her swinging arm almost knocked a fern pot from its pedestal, for Mimi had jumped on to the porch neither from the porte-cochere nor the front steps. With Von barking boldly at her heels, she had cut across the lawn and leaped on to the porch to Mammy—Precious old Cissy, who this instant hugged her close, and the next was holding her at arm’s length saying:—
“Lan’s sakes alive, Miss Mimi, yo sho is brought home a good crop of freckles and this newfangled sun tan both!” ”

“ Surely the bon Dieu must have loved Mimi an atom better 50than other mortals, for in the blue-black crucible of the night he fashioned a day as clear and glowing as a great jewel, and set it, blazing with warm light and vivid color, foremost in the diadem of the year. And it was something to see Mimi at the carriage window, with Pierre at her side and her left hand in his, and in her right a huge bouquet—Caffiard's contribution—while the deus ex machina himself, breathing like a happy hippopotamus, beamed upon the pair from the opposite corner. ”

“ Mimi walked by her father's side, while Père Michel followed in the rear. In this way they reached Robicheau's house. The room and the bed were already prepared, and Laborde was carried there. As he was placed upon that bed, Mimi looked at him with intense anxiety and alarm, for his pale, emaciated face and weak, attenuated frame seemed to belong to one who was at the last verge of life. An awful fear of the worst came over her—the fear of bereavement in this distant land, the presentiment of an appalling desolation, which crushed her young heart and reduced her to despair. ”

“ Mother was saying in a steadier voice—Mother was so brave—“I must get the rest of your underclothes. You polish your tennis shoes so they will be dry enough to pack.” Mother had gone quickly.
That day the packing was finished and the trunk snapped shut and Mimi hung the key around her neck on a blue ribbon.
That day, Mimi said goodbye to Von, to King, who was being sent to the pasture for the winter, to Honky, to the campers, to Cissy, and to her dear, dear family. ”

“ If Mimi had known the series of exciting events which hinged on the innocent purchase of a bottle of mange cure, she might never have bought it. She might have let dandruff stay in her hair and freckles continue to splotch the bridge of her nose.
What to wear at the growing-closer-every-day Commencement affairs turned Mimi’s thoughts from her term themes, two highly important letters from Daddy and Mother Dear, and a reprimand from Mrs. Cole for disturbing study hall.
“I can’t wear white for Commencement and look decent with freckles. I don’t look nice in white.”
“Who cares?” Sue teased. ”

“ How grand to see an artist who was, withal, such a man. Mimi’s mind kept hopping to tennis racquets and other sporting goods which had made his family famous. Then she would come back to the music. Several times she checked down the program to see how much longer it was.
She knew exactly how to act at the reception which followed. Only the music students were presented to the artist and Mimi felt she shouldn’t barge in on that. She had been very lucky to get to usher. She did, however, go down the receiving line and chatter with many of the college girls. ”

“ The witty superficiality of the chapters descriptive of Mimi's girlhood develops in Mimi at the Springs into a brilliant, incisive study of a selfish, empty-headed, and exceedingly pretty young woman. The analysis of her character is so penetrating and pitiless that Tolstoy, who admired the book, remarked that "the author must be a man, as no woman would be so frank in writing of her own sex." ”

“ With difficulty she sputtered out the story of the roof garden party.
“They’re safe, every one of them—they jumped——” Mrs. Cole wasn’t a bit ashamed of the tears that were streaming down her pasty white face. “You—you Mickey—M—Mimi—You are the only one we could not find!”
“Me?” She had to try hard to keep from laughing hysterically. “I knew about the fire first. I turned in the alarm!”
Mimi cuddled against the fireman, and relaxed. She was tired, so tired. Her support gave way with her. ”

“ Even Chloe smiled broadly before they hustled back to their classes. About as well be a good sport.
Mimi had recovered her poise when she dashed by Tumble Inn between dinner and class time. Betsy and two other old girls were there grouped around the treasure chest finishing the date cake.
“’Scuse,” Mimi apologized, “but I live here, too.”
“Glad you came.” Betsy’s tone made it evident they were waiting for her. “I didn’t stop for my mail. Bring it up, please. They will let you have it. I have arranged with the girl.” ”

“ Sheridan,
We’ll love Thee till we die! Afterwards, Mimi wondered how they ever lived through it all—cleaning up after the wedding, putting slip covers over the living room furniture, packing away blankets in moth proof containers, putting linens in the cedar chest—the frenzy of shopping and sewing—the packing.
The nicest thing happened to Mimi during those busy days. Mother bought a small new light-weight trunk and gave Mimi her big wardrobe one. Mimi had always wanted a wardrobe trunk but she hadn’t hoped to have one of her own until she was ready for college. ”

“ While she was in a confidential mood she continued:
“Every one in Prep Hall is sorry you won’t be on our team. Betsy is sorriest of all. She keeps going around saying it was all her fault but she is going to make up to you for it. She is—please, cross your heart not to tell a soul. She wants to surprise—”
But before Mimi had time to promise, Sue dashed in to get her music, leave Mimi a candy bar and a letter from Jean. Before she left for her practice room, Chloe was home. ”

“ The fireman’s voice was kind and soothing but Mimi pulled and jerked. Feeling her resist and believing she was out of her head from fright, he lifted her in his arms. Mimi kicked her legs and screamed. All eyes centered on the struggle. Mrs. Cole rushed over and hugged Mimi, fireman and all! She was crying.
“I’m going back, I tell you!” Mimi screamed, shoving Mrs. Cole away. “Mrs. Cole! Betsy! Madge! Jill!—the girls on the roof!” ”

“ I’ll get a dime’s worth of bonbons and you get a dime’s worth of caramels, that is unless you prefer some other kinds. Let’s end the evening with candy.”
It is a wonder they were not ill the next day but they weren’t. They felt fine. Mimi could hardly contain herself. They were so sound asleep when Dit had come in that she rolled them over to make room for herself without waking either. They slept soundly as tired babies. That is why they were so fresh this morn.
“Wonder what time Dit came in?” Mimi whispered to Betsy in the bathroom. They had managed to get up without awakening her. ”

“ Every one felt that he was doomed: and Mimi herself, though she struggled against that thought, still had in her heart a dark terror of the truth. This truth could at last be concealed no longer even from herself, for Père Michel came to administer the holy eucharist to the dying man, and to receive his last confession. Mimi could not be present while the dying man unfolded to his priest the secrets of his heart, nor could she hope to know what those secrets were. ”