"Get in there, José, and bring out the girl. Arrest the gipsy; and you men here get into this crowd and quiet it down. Make those girls shut up. Why, what the devil, I say! one would think a lunatic asylum loose. You've got the girl, José?" he calls across as the corporal brings Carmen out. "Bring her over," and Zuniga starts across to meet them, clattering on the cobblestones with his high heels.
"She knifed one of the girls, did she? All right—clap her into jail. You're just a bit too ready with your hands, my girl," the captain cries as José takes her into the guard-house.
José is set to guard her; which is about as wise as setting the cream where the cat can dip her whiskers.
If it pleased the girl a moment before to stab a companion, it pleases her best now to get out of jail. She begins ably.
"I love you," she remarks to José.
"It does not concern me," replies the heroic José.
"It should," Carmen persists.
"Ah!" replies José, noncommittally. This is unsatisfactory to Carmen. However, she is equal to the occasion. When is she so fascinating as when quite preoccupied?—she will try it now. She will sing:
[[Listen]]