"Here they come, here they come!" some one cries, and almost at once the beginning of the bull-fighting procession appears. First the cuadrilla, then the alguazil, chulos, banderilleros--all covered with spangles and gold lace; and the picadors with their pointed lances with which to goad the bull. Every division in a different colour, and everybody fixed for a good time, except the bull, perhaps. After all these chromo gentlemen have had a chance at him, Escamillo will courageously step up and kill him. Yes, Spain is all ready for a good time! Now at last comes Escamillo. "Viva Escamillo!" If one ever saw a beauty-man, he is one! He might as well have been a woman, he is so good-looking. He has a most beautiful love song with Carmen, who of course is in the very midst of the excitement, and in the midst of the song, the great Alcalde arrives. Nobody wants to see the bull-fight more than he does. He was brought up on bull-fights. His entrance makes a new sensation. In the midst of the hurly-burly Frasquita forces her way to Carmen. "You want to get away from here. I have seen Don Jose in this crowd. If he finds you there will be trouble----" "For him maybe." Carmen returns, insolently looking about to see if she can espy Jose. The girls urge her not to go too far; to keep out of Jose's way, but she refuses point blank. "Leave the fight and Escamillo? Not for twenty Joses. Here I am, and here I stay," she declares. Everybody but Carmen thinks of the fortune in the cave: death, death, death! But gradually the great crowd passes into the amphitheatre, and Carmen has promised Escamillo to await him when he shall come out triumphant; and Escamillo has no sooner bade Carmen good-bye than Jose swings into the square in search of Carmen. Carmen sees him and watches him. He does not look angry. As a matter of fact he has gone through so much sorrow (the death of his mother, and the jeers of his friends) that he has sought Carmen only with tenderness in his heart. He now goes up to her and tells her this. "Indeed, I thought you had come to murder me." "I have come to take you away from these gipsies and smugglers. If you are apart from them you will do better. I love you and want you to go away from here, and together we will begin over and try to do better." Carmen looks at him and laughs. Suddenly she hears cheering from the amphitheatre and starts toward it. Jose interposes. "You let me alone. I want to go in----" "To see Escamillo----" "Why not--since I love him----" "How is that?"