Part 19 (1/2)

22. il avait pris les devants, 'he had gone on in front.'

26. Beaucaire: a fine town on the right bank of the Rhone.

It is connected with Tarascon by a splendid suspension-bridge, and is famous for its fair held annually in July, and frequented by many thousands of people.

Daudet gives a graphic account of it in _Numa Roumestan_.

Page 10.

2. Un parapluie: note the gender; nouns ending in _e_ mute preceded by a vowel are usually feminine. Other exceptions are _genie, incendie, lycee, musee_.

3. tout de meme, 'all the same.'

Page 11. (chapter ii. full=ii)

3. a cote de, 'by the side of,' 'beside.' Cf. note, p. 7 l. 13. Distinguish also _a cote_ and _de cote_; e.g. _il demeure a cote_, 'he lives close by'; _la maison d'a cote_ 'the next house'; _le tableau est de cote_ 'the picture is on one side'; _un regard de cote_, 'a side glance.'

7. large, 'broad,' _never_ 'large.'

8. le ciel riait, 'the sky was radiant.'

9. descendaient au fil de l'eau, 'were going down stream.'

19. ma foi! 'upon my word!' 'faith!' _not_ 'my faith!'

Never translate this expression literally.

Page 12.

3. serres les uns contre les autres, 'closely packed.'

9. a tatons, 'groping his way along.'

qui vive? 'who goes there?' The challenge of a French sentinel.

14. et en route, 'and moved off.'

21. ah! mon Dieu! see note, p. 8 l. 14.

23. me serra plus fort, 'grasped my hand more firmly.'

29. s'il parlait, je crois bien: on l'entendait d'une lieue, 'I should rather think it was talking, you could hear it a mile off.' The sentence is elliptical, _vous demandez_ being understood before _s'il_. Note the idiomatic use of _bien_, and cf. _je le veux bien_, 'I am _perfectly_ willing'; _voulez-vous bien vous en aller_, '_won't_ you go away!'

_je donnerais bien un franc_, 'I shouldn't mind giving a franc.'

30. trouble, 'agitation,' 'confusion,' _not_ 'trouble,'

the French for which is _peine, chagrin, douleur.

Les troubles_='rebellion,' 'rising,' e.g. _des troubles eclaterent en France_.

Page 13.

9. plus de Vendredi! plus de perroquet...plus possible: _plus_ is often used negatively without _ne_ when the verb is understood.

Trans. 'without a Friday, or a parrot, a Robinson would not be possible any longer.'