appuyaient ses pieds. See note to

— . venait de. See Yocabalary. Remember that the imperfect of venir de must be rendered by the corresponding tense of * have just'

21. on eût dit une araignée. The pluperfect of the subjunctive is used as a second past tense of the conditional, seldom with any perceptible difference in meanino^. The text means lit *one would have said a spider.' This French idiom corresponds to the English * you would have thought it was,' etc.

24. se laissait tomber. The imperfect indicative in not infrequently used in French as a graphic substitute for the past conditional. The same licence may occasionally be taken in English : e.g. * if I had stirred, I was (should have been) a dead man.'

32. Lui, ' he,' is put first for emphasis, but remains without a verb, the text being lit *He . . . one thought one saw him.' Omit lui in translation and say ' people thought they saw him.'

33. on crui le voir. Verbs of thinking govern an infinitive without a preposition, when the subject of both verbs is the snme. See preceding note. But * I think that he sees ' is je crois qu*il voit