les distractions : ' The occasional inattention

24.1. Il s'installa sommairement: ' He settled down in a rough and ready manner.

24.2. la porte charretière : The arched entrance for the carts to pass through. Cf. ' la porte cochère,' ' the carriage-entrance.'

24.3. une maritorne : *A farm girl.' Originally the name of a servant in an inn, in Cervantes' Don Quixote ; the word is now commonly applied to an untidy woman, a slut.

24.4. étable : Not a ' stable,' but a ' cow-house,' ' stye,' or pen. A ' stable ' is ' une écurie.'

24.5. Poniatowski : A brave Polish prince who served as a gênerai in the French army. He was drowned in the Elster after the battle of Leipzig (181 3).

24.6. Elster : There are two German rivers of this name. The Black Elster is a tributary of the Elbe ; the White Elster, which fiows through the city of Leipzig, falls into the Saale between Halle and Merseburg.