Il le faut bien, // 's a necessity

763. dispositions où le cœur se serre vite, a mood when one is easily worked upon. Cf. the phrase, ■ C'est une chose à serrer le cœur,' It%S a heartbreakin^ business.

Ch. VIL] NOTES. (45

I. emboîter le pas, to march. Derived from 'boîte,' a box ; also the socket (or ' box ') of a joint; thus, ' se déboîter un bras ' = to * put out"* one's arm, and ' emboîter ' = to set, or fit in (a bone). It is then used of soldiers marching in file, where the steps 'fit in,' as it were, with those of the man in front.

26. maussade, cross. Formerly the word was used of a bad laste, and then came to mean sour, unpleasant.

39. les choses allèrent à peu près, things went pretty well. 43. au sec, in the dry quarter.

81. se portait en dedans, was worn on the inside. 89. il ne se faisait pas d'éclaircies, there zvas no light. 98. jacassements : jacasser is to chatter like a Jacques' (name for a magpie).

injures, insuîts (cf. use of Lat. injuria). 107. se détacher, to stand out in relief.

149. bas côtés, roadsides. This word is primarily used of the % aisles ' of a church (the low sides), and then of the sides of a road, which are sloped off for the sake of better drainage, and so are lower than the crown of the road. In England one often fmds a raised footpath. This would be ' trottoir ' in French.

broussailles, briars; buissons, bushes.