effilées, lestes, refined, wide awake

21. sept marqnes noires et cinq marques blanches. This is an ironical référence to titles, and the whole passage is directed at the affectations and pretensions of the Faubourg St, Germain^ the aristocratie quarter of Paris. A little further on the name of Pie X is a but slightly disguised référence to Charles X., the last king of the direct line of the Bourbons.