SCÈNE IX GEORGINA, BOB, POLLY
PoLLY. (^Ellc recule frappée de stupeur,) — Oh! pardon, miss! (^Elle fait mine de se retirer,) Je revie\vdv^\^\scssis».
VENT D'OUEST
Georgina. — Restez, petite niaise que vous êtes... Mister Chester sera bientôt votre maître. Cela vous déplaît-il?
Bob, toujours à genoux, — Ne dites pas non, Polly! ne 5 dites pas non, ma chère!
Polly. — Hurrah! pour mister Bob! Oh! quel bonheur! j'épouserai William Blackbeer! Que je suis heureuse! i^Elle gesticule avec le parapluie qu^elle tient.) Prévenez l'architecte, mister Bob!
10 Bob, se relève brusquement et court à Polly, comme le tigre sur une proie, — Dieu me pardonne ! voici mon parapluie ! Oh! pardon, Georgina, mais comme c'est lui qui m'a ramené ici, je voulais le remercier pour le bonheur qu'il me procure.
15 Georgina à Polly, — Donnez-le moi, Polly. {Montrant le parapluie de mister Fox qui gît sur le parquet,) Pour celui-ci, Polly, au grenier! {Elle s* adresse tendrement au parapluie que tient alors mister Bob,) Sans toi, tout était perdu. Je jure de t'aimer et de te respecter à l'avenir . .
2o comme une bonne et fidèle épouse doit respecter et chérir tout ce qui appartient à un mari fidèle et tendre ... et, les jours de pluie, dorénavant. Bob, mon orgueil sera d'aller, par les rues, à votre bras , {Elle ouvre le parapluie et donne le bras à Bob,) comme ceci.
25 Bob. — Oui, mais pour aujourd'hui n'abusons pas. (// ferme le parapluie,) Le vent a tourné de nouveau. Polly. — Il est au nord à présent, mister Bob! Bob. — Tout va bien, nous n'aurons pas de pluie, et voici le soleil!
30 {Précédés de Polly , qui porte avec dégoût le parapluie de mister Fox, Bob et Georgina remontent la scène en se donnant le bras, )
La toile tombe.
NOTES
The figures in heavy-faced type refer to pages of the text and those in plain type to the lines.
2 De nos jours: the play was written in 1873.
8 L'Été de la Saint-Martin : Indian Sumtner. The title is suggested by the return of youthful passion to the heart of old Briqueville. See 38 24. The féminine article appears before Saint-Martin because the complète expression is "/a fête de Saint-Martin** — 5. en scène: well out on the stage. Not contre le mur (4). — 10. à haute TOiz: simply aloud. — 14. The quotation which follows is from Dumas' Les Trois Mousquetaires, D*Artagnan, a Gascon, is the hero of the novel. — 16. encore: moreover, is understood. — 20. gas-
con : the inhabitants of Gascon y have always been noted for their swash-buckler courage. — épouvantés: a participle used in forming a compound tense agrées with a preceding direct object.
4 4. second : second is commonly used when there are only two in the séries. If there are more, deuxième is the proper word for the second. — 7. Par exemple: No, indeed! The négative idea is given by the context. — 8. donniez: subjunctive because of the idea of permission. — 17. vous . . . , te: we leam later that Adrienne is not really Mme. Lebreton's nièce. At this point the old lady forgets to use the familiar pronoun required by the prêteuse, then remembers and corrects herself.
5 6. à la fin: after ail. — 11. ayez: il se fait que and similar impersonal expressions are followed by the indicative, unless used negatively, interrogatively, or with an implication of doubt. — 17. suis: the French always use the présent if the action or state spoken of is still continuing. — 22. rattrapé: caughtup,
6 18. venir passer: venir followed directly by the infinitive means ip comâ /or thâ purpose of ; venir (/d -V- VQ.Çiïi\\À.\^=to Ha-ue 3usl\ •uetvvr
â -h infinitive = (a happen to. — 26. Eh bien quoi : that is, why do you say ek bien? — 27. moi: this répétition of the subject pronoun in the disjunctive form, for the sake of emphasis, is very common. — 28. il me semble : il me semble is commonly followed by the indicative. // semble generally takes the subjunctive.
7 10. j'aie: the subjunctive is used in qualifications of sweeping statements. — 19. redise: subjunctive because of the idea of f«eling in amuse. — 25. Qu'est-ce que VOUS voulez: what can you expect?
8 6. Deuxième: see 44, note. — 12. Tout à fait: Briqueville is resuming the sentence begun in 9. — 24. allez : you see. — 28. venait de: see 6 18, note.
95. les miens: Le., mes parents^ "relatives." — 7. Aussi: aussi beginning a clause means therefore. — 11. reçue: see 3 16, note. — 1 7. sauvais : the imperf ect hère dénotes repeated action. I used to escape,
10 5. je ne sais: pas is colloquially omitted in a négative construction with savoir, as with pouvoir, oser, cesser, and several less common verbs. — 9. sauriez: the conditional might have been used in the direct address which is here quoted, and would give a sort of polite indefiniteness to the [question. Note that pas is used here in spite of the custom noted at 10 5. — 11. trouvé à faire: found opportunity to play. — 12. tOUS les romans:- Dum^ and his assistants wrote hundreds of volumes, ail of which were published as by Dumas himself, so that the task proposed would be almost the labor of a lifetime. — 16. me passer de: to get along withont. — 19. j'aie: see 7 10, note.
11 17. à nous: see 8 25. — jeune personne: no\ young person, but rather young lady. — 20. pas mal d'argent : no lack of money.
124. moi: see 627. — 5. le mariage: simply marriage. — 6. de rien du tout: of no importance, — 9. j'aurais vu: note the différence between the French and English constructions. The English would say, " I would pardon him when I had seen his wife." Which is the more accurate construction? — 10. ne s'est pas fait attendre: was not delayed, — 18. j'aie: subjunctive because in an interrogative clause after a verb of mental action (thinking, knowing, etc.). — en vouloir: to have a grudge against. — 26. S'il l'aimait: Do you ask if /ûz^^t/ /i^r? — 2g, tOutes remplies: completely filUd, — Notice that ^Js^/Srj- js treated as an adjective modifying pages. —
NOTES
femmes : the autres is not to be translated in English. It emphasizes femmes as distinguished from hommes,
13 2. soyez: see 12 1 8, note. — 18. Qui ça, quelqu'un: "w^//, who? somebody . . . " — 22. A qui en avez-vous: to whom are y ou referring? — 25. J'aime à croire: simply I hope,
147. de ma part: from me. — 8. l'on: the /* is added for euphonie reasons, and has no effect on the meaning. — 17. veut dire: means. — 18. prenez son parti: take his side. — 19. en scène: toward front of stage. — 23. parent: here meaning relative, although it is of ten used with the more restricted meaning of parent, — 28. à quoi bon le recevoir : what's the use of receiving him ? — je suis décidé : He might have said, je me suis décidé.
15 2. puisse: see 12 18, note. — 11. je n'ai pas à vouloir: I have no right to wish, i. e., nothing to say in the matter. — 25. soit: so be it. — 28. mon Dieu : the French use such expressions as innocently as we say " gracious ! " or " goodness I " Indeed, when we come to analyze most of our English interjections, we find that they have the same origin as the more straight-forward expletives of the French.
16 14. pas vrai: subject and copula understood: is it not true? Here, isn*t she? — 22. ça ne fait rien: that makes no différence. — 26. çà: an interjection which merely strengthens the expostulation: but realîy, now —
17 6. il s'agit de: ifs about — "I came to talk to you about —
18 3. en plein soleil: right out in the sun. — 5. Elle a eu tort: she shouldnH have done that. — 11. nez à nez : scarcely nose to nose, with the somewhat ludicrous idea which that phrase would convey in English; rather face to face. — 13. précautions infinies: we learn a few lines farther on that the wine was very choice. — 29. je te les ferai donner : / will have them given to you.
19 6. me faire faire: have me make. — 14. de faire subir à mon ameublement: ameublement is subject of subir, but is used with the préposition to distinguish it from the direct object, que. — 23. j'entrai dans: notice that entrer is intransitive in French, although the English équivalent is transitive. — 26. boutique : boutique is generally used with référence to a smaller and poorer establishment than magasin 19 23, hence is here a term of contempl. — «?QvmSX\ S>cifc x'^î^'kîLv^^ in French is frequently équivalent to ouï passive ox 'mVt^^'vîCv*^-
20 15. Tudieu: goodnessl The origin of the word is very évident.
— 22. si: yes, This word is used only as a protest, in answer to a négative. — 25. yoyez-yous: compare the "look you, Sir," of old English literature.
21 3. auquel: notice that résister is not transitive, although its English équivalent is. — 14. du monde: not dans le monde. In after a superlative is regularly translated by de, — 22. n'aurait: if the governing expression had been semblait instead of il me semblait^ the verb would probably have been in the subjunctive. See 6 28, note.
22 I. j'aurais écouté: / might have listened. — que: and y et, — 2. mon parti était pris: my décision was made, — 13. Bah: not an expression of disgust like the English bah ! but a milder exclamation ; pshawî perhaps. — 21. te faire donner les papiers: have the papers given you, After faire the complementary infinitive is frequently équivalent to a past participle in English.
23 I. qu'elle est ici: see 517, note. — 3. See quinze in vocabulary.
— 6. l'être: "as charming as one can be (it)." — 10. état: social rank. — x6. que: see 22 i, note.
24 22. premier: supply étage, "story." The two lower stories of a French building are called the rez-de-chaussée and the entresol; then begins the counting by numbers, so that the premier is what we would call the third story.
25 II. tient à: desires to, — 12. n'eût: imperfect subjunctive used as substitute for conditional. — 26. qu'est-ce que vous ayez: what is the matter with you ? — 27. Ce que j'ai ? The matter?
26 6. on a beau avoir : even though one has, — 8. Se mettant la main sur la poitrine : note the expédient to avoid the use of the possessive adjective. We would say, "putting his hand on his breast.'» — 10. bel et bien en train de: well on the way toward, — 12. elle va s'en aller: she is going to leave; a periphrastic future similar to the one which appears in the English translation. — qu'elle parte: let her go, — 21. vous ferez placer: you will have ( ) placed, See 22 21.
27 16. on vous recommande: the verb with subject on is often best rendered in English by the passive voice: you are advised. — 19. sans cela : // // were not for that. — 25. aimais : addressed to her hus-
band^s elderly uncle, this of course means an entirely différent thing Adrienne from the meaning suggested to tKe lomà oi \î>x\cvjifiwX\<^
NOTES
28 12. on eût dit: here, as often, a substitute for on aurait dit, See 25 12, note. — 18. quelque part: in any place, — 19. à tous les deux: i. e., the existence of both of us. The possessive idea, before expressed by the possessive adjective notre^ is here indicated by the préposition à with an object indicating the possessors. — 26. jeu: action, — 30. quand j'aurais eu fini: the £nglish would say simply, when I had finished,
80 2. Le moyen de : how is it possible to, — 10. on ne peut plus simple : as simple as can be, — 24. elle l'est : is {so), See 23 6, note.
81 12. par exemple: here this phrase has the meaning of the English équivalent, /(É?r example,
32 27. fait: équivalent to importe^ an impersonal expression which regularly takes the subjunctive.
83 5. qui commence seulement : who is just beginning,
84 3. Est-ce qu'il ne vaudrait pas mieux: wouldnUit be better? — 10. ça: as to that, — 13. je veux dire: Imean,
85 6. Dame : an exclamation. See vocabulary. — 8. la : of course referring to tête, — 9. trop : any toc well, — 1 3. tant et tant : simply an emphatic way of saying tant, — 15. nous tirer d'affaire : get us out of the scrape,
86 7. VOUS ayez eu tant dit: see 28 30, note. — 12. y tenir: to endure it, — 14. bête comme tout: foolish as anything,
874. je tiens à: / désire greatly. — 13. Si fait! an emphatic affirmative in response to an implied négative. — 15. si violente et si légitime qu'elle pût être : however violent and reasonable it might be, — 15-16. votre colère — ne devait pas: it could not be that your anget would, — 19. s'il n'y aurait pas: si meaning if cannot be followed by the future or the conditional; but when si means whethery it takes whatever verb-f orm the sensé requires. — 23. à tout prendre : on the whole, — 30. très peur: peur possesses enough adjective force to be modified by the adverb très,
88 3. allez : y ou know, — 9. sur le front : not on the lips. The action shows that he is reconciled to playing merely the "dear uncle" rôle. — II. Bien vrai: "Is it true that you have forglven us?" — 2.\. Je le devrais : I ought to.
LA LETTRE CHARGÉE
LA LETTRE CHARGÉE
43 Chargée: regisUred, — I. lever: strictly an infinitive, but here used as a noun, rising, — dort : is sleeping, Whether or not the French présent tense dénotes continued action, as it does here, must be determined from the context. — 2. fait: see note to dort, line i. — 4. prends ton luth et me donne un baiser : when the second of two imperatives has a pronoun object, this takes the conjunctive form and précèdes the verb, instead of following it as would otherwise be the case. — 10. Tiens: imperative of tenir ^hwX. here merely an exclamation, welll — II. prétendu: intended, — 13. quinze jours: see quinze in vocabulary. — 16. sans: in French sans is folio wed by the infinitive, instead of by the participle as in English. — 19. pas grave: subject, copula, and first part of négative understood. — 21. qui n'en finissent pas : because they are so long. The en is untranslatable.
44 I. en: because of it, — 10. serait: conditional because of the suggestion of uncertainty. — 14. comment trouvez-vous: how do you like , . ,? — 27. Palais: the palais de justice; the court-room.
45 3. il vous a poussé un rival : il is only the apparent subject and vous is the indirect object. The word-play in this sentence might be retained in English by such a translation as : while you are pushing forward adverbs^ as you say^ you have a rival pushing himself forward.
— 6. reçue: see 3 20, note. — 10. elle est manquée: ifs a failure,
— 20. mon honorée : supply lettre, Fougasson is here showing his ignorance, because honorée with this meaning is appropriate only to commercial letters.
46 I. c'est plus fort que moi: ifs too much for me, — 11. cours . . . rapporte : the présent with future meaning is very common. — 14. un brave garçon: a good fellow, — Voilà trois mois que je le fais : the French has no présent perf ect. Time connected in any way with the présent is indicated by the présent tense. — 18. ça se gagne: thafs contagious ! — 24. signiez : subjunctive after the impersonal expression // faut que,
47 4. c'est trop fort: See 46 i, note. — mes deux honorées: Supply lettres. — 5. soient: subjunctive because of the idea of émotion in craignant, The affirmative form of this sentence would drop only
jf^^j-, retainittg the ne. — 6. faire Charger: see 18 29. — 21. s'envoyer:
NOTES
48 18. Nulle part: nowhere. — 19. j'ai: see 46 14, note. — 25. Du tout : = pas du tout — 26. qu'il ne faut jamais : that one tnust never.
49 2. contrarions : imperative, as is shown by the absence of the subject. — 13. qui lui a porté sur le cerveau: which has affected his brain, — 27. assurer: insure.
50 5. rosace : an omamental projection in the form of a rose or star ; a center-piece. — 6. Tenez : an exclamation merely. — en : for it, — 28. frappant: striking, — 30. de travers: crooked.
51 I. qualités: generally used, as here, in the sensé of good qualités, — 10. romance: a graceful, simple song; ballad. — 15. nouveau: sarcastic. — 23. jeter Por par les fenêtres: a very common expression for spending money freely. — 27. convenu: agreed. — 33. Je vous demande pardon : excuse me, A polite way of saying that the interview is over.
52 27. Pour ce que ça vous coûte : as it costs you so little,
53 I. Déchirant: tearing out of the check-book. — 2. A toucher: to be cashed, — 8. tu n'es que : you are only ... — 21. un brun : a darkcomplexioned man ; the masculine équivalent of brunette. — 23. soit resté : subjunctive because the allusion is not to any definite person or case. — 33. allez : hère a strengthening exclamation ; perhaps cerlainly.
54 1 5. pour le faire soigner : to have him cared for,
55 II. par exemple: well^nowî — 19. Parti de rien: having started with nothing, — 20. plus de: rather than plus que, because a numéral foUows. — 26. à moi il m'a offert: object repeated for the sake of emphasis; the first time disjunctive with préposition, the second conjunctive because next the verb. — 28. — Tout ce que vous voudrez: fust as you say about it,
563. le premier venu: an ordinary man. — 13. comment vous êtes-VOUS quittés: kow did you leave each other? how did you separate? — 19. quoi: the of 1. 16, repeated this time in the disjunctive form, because it is not next the verb. — 28. à deux battants : both leavesy i. e., wide open. — 30. raisonnerai: a transitive verb, hence taking the direct object le. How is it in English?
67 5. Prends g&rde de le perdre *. take care not to lose VxmX
LA LETTRE CHARGÉE
command is evidently addressed to herself. — 25. et par lettre chargée encore : and by registered letter too!
58 5. C'est ce qui vous trompe : there*s where you're mistakcn. — 14. grâce: pUaseî — 26. Voilà qui est curieux : thafs strange.
59 19. en cocher: as a cabman, — 29. la différence: Hortense's servant was paying the supposed coachman the régulation two francs per hour, but the latter was giving the servant three francs an hour for choosing his carriage rather than another.
60 12. Enfin: in short. — 13. à . . . par là-bas : she starts to tell where, but it occurs to her that she doesn*t know where, and she ends with"over there." — 14. ce n'est pas la peine d'en parler: // isn*t worth speaking 0/,
61 2. renonçant: evidently not transitive. English? — 3. flûte: Fougasson is wrong about the nationality of this word. He may have caught it from the French slang expression, "jouer des flûtes," "play the thin legs," i. e. " run away." Such a colloquialism might naturally be as unfamiliar to liortense as if it really were "an American word."
— Quelle drôle d'histoire: what a strange storyî — 27. faire part: to inform.
62 3. c'est vous qui l'aurez voulu : " // will be you that wished it so,^^ — 12. ses jours: his life, — 16. corbeille à ouvrage : work-basket.
633. en train de: in the act of, — 13. en baisse: falling, — 19. ça ne se peut pas: that is impossible. — 23. qui vit, ni qui meurt: présent with future meaning. — 25. Veuillez reprendre: please take back. — 28. se reprend : Reflexive with passive meaning. — 29. m'en faire : see 53 30 and 54 14.
64 8. baisse : baisser^ with this meaning, is ordinarily transitive.
VENT D'OUEST
67 I. rez-de-chaussée: see 24 22, note. — 2. donnant: opening.
— 7. plus de : see 55 20, note. — 9. grand'ville : several combinations of the adjective grand with a féminine noun are thus written with the apostrophe: e. g.y grand^ mère, grand^ messe, There is however, no good authority for wiiting grande ville so. — 10. C'est que : it is because.
— 13. une fois de plus : one lime more. — 14. pourvu que : one of the conjunctive phrases which are always foWovjedV»-^ Ocife ^\j3ù\v«vetive.
NOTES
68 7. cela fait voir aux jeunes filles: see 19 14, note. — 10. en rêyez-YOUs parfois de votre futur mari : a pleonastic construction, as the meaning of de votre futur mari is implied in the pronoun en, — 12. si je ne me trompe : what omission ? — Pun des plus superbes : notice the use of the article at the beginning of this phrase. — 17. qu'il ne tient pas : that there isnU room for htm,
695. Dès qu'il aura: see 12 9, note. — 18. j'entrerais tout de suite à son service : entrer denoting actual physical motion is f ollowed by the préposition dans. In its figurative meanings it takes sometimes 0, sometimes en, — 29. vous auriez dû : you should have,
70 8. de mon mieux: as well as I could, — 19. en: because of it,
— 21. prendre votre courage à deux mains: pluck up courage, — 25. grognement: a sign of disapproval at the play or the public address.
71 S- Ce que c'est que d'être: thafs what cornes of being , . . — 17. m'eût étonnée: the pluperfect subjunctive for the compound conditional is very common.
72 13. qu'il a l'air terrible: we might have had comme in place of que; how terrible it looks! — 21. en soie cuite: of boUed silk. In the préparation of silk it is boiled with soap to remove the gum. — 28. Elle joint les mains : the French avoids the use of the possessive except when necessary to make the meaning clear.
78 26. tous : tous means everybody, Everything would be tout,
— 27. Il fait le soumis: he^s pretending to be very humble. — 31. sous le bras: see 72 28, note. — comme (vous le porteriez) si vous suiviez: abbreviation of a contrary-to-fact condition, hence suiviez^ imperfect indicative.
74 22. l'homme : the generic article, which is not expressed in English. — 27. qui le regardent de travers: in American slang, look cross-eyed at him, — 32. que je regrette: see 72 13, note.
75 30. il est très-mal à un gentleman: /V*j very wrongfor a genUeman,
77 12. Qu'avez-vous : whafs the matter with you? — 27. doit être bien fâché : surely must be very angry,
78 8. Que veut-elle dire : whai does sht mean> — \'>i. ''ûl ^ se'/^r^a/ s/ûre ày it, — 17. peidu )usqu?aXL gone Jor c
VENT D'OUEST
to forgeU — 21. que je lui savais pour moi: that I knew he felt for me,
79 I. me piquer au jeu : to sHmuîaU my interest in the game, — 5. là: là \& sometimes translatable by here, — 9. ce pauvre diable: means no more to the French ear than ** that poor wretch " to the sensitive English organ.
80 16. tout petit: very small,
81 I. n l'aura oublié: he probably forgot tt — zj. Elle fait mine de se retirer : ske starts as if to retire,
8231. en se donnant le bras: literally, each other their
arms; i. e. arm in arm.
EXERCISES FOR RETRANSLATION
L'ÉTÉ DE LA SAINT-MARTIN Scène I
As for me, I am going to hunt the first volume on the first floor. As the curtain rises, I am reading aloud to my brother, who never takes his eyes from me. Our door opens on a terrace. He hastens, in order net to keep his brother waiting. D'Artagnan injured himself. He forced the woman whom he had frightened, to sit down. Very well ; but I beg of you not to take the trouble. They would scold me if I climbed on a chair.
