Aussi ce fut. ' And so it was

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3. comme... roi. The allusion is to the story that in mediseval France, when the king's officers had executed a person found offending, they threw the body into the nearest river, after attaching to it a label with the words, Laissez passer la justice du roi^ 'Let the king's judgments go by.' The phrase is commonly used when interférence is deprecated, Ah, madame, laissez donc passer la justice de Dieu, ' let God's judgment go unchallenged,' is the answer given by a heroine of Cherbuliez's to an attempt at consolation.

II. voir venir, 'to see what's going to happen,' i.e. to let things take their course, without trying to influence it.

21. Normande. The people of Normandy hâve a greater réputation . for shrewdness than for honesty, and might therefore be expected to lie freely when there was anything to be gained by so doing.

27. depuis, ..en a, 'since there hâve been.' English constantly uses a perfect tense where French has the présent.

29. je voudrais. . .peu, ' then I should be glad just to know.*

^9» 33- font... font. The point given by the répétition of the word faire cannot be kept in English, as we do not use the word *do' or ' make ' in this sensé of ' produce. '

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I. Je suls...Honfleur, *I am worse served than any other woman in ail Ilonfleur.' Lise means not that she is treated badly, but that her wants are ill supplied.

6. nos huit jours, * our week's notice.' The usual length of notice of leave for a servant in France is a week, not a month, as in England.

i6. à ces... davantage. Certain horses, when disposed to run away, s' emporter ^ are better not ridden on the cwxb, faire sentir le niors^ as the tightening of the bit gives them something to pull against, un point d'appui sur la main, and the résistance offered only excites them more. In French the word appui * support ' is used of a horse in a technical sensé ; n'avoir pas d'appui, * to be tender mouthed.*