parbleul Euphemism for par Dieu! Translate: By Jove

By George!

17. comme te voilà faiti how you are rigged oui! î.e., how you are dressed!

5. — 2. galons, chevrons; stripes, showing the wearer*s rank.

4. Isly, a small river in Morocco, on the banks of which the French defeated the Moroccans on August 14, 1844.

6. l'étoile des braves, literally, ''the star of the brave," i.e., the badge of the Légion of Honor, the croix, "cross," mentioned below. The Légion of Honor was foimded in 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte as a recompense for meritorious services, both civil and military. The old nobility, of which Gaston is a représentative, did not hold the Légion of Honor in high esteem.

NOTES

11, Ah çàl WéO!; ReaUy! Çà means, Kterally, "here." 13. gentilhomme, nobleman.

16. il n'y a pas jusqu'à la discipline qui n'ait, even the discipline haa.

24. café de Paris, a fafihionable café of the period. In France, the cafés are gênerai meeting-places for everybody, both men, women, and children. They are, naturally, the scènes of lively conversations and discussions.

25. que nous traitions de chauvinisme, which we caUed charwinism, Chauvinism (from the proper name Chauvin) means ridiculously vaînglorious or exaggerated patriotism. Nicolas Chauvin was a vétéran of the First Republic and the Empire, whose blînd patriotism and dévotion to Napoléon came to be ridiculed by his comrades.

27. défonce les blagues. Translate: puis an end to aU mockery. A play on words. Blague means both "tobacco pouch" and "nonsense," "scoflSng." Déf orner means, literally, "to stave in," "to beat in."

30. pour un drapeau qui n'est pas le tien, for a flag which is not yourSf i.e., for the tricolor flag. During the French Révolution, the white flag of the Bourbon monarchs was replaced by the blue, white, and red flag. At the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, the white flag was again adopted. Finally, after the Révolution of 1830, the tricolor once more became the emblem of France. In the text, Gaston is surprised that the Duke should show enthusiasm for the flag that had dîsplaced the white flag of the old nobility.

6. — 1. Bahl Ahl Bah is not, as in English, an exclamation of oontempt.

13. livres, francs, used instead of francs in speaking of incomes. 15. carnaval, carnival, in Roman Catholic countries, the season of merrymaking (three or four days) just before Lent. 18. Ah çâ! See here! Compare note to page 5, line 11.