exaspéré, hère ' inflamed

I20 Petites Ames

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36. 14. Claude Frollo : onc of the characters in Notre Dame de

Paris, l)y Victor Hu'go.

37. 3. sentaient . . à plein nez, ' scented horribly of. ' Cf. —

à pleines mains, ' by handfuls. ' à pleine gorge, ' as loud as one can. ' à pleine bouche, ' as much as the niouth can hold. * ,, 7. le Lycée : or Literature Ancient and Modem. La Harpe : a once famous critic (1739-1803). ,, 15. Manon Lescaut: a celebrated novel — the masterpiece of the Abbé Prévost (1735). Not such an edifying story as tante Reine thought, although the simple abbé was under the impression that he had written a work eminently moral. ,, 17. donnez, donnez, say ' do let me hâve it.' ,, 19. entrée, 'beginning.' ,, 21. n'était, i.e. s il n y avait pas. ,, 23. des fruitiers, i.e. des arbres frjiitiers.

,, 24. qui s'étoilent de fleurs, transi, 'blooming forth again.' Sétoiler, ' to be studded with stars. '

38. I. une toison, ' an entanglement,' 'a network.' 6. fléchissant, 'deflected.'

maillés de plomb, ' latticed vi^ith lead. ' , , 9. quasi bourg'eoise, ' quasi-residential. ' ,, 16, des pommes en chapelet, ' strings, clusters of apples.' ,, 17. tout est d'un calme I ' everything is wonderfully quiet';

exclamatory and, like most exclamations, elliptical, but fully

emphasised and explained by tone and gesture. If complète,

the sentence would run about as follows : . . dun calme tel

quil me serait difficile de vous en donner une idée. Cf. —

. elle est d'rme beauté !

il fait U7ie chaleur !

c'est d^nn goût ! fam.

,, 18. des musiques de la saison, transi. ' strains, sounds that

are peculiar to that time of year. ' ,, 20. rabattant sa barrique, ' circling, tightening (with hoops)

his casks ' (lit. beating down the hoops round his casks so

as to tighten the staves together).

, , 21. une borde inconnue, ' a homestead ensconced somewhere. '

Borde, an old word still used in some parts of the country,

meaning a farmstead.

,, 24. festonne, 'flits about' (zigzagging in its flight). Cf. Engl.

festoon.

, , 29. bourgeoises, ' ladies. * 89. S- troublante, ' seductive. '

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39. 8. tâte le pouls a\ix poires, transi. ' feels how ripe thc pears

are ' ; le pouls, ' the puise. ' 9. appelle (lit. 'calls,' 'causes to corne to her' ; hère, not with the voice, but with the hand), ' pulls down.' Cf. Lat. appcllo [adpello) ' to bring a ship in ' (to land).

.. 10. délogent des régiments, i.e. dts régiments . . délogetit. The inversion is hère necessary to keep the subject close to the verb, which otherwise would ha\e to be placed at the end of the sentence.