V.)
18: c'est-à-dire que: I say that.
19: je te retrouve: now you are yourself again! Lit., «I find you again (as I have always known you).»
20: l'envoi... part: till the wedding cards are out. French people mail notices of weddings, deaths, and even births to all their friends. Such notices are called billets de faire-part, or «cards of notification.»
ACTE III, SCÈNE VIII
1: mes actions baissent: a stock-exchange metaphor.
2: ça me... peine: I hate to do it. Peine is never physical pain.
3: Nous y voilà: Now we're in for it, or Now it's coming!
4: on a beau dire: acte II, scène V, note 10.
5: brûle le pavé: a stock phrase for «driving furiously,» striking sparks from the paving-stones: is dashing round the city.
6: Aussi: see acte II, scène IV, note 6.
7: Musée de Versailles: there is, in the famous palace of Versailles (a town some fifteen miles southwest of Paris), a celebrated gallery ofhistorical paintings and portraits.--L'exposition: the annual Paris Salon, or exhibition of paintings.
8: Adieu: Farewell; very different from au revoir.
9: Allons donc: see List of Exclamations.
ACTE III, SCÈNE IX
1: Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça: this redundant expression implies surprise: What on earth have we here?--ça: again contemptuous. Perrichondoes not know the man, and is unfavorably impressed by a name which is, as a matter of fact, more frequently found among the peasantry than in the upper classes in France, and which is more closely connected with the gospels than with the army.
2: plus que vive: which could hardly be called complimentary. Lit., «more than sharp.»
3: un peu cruelle: because she gets people into trouble; exacting.
4: Loin de moi cette pensée: a very dignified phrase: Perish the thought!
5: ce n'est pas malheureux: and a good thing, too! Cf. acte I, scène VIII, note 2.
6: Mathieu: for the inference from the name, see acte III, scène IX.
7: moustaches: Napoleon III set the fashion, compulsory in the army, of wearing no other hair on the face than a mustache and a small chin tuft called impériale. Of course, an army man might wear none at all, but such a thing was unusual.
8: la Malmaison: a village and pretty park, close to and southwest of Paris.
9: des meubles: this implies that the Major has made it up with Anita, and is about to set up housekeeping.--J'ai bien l'honneur (de vous saluer): a courteous formula of leave-taking: I beg to bid you.
ACTE III, SCÈNE X
1: raide en affaires: mighty peremptory. Lit., «stiff, unbending in your dealings.»
2: à la cheminée: before electric bells came into general use, there was in most parlors a bell-rope hanging on each side of the fireplace, one ringing upstairs, the other ringing in the kitchen.
3: un zouave: the zouaves were originally a troop of natives from the French colony of Algeria, who speedily got a name for fearlessness. The modern zouaves are Frenchmen, but still enjoy the same reputation as dare-devils and fire-eaters. Hence Perrichon's exclamation, semi-humorous because he does not yet fully realize his perilous position.
4: un notaire gradé: a lawyer with a commission in the National Guard. A notaire is, by profession, the very opposite of a military man. In the National Guard (for which see acte I, scène I, note 7, 14.) many acivilian would have a «rank,» or grade.
5: vous comprenez: that I may be killed and must leave all my papers in order.
ACTE III, SCÈNE XI
1: c'est qu'il a... beau père: Isn't father-in-law plucky, though! C'est que introduces a reason for something that must be supplied. Here:«(All this is) because he,» «the fact is that.»--de son côté = and on the other hand.
2: au fait: after all; lit., «coming down to facts.»
3: à point nommé: always = in the nick of time, never «at the appointed place.»
ACTE III, SCÈNE XII
1: il suffit... d'heure: supply: for a great misfortune.
2: porte du garde: i.e. at the park gate where the keeper's lodge stands, there being other entrances to the park.
3: Veuillez agréer: the first words of the most usual conclusion to a letter in French: Veuilles agréer mes salutations empressées. Tr., Yours, etc.
4: Il écrit: on the envelope. Such phrases as «Immediate,» «Important,» etc., are frequently written on the outside of envelopes in Europe.
ACTE III, SCÈNE XIII
1: comme le bronze: the usual simile with calme in such contexts. Use an equivalent: «Bold as brass.»
2: le terrain: the stock phrase for any place where a duel is fought. Tr., on the field of honor. This lets the secret out, at which Daniel uttersan exclamation of pain, since the ladies were not to be told.
3: faire prévenir: send word to. Lit., «get somebody to notify.»
ACTE QUATRIÈME
SCÈNE PREMIÈRE
1: practicable: the term «practicable» is technical in English stage parlance for any part of the scenery that is real enough to be used, A «practicable» door or window can be opened and shut, etc. Here the wing of the house can be entered.
2: si vous voulez: for the rest of this sentence see Daniel's last speech in the next scene.
ACTE IV, SCÈNE II
1: avec quoi: the same play on words is possible in both languages: And what with? Contrast Mme Perrichon's question, acte III, scène
