22. il avait pris les devants, "he had gone on in front."
26. Beaucaire: a fine town on the right bank of the Rhone.
It is connected with Tarascon by a splendid suspension-bridge, and is famous for its fair held annually in July, and frequented by many thousands of people.
Daudet gives a graphic account of it in _Numa Roumestan_.
Page 10.
2. Un parapluie: note the gender; nouns ending in _e_ mute preceded by a vowel are usually feminine. Other exceptions are _genie, incendie, lycee, musee_.
3. tout de meme, "all the same."
Page 11. (chapter ii. full=ii)
3. a cote de, "by the side of," "beside." Cf. note, p. 7 l. 13. Distinguish also _a cote_ and _de cote_; e.g. _il demeure a cote_, "he lives close by"; _la maison d"a cote_ "the next house"; _le tableau est de cote_ "the picture is on one side"; _un regard de cote_, "a side glance."
7. large, "broad," _never_ "large."
8. le ciel riait, "the sky was radiant."
9. descendaient au fil de l"eau, "were going down stream."
19. ma foi! "upon my word!" "faith!" _not_ "my faith!"
Never translate this expression literally.
Page 12.
3. serres les uns contre les autres, "closely packed."
9. a tatons, "groping his way along."
qui vive? "who goes there?" The challenge of a French sentinel.
14. et en route, "and moved off."
21. ah! mon Dieu! see note, p. 8 l. 14.
23. me serra plus fort, "grasped my hand more firmly."
29. s"il parlait, je crois bien: on l"entendait d"une lieue, "I should rather think it was talking, you could hear it a mile off." The sentence is elliptical, _vous demandez_ being understood before _s"il_. Note the idiomatic use of _bien_, and cf. _je le veux bien_, "I am _perfectly_ willing"; _voulez-vous bien vous en aller_, "_won"t_ you go away!"
_je donnerais bien un franc_, "I shouldn"t mind giving a franc."
30. trouble, "agitation," "confusion," _not_ "trouble,"
the French for which is _peine, chagrin, douleur.
Les troubles_="rebellion," "rising," e.g. _des troubles eclaterent en France_.
Page 13.
9. plus de Vendredi! plus de perroquet...plus possible: _plus_ is often used negatively without _ne_ when the verb is understood.
Trans. "without a Friday, or a parrot, a Robinson would not be possible any longer."
10. le moyen: elliptical for _dites-moi le moyen_.
Trans. "how was it possible to..." or "how could one..."
11. d"ailleurs, "besides"; _ailleurs_="elsewhere."
13. rue Lanterne: note omission of preposition and article.
28. le lendemain soir: note this is the correct way of expressing in French "next evening"; cf. _le lendemain matin_.
Page 14.
17. s"y maria, "got married there." Note _marier_, "to give in marriage,"
or "to perform the marriage ceremony"; e.g. _le cure les a maries; se marier avec_, "to be married to," e.g. _elle s"est mariee avec Monsieur B_., or _elle a epouse Monsieur B_.
20. gros ouvrage, "rough work."
26. par exemple: see note, p. 3 l. 22.
27. lui non plus, "either," added for emphasis at the end of the sentence.
29. avait fini par le prendre en grippe, "had at length taken a dislike to him."
l"abreuvait de taloches, "rapped his head at every turn."
31. le fait est: a favourite expression of Daudet. It does not correspond to the English "the fact is," which generally denotes a contradiction, but rather strengthens what has been said.
Trans. "indeed."
Page 15.
2. perdait tous ses moyens, "completely lost his wits."
9. le voila qui prend: the use of _le voila_ is very emphatic; _voi_ is the imperative of _voir_, and _le voila=vois-le la_.
18. tu as beau lui dire, "it is no use your telling him." _Avoir beau_ + infinitive is ironical, and elliptical for _avoir beau temps pour_, i.e. to have a fine opportunity, but to no purpose; cf. the English "it is all very _fine_ for you to tell him."
19. tout de meme: see note, p. 10 l. 3.
30. pourvu qu"il ne lui soit rien arrive, "I hope nothing has happened to him."
31. parbleu: a euphemism for _pardieu_. Trans. "why, of course not."
Page 16.
15. recteur: as far as education is concerned, France is divided into seventeen _academies_, each under a _recteur_, who represents the _Ministre de l"instruction publique_.
24. de bonne foi, "honestly"; cf. _de bon cur_, "gladly"
(p. 35 l. 28); _de meilleur cur_, "more cheerfully,"
"more willingly" (p. 49 l. 27).