NOTES
☞ The numbers in heavy-faced type refer to the pages of the text ; the ordinary figures, to the lines.
3.—3. Belle endormie. Fair dreamer.
4. Tu manques d’éclat. You want brilliancy.
14. Après avoir descendu au pas. After riding at a slow pace.
19. Rapportant. Bringing in an income.
21. Un bon parti. A good match.
4.— 1. Trop difficile et portée. Too fastidious and too inclined.
4. On ne s’expliquait pas … elle eût refusé. They could not comprehend… she should have refused. A great variety of verbs, such as denote perception by the senses, are followed by que and an object-clause whose verb is usually in the indicative when the principal verb is affirmative, and usually in the subjunctive, when the principal verb is negative, interrogative, or conditional in form.
7. Qui eussent désiré la prendre en pension et la produire dans le monde. Who would have been glad to take her as a boarder and to introduce her into society. The pluperfect subjunctive is frequently used as the conclusion of a condition implied or expressed. — Eût in the next line expresses that which is possible or even probable, and fût in line 15 is a subjunctive. The subjunctive is always used after compound indefinite adverbs, such as si … que, “however.”
13. Des fonctionnaires très-bien. Government officials everywhere received.
14. Enfin un personnel convenable. In short, a suitable number of marriageable men.
24. À laquelle il faut rapporter ce simple fait. To which this simple story relates.
25. De mémoire d’homme, il ne s’y était passé. In the memory of man, there had not taken place there.
26. Mœurs douces. Gentle habits. (Lat. mores, plural of mos.) The final s is pronounced in this word.
