23. achevait sa philosophie, ‘was finishing his course of philosophy,’ i.e. was completing his school education. The order of the forms in a French school, beginning with the lowest, is _neuvième, huitième, septième, sixième, cinquième, quatrième, troisième, seconde, première, philosophie_. 29. Eyssette père, ‘Eyssette senior’ so _Eyssette fils_ (p. 24 l. 21), ‘Eyssette junior.’ Page 22. 20. un parti à prendre, ‘one decision to come to.’ Note _prendre son parti_, ‘to make up one’s mind’; _épouser un bon parti_, ‘to make a good match’; _tirer parti de_, ‘to turn to account.’ Distinguish carefully from _la part_, ‘share,’ and _la partie_, ‘part,’ ‘portion,’ ‘game,’ etc. 22. de notre côté, ‘for ourselves.’ Cf. note, p. 7 l. 13. 28. jusqu’à nouvel ordre, ‘until matters improve.’ 31. comme commis-voyageur à la société vinicole, ‘as a commercial traveller for the wine-growers’ society.’ Page 23. 3. justement je reçois, ‘it just happens that I have received.’ 4. maître d’étude, ‘usher.’ 10. c’est bien, ‘very well.’ 19. qu’on s’occupe de sa malle, ‘let some one see to his trunk being packed.’ 23. fait au . ., ‘accustomed to . .’ 28. Eyesette: names of persons or families are _invariable_ in the plural, e.g. _les Corneille et les Racine_, except certain well-known historical names, chiefly of dynasties, e.g. _les Césars, les Tudors, les Bourbons_. But when used as common nouns to denote ‘persons like’ or ‘works by’ those named, they are variable. In the latter case, however, they only take the mark of the plural, according to some grammarians, when speaking of different editions, not of several copies of the same edition. Page 24. 17. Académie: see note, p. 16 l. 15. 20. n’ayant rien qui sentît le pédant, ‘having nothing about him which savoured of the pedant.’ Cf. note, p. 17 l. 20. Why is _sentît_ subjunctive? 23. brave: note _un brave homme_, ‘a good, honest man’; _un homme brave_, ‘a brave, courageous man.’ 25. ah! mon Dieu! ‘why!’ Cf. note, p. 8 l. 14. 27. mauviette, ‘delicate’; _une mauviette_, lit. ‘a lark.’ Page 25. 6. mais enfin, ‘however.’ 9. baraque: slang for ‘school.’ 10. collège communal, ‘communal’ or ‘municipal school.’ Distinguish carefully between a lycée and a collège. The former is kept up entirely by the State; the latter partly by the State, partly by the town. Both provide ‘secondary’ education. 11. Sarlande: a fictitious name. Alais was the place where Daudet really went. en pleine montagne: see note, p. 7 l. 3. Alais is near the Cévennes mountains. 16. la lettre terminée: this construction of a noun or pronoun with a participle, standing independently of any other word in the sentence, and representing a subordinate clause, is very common in French. It is the exact equivalent of the ablative absolute in Latin.