8.--19. je ne sais quel. Note the omission of _pas_ in
this phrase which stands for _quelque_; note also the omission of _pas_
after _savait_ in the next sentence (see also note to p. 201, 1.
13).
9.--18. personne... n'eût fait. The imperfect and the
pluperfect subjunctive sometimes occur in conditional sentences contrary
to fact, but only in literary style.
22. lui demandait-on s'il s'était battu, il répondait... que oui.
_Si_ is avoided in the first clause by means of inversion, otherwise two
successive clauses introduced by _si_ would occur; _que_ is used before
_oui_ because _oui_ substitutes a clause (_il s'était battu_); notice
that no elision occurs before _oui_.
31. tous. When _tous_ is used without a following noun, _s_ is
Pronounced.
12.--14. celui-là. The meaning here is "sldquo;still another" or
"aldquo;a third."
25. précipitamment. This is not an exception to the rule that
_-ment_ is added to the feminine form of the adjective to form the
adverb; adjectives having only two terminations in Latin, that is, those
that had the same form for the masculine and feminine (_grandis_, etc.)
had the same form for both the masculine and feminine in Old French;
_précipitant_ is both masculine and feminine in Old French and becomes
with the addition of _-ment précipitamment_ by assimilation (see also
note to p.87, l. 17).
13.--4. il la fit partager à toute la compagnie.
_Compagnie_ is the direct object of _fit_.
14.--1. R... Mérimée uses both this form of abbreviation
and the form which occurs on p. 1, l .9 (cf. also p. 17, l. 26).
16.--7. de n'avoir pas. _Pas_ is usually placed before the
infinitive.
18.--12. dépit... des pires. Mérimée tries to reproduce a
Russian pun by means of a play on these words. He gives the following
note: «Il y a, dans le russe un jeu de mots impossible à traduire:
sdelatsa pianitseiou _s'goria_, t. c. samym _gorkim_ pia-nitseiou.»
20.--24. il y a bien quatre ans que je n'ai touché. Note
that while _pas_ is omitted in this phrase it is used below (p. 21, l.
27) in _voilà cinq ans que je n'en ai pas eu_; compare also: _il y a
cinq ans que je me mariai_ (p. 22, l. 18), where there is no negative
idea.
21.--10. prendre son verre d'eau-de-vie avant la soupe.
Mérimée gives the following note: «C'est l'usage en Russie de prendre de
l'eau-de-vie un peu avant le diner.»
22.--6. serait-ce vous. The conditional here expresses
uncertainty; it should be rendered in English by "cldquo;could" not by "wldquo;would."
24.--14. reviens-nous. Note the use of the indirect object
(instead of _à nous_) with a verb of motion.