182.--7. joueur comme les cartes. Compare the phrase in
another of Coppée's stories (les Vices du Capitaine), joueur
comme feu Bésigue, where the game (bezique) is spoken of as though
it were a person.
11. trop heureux de devenir. Notice the difference between this
phrase and _trop heureux pour devenir_.
31. Dauphin. When the province of Dauphiné was added to French
territory, the last ruler of Dauphiné, Humbert III, ceded the province
on condition that the title of Dauphin be given to the eldest son of the
French king; the province became a part of French territory in 1349.
183.--10. le trois pour cent. The reference is to
government bonds.
16. quatre bureaux de tabac. Tobacco is a government monopoly in
France, hence the management of the shops is sometimes turned over to
friends of politicians.
18. Deux Décembre. The date (December 2, 1851) on which Louis
Napoleon executed his _coup d'état_, by which he was elected President
for ten years. There was a Parisian uprising against this act, but he
put this down and in the following year he became Emperor with the title
of Napoleon III (1808-1873).
19. P'pa, et le p'tit Noël... y mettra-ti' tet' chose. For _Papa,
etc. ...y mettra-t-il quelque chose_. See also note to p. 77, l. 32.
184.--1. blond albinos. Modified adjectives of color are
usually invariable.
185.--20. conquêtes de 89. The French Revolution began in
1789.
27. l'air d'un marié du samedi. The working people are often
married on Saturday.
29. République parlementaire. A Republic has been proclaimed
three times in France: the first lasted from 1792 until Napoleon I
became Emperor in 1804; the second extended from the fall of King Louis
Philippe in 1848 until the _coup d'état_ of 1851; the third and present
Republic was proclaimed on September 4, 1870 (the allusion in the text
is to the last).
186.--14. au château. That is, _au château du Louvre_, the
former residence of the French kings.