3

her tone.1 One day, when he had not returned home exactly at the appointed minute,2 she received him with a frown such as would have made even Mars himself recoil, if Mars could have beheld 5 such a frown upon the brow 6 of his Venus.

my

"Dinner has been kept waiting for you this hour, dear."

ד יי

"I am very sorry for it; but why did you wait, my dear? 8 I am really very sorry I am so late; 9 but" (looking at 10 his watch) "it is only half-past six by me." 11

"It is seven by me.' 12

They presented their watches to each other, he in an apologetical, she in a reproachful attitude. 13

"I rather think you are too fast,1 14 my dear," said the gentleman.

"I am very sure you are too slow,15 my dear," said the lady.

means behind a fixed time.

10 regardant à; regardant, without the preposition d, would not imply looking at the dial to see the time.

11 six heures et demie (page 5, note 1; and page 197, note 9) á ma montre.-it is only;' see page 6, note 6.

12 See p. 158, note 10.-by me,' à la mienne.

13 Ils se firent voir leurs montres l'un à l'autre, lui d'un air d'excuse, elle, d'un air de reproche (or, elliptically, elle de reproche). See p. 10, n. 9, and notice this use of the reflective pronoun se, together with l'un and l'autre, which use is as common with reciprocal verbs as that of two reflective pronouns is with reflective verbs, for the sake of emphasis. (See p. 37, n. 3.)

14 que tu avances (or, que ta montre avance).—I rather think;" see page 12, note 5.

15 que c'est toi qui retardes (or, que c'est la tienne qui retarde).

My watch never loses a1 minute in the four and twenty 2 hours," said he.

"Nor mine a second," said she.

"I have reason to believe I am right,3 my love," said the husband, mildly.

"Reason!"4 exclaimed the wife, astonished. "What' reason can you possibly 5 have to believe you are right, when I tell you I am morally certain you are wrong, my love?"

My only reason for doubting it is that I set my watch by the sun to-day."

"The sun must be wrong, then," cried the lady, hastily. "You need not laugh; for I know what I am saying: the variation, the declination, must be allowed for in computing it with the clock. Now, 10 you know perfectly well what I mean, though you will not explain it for me, because you are conscious 11 I am in the right.” 12

Well, my dear, if you

1 Jamais ma montre ne retarde (or, better, ne se dérange) d'une.Ne se dérange means 'varies,' and it is to be preferred here to retarde, 'loses,' as the wife, who is told her watch is too fast, or gains, immediately after answers, to deny the fact, "Nor mine a second." It should have been, "Nor does mine gain a second." Evidently this was a negligence on the part of the authoress.

2 vingt-quatre. The larger of two numbers always comes first in French, unless one multiplies the other, as, trois cents (100 × 3), quatre-vingts, 'eighty' (20 × 4), &c.

3 J'ai lieu de croire que je vais bien.-Avoir raison means to be right,' and avoir tort, 'to be wrong,' but not when we speak of time.

4 Lieu de croire!

5 Quel motif imaginable peuxtu; or, Quel motif peux-tu donc.Never couple together, in French, in the same phrase, such ideas as those contained in the words 'can' and possible,' or 'possibly; it would be considered, and not with

are conscious of it, that is out reason, more a pleonasm than elegant emphasis. See p. 1, n. 15. 6 Le seul motif (or, La seule raison) que j'aie d'en douter, c'est. Notice this use of the subjunctive, after le seul, followed by a relative pronoun. As to the pronoun ce, it is not strictly necessary here before the verb être, but its use is more conformable to the genius of the French language.

7 j'ai réglé ma montre (or, j'ai mis ma montre à l'heure-or, j'ai pris l'heure) sur le soleil (or, sur le cadran solaire).

8 Il n'y a pas là de quoi rire.

9 la variation, la déclinaison, doit être mise en ligne de compte (or, il faut tenir compte-il faut faire la part de la variation, de la déclinaison) quand on calcule l'heure du soleil en même temps que celle de l'horloge (or, . . . calculé le temps vrai... que le temps moyenscientific terms).

...

10 Voyons, or Allons.

11 tu sens bien.

12 See page 1, note 8, and above, note 3, remark.

sufficient. We will not dispute any more about such a trifle. Are they bringing up dinner? 1"

"If they know that you are come in; but I am sure I cannot tell whether they do or not. Pray,2 my dear Mrs. Nettleby," cried the lady, turning to a female friend,3 and still holding her watch in her hand, "What o'clock is it by you? There is nobody in the world hates disputing about trifles so much as I do;5 but I own I do love to convince people that I am in the right."

Mrs. Nettleby's watch had stopped: 7 how provoking! 8 Vexed at having no immediate means 9 of convincing people that she was in the right, our heroine consoled herself by proceeding to criminate 10 her husband, not in this particular instance,11 where he pleaded guilty,12 but upon the general charge of being always too late for dinner, which he strenuously denied.18

13

There is something 14 in the species of reproach, which advances thus triumphantly from particulars to generals, 15 peculiarly offensive 16 to every reasonable and susceptible mind; 17 and there is something in the general charge of being always late for dinner which 18 the punctuality of

1 Eh bien, ma petite (or, mon cœur), si tu n'en doutes pas toimême, cela suffit (or, simply, suffit -or, n'en parlons plus). A quoi bon se disputer pour une pareille vétille? "a-t-on servir le dîner?

2 Oui, si les domestiques te savent rentré (p. 7, end of n. 2); mais je ne sais vraiment pas ce qui en est. Dites-moi, de grâce (or, je vous prie); or, simply, Dites-moi.

3 une de ses amies.

Comme c'était contrariant, &c. ; or, lastly, Quel ennui!-Quel contretemps!-Quel malheur !

9 de ne pouvoir trouver tout de suite le moyen.

10

en se mettant à faire le procès à. 11 sur ce cas particulier. 12 s'avouait coupable.

13 See p. 8, n. 6; and p. 19, n. 5. 14 For the right place of 'something,' see page 3, note 18.

15 passe ainsi, avec un air de triomphe, du particulier au général.

16 peculiarly,' spécialement; and see p. 9, n. 12. 'offensive,' blessant, to be followed by pour.

17' every,' tout, here, which is more general, more absolute than chaque.-'susceptible,' sensible, in this sense: the French word susceptible, used absolutely and applied to a person, simply means 'irascible, easily offended,' 'touchy.' 18 See page 10, note 3.

man's nature cannot easily endure,1 especially if he be hungry. We should humbly advise our female friends 2 to forbear exposing a husband's patience to this trial,3 or at least to temper it with much fondness, or else mischief will infallibly ensue.5-(Miss EDGEWORTH, Modern Griselda.)

HEARERS AND DOERS.6

THE clock has just struck 7 nine. The family are rising from the breakfast-table. A ring at the door-bell! 9 The servant enters.

'Sir, a young man, Mr. A.'s clerk,10 has called, and hopes you will not be offended, but he would feel particularly obliged if you could settle his account.11 He called 12 twice last week. He would not trouble you if it were not a case of necessity.1

Necessity or no necessity,14 I have not one minute to spare," 15 replied the gentleman with a shrug of 16 his shoulders, whilst giving 17 the last pull to his great-coat, as

he was putting it on. "I am going 2 by the next train, so bid him call again.” 3

7

This gentleman was not upon the whole an unfeeling man; but carried on by the spirit of the times,1 railway speed,5 he too often did not allow himself time to reflect, or to put himself in 8 the place of his fellow-man.9 Had he,10 in this instance, troubled himself to think, he would have seen that he had just a few 11 minutes to spare, and would still have been in time for 12 the train :—but even had it been otherwise, his duty was too plain to be mistaken.13 A neglected debt had prior claim to the commercial concerns to which he was hastening.14

The clerk turned 15 sorrowfully from the house; he knew that on the 16 payment of that money his employer's continuance in business 17 depended; and 18 consequently his own dismissal was involved in this refusal. Mr. A.'s family was large, 19 his receipts were small,20 and in reliance 21 on this sum he had promised to meet a heavy bill that day; 22 he was now unable to do so.23 The traveller 24 to whom he owed it was a hasty, harsh-judging man; 25 Mr. A. could expect to find no favour, nor did he.26 Here, then,