madrigaux, pretty speeches; properly "madrigals," or love-songs, in the artificial pastoral manner. Originally a form of musical composition.
Page 42.
désintéressement, unselfish devotion. This speech is a good example of what the French call blague,—a sort of light-hearted mockery of moral ideals. See my note to "Le Gendre de monsieur Poirier," p. 5, note 7.
Page 43.
original, queer, "a strange coincidence." Not "original" (originel), Cp. [p. 34, note 95].