44-12: Perpiñán: Perpignan, a Mediterranean port of France a few miles from the Spanish frontier.
44-13: Dijon: a large French city, about two hundred miles southeast of Paris, in the direction of Geneva.
44-14: el por qué: the reason (lit. the wherefore).
44-15: pasaba: allowed.
44-16: sin embargo de: (== a pesar de) in spite of.