Page 8.
[ 1.] eau-de-vie, it was the business of the cantinière to distribute liquor to the soldiers, especially to those needing it by reason of wounds or exposure.
[ 2.] j'ai découvert, the dawn enabled her to discover the sign.
[ 3.] la branche, this was the sign of a place where liquors could be obtained. People who could not read could understand such signs. Compare Shakspere, As you like it, Epilogue, "good wine needs no bush."
Page 9.
[ 1.] kaiserlick, for the German kaiserlich (imperial), one favorable to the emperor. This term was first applied to adherents of the Emperor of Austria. It is here a term of contempt.
[ 2.] faisait le sourd, played deaf, would not hear.--on, we.
[ 3.] aveugle, possibly it was a matter of observation that the blind are more easily alarmed than others because they do not have the sense of sight with which to judge dangers.
[ 4.] assignats, the paper money (irredeemable) of the French Revolution. It was a promise to pay gold and was secured by the confiscated church property, the confiscated estates of those who had fled at the outbreak of the Revolution, and the public domain. Assignats were in circulation from 1789 to 1796. Like the paper money of our own country they did not circulate freely in foreign lands.
Page 10.
[ 1.] je ... fais, present with future meaning. This use is frequent in English.
[ 2.] caniche, French poodle, a dog with a curly black coat. Ordinarily these dogs are shorn to resemble lions--their manes are uncut and a tuft is left at the end of the tail. Rings of hair are left on their joints and tufts on their haunches. There is a rarer variety of caniche which is pure white.
Page 11.
[ 1.] prêtant l'oreille, listening.