4: on a beau dire: acte II, scène V, note 10.
5: brûle le pavé: a stock phrase for «driving furiously,» striking sparks from the paving-stones: is dashing round the city.
6: Aussi: see acte II, scène IV, note 6.
7: Musée de Versailles: there is, in the famous palace of Versailles (a town some fifteen miles southwest of Paris), a celebrated gallery ofhistorical paintings and portraits.—L'exposition: the annual Paris Salon, or exhibition of paintings.
8: Adieu: Farewell; very different from au revoir.
9: Allons donc: see List of Exclamations.
ACTE III, SCÈNE IX
1: Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça: this redundant expression implies surprise: What on earth have we here?—ça: again contemptuous. Perrichondoes not know the man, and is unfavorably impressed by a name which is, as a matter of fact, more frequently found among the peasantry than in the upper classes in France, and which is more closely connected with the gospels than with the army.
2: plus que vive: which could hardly be called complimentary. Lit., «more than sharp.»
3: un peu cruelle: because she gets people into trouble; exacting.