66

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."

66

7

"12

"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." Well, my dear, if you 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, is not strictly necessary here before the verb être, but its use is more conformable to the genius of the French language.

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 x 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

it

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, calcule 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 6 that I am in the right.”

8

Mrs. Nettleby's watch had stopped: 7 how provoking! S Vexed at having no immediate means 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 upor the general charge of being always too late for dinner, which he strenuously denied. 13

15

There is something 14 in the species of reproach, which advances thus triumphantly from particulars to generals,1 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? Va-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.

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 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

"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. 13

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 1 See p. 3, note 3; especially,' surtout; be,' indicative in French. 2 nos chères lectrices.

he was putting it on.1 "I am going 2 by the next train, so bid him call again.” 3

8

4

This gentleman was not upon the whole an unfeeling man; but carried on by the spirit of the times, railway speed, he too often did not allow himself time to reflect, or to put himself in the place of his fellow-man. 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,

1 qu'il mettait en ce moment.

2 See page 60, note 11.

3 de repasser.

4 de l'époque.

5 la rapidité de la vapeur. 6 Translate as if the English were, 'he did not allow (use donner, and see p. 1, note 6) himself often enough (assez souvent). See page 254, note 1.

7 ni. The conjunction ou would imply that only one of the two facts mentioned is to be denied, whereas ni implies the negation of both. 8 d.

was a whole household, besides those in their employ,1 thrown into distress by that fatal sentence: "I have not a minute to spare." And yet those who caused that distress were not altogether regardless of the forms of religion.2 They were in the custom of having family prayer, and of reading daily from that word where it is written : 66 Owe no man any thing.” * 5

3

6

This gentleman's wife, an hour after her husband's departure, was stopped, as she was leaving the parlour, by her maid, who said, "There is a poor woman who wishes to speak to you."

"Who is she, what is she?" 8

"I don't know, ma'am, but she particularly wishes to see you."

"Tell her, I can't possibly see her now, I have 'not a minute to spare,' my children are waiting for me in the nursery.

"10

"Alas!" thought the poor woman, "I too have 11 children; it is for my child I want to see her." She went heart-broken 12 from that door.

The next day, that lady heard that the poor woman

1 Voilà donc toute une famille, et avec elle les gens qui étaient à son service. See page 41, note 8.

2 n'étaient pas sans observer jusqu'à un certain point les formes extérieures de la religion; or, ne négligeaient pas entièrement les pratiques religieuses.

3 de faire leurs prières en famille. 4 puis r... dans cette Parole. Ne devez rien à personne; or, Ne soyez redevables à personne.

6 Construct thus, in French :An hour after the departure of this gentleman, his wife was.'— 'to stop,' here, arrêter au passage. 7 qui lui dit: "Madame. Never fail to use madame, mademoiselle, or monsieur, when addressing people with whom you are not on very intimate terms. The habit of con

stantly suppressing these words (or their equivalents), in conversation, has often made, to my knowledge, some English people exceedingly disagreeable, especially in the company of ladies, not only in France, but in the more polite continental

countries.

8 Quel est son nom, son état?

9 qu'il (page 1, note 8) m'est tout à fait impossible (page 39, note ❝) de m'occuper d'elle à présent.

10 dans leur chambre.

11 moi aussi jai. Notice this double use of the pronoun of the same person, in its disjunctive and in its conjunctive form, which is frequent, in French, in the case of emphasis or contradistinction. 12 Et, navrée de douleur, elle s'éloigna.

*Romans xiii. 8.