Part 15

PAGE 112.--1. EST-CE DE VOUS DONT JE PARLE? such is the reading of the edition edited by E. Flammarion, which text has been mostly followed in this edition. A preferable reading is that of the edition of P.A. Moutardier, edited by Étienne and Jay: _est-ce vous dont je parle?_ Compare _ce n'est pas moi dont vous parlez_ (line 24), and _ce n'est pas vous dont vous parlez_ (page 83, line 28). The reading of the edition of Garnier Frères is: _est-ce de vous que je parle?_

PAGE 113.--1. S'IL N'Y ALLOIT QUE DE MON INTÉRÊT, "if my interests alone were at stake."

PAGE 115.--1. This tender and praiseworthy resolution of Madame de Clèves furnishes the true explanation of her actions toward the Duke of Nemours after the death of her husband,--a course of conduct which some of Madame de La Fayette's critics find so inexplicable. (See d'Haussonville's _Vie de Mme. de La Fayette_, p. 190.)

PAGE 116.--1. PLUS DE DEVOIR, PLUS DE VERTU, "no more requirements of duty or virtue."

PAGE 119.--1. SUPPOSANT, "under the pretext."

PAGE 122.--1. Notice the use of the future and the conditional in interjectional expression in the sense of the present and past tenses. Translate: "Can it be that a mere fancy prevents you from giving happiness to a man," etc.

PAGE 126.--1. MONSIEUR DE CLÈVES NE FAIT ENCORE QUE D'EXPIRER, "M. de Clèves has just died."

PAGE 127.--1. ELLE NE FÎT DE DÉCLARATIONS ET NE PRÎT ENGAGEMENT, "lest she should make certain promises and bind herself," referring possibly to her withdrawal from the world into a religious house, or perhaps to a simple vow never to marry again.

PAGE 131.--1. DONT, an incorrect use of the relative, noticed by Valincour. _Dont_ is not used as a compound relative; the correct expression would be _de celui dont_.

End of Project Gutenberg's La Princesse De Clèves, by Mme de La Fayette