The exclamations 10:48 Oct 20, 2019
As Tony's suggestions imply, the exclamations are what was said (implicitly or explicitly) to Robert, once M. Ratignolle appears on the scene. Mme Ratignolle couldn't let it be known that there was anything between them, as, as she says, M. Ratignolle might be jealous. What actually intrigues me (pure curiosity!) is why you might want to translate the French back into English. One assumes that in a translation, the French would be left, maybe in italics or with some other indication that it is "en français dans le texte". Fwiw, I am not sure that the fact that it is French spoken in Louisiana, not in France, makes any difference to the meaning here. |