Chapter III: Brown gives his history

Josh has a few questions on Chapter III:

Some of them were too personal and family intrusive, so I've re-worked them a bit.

Josh says: 

An interesting chapter / part.  Looks back in time and discloses how he, Mr Brown, came to own the hotel.  His Mother was an interesting character. Flawed, bit like [amended: delete some family member, leave to imagination]. Fake,  “no doubt she could have played the part”. 

Her lover was a “negro”, which I assume was reasonably unorthodox for those times. He was also much younger than her, also unorthodox for those times.

PK: Yes, she is depicted as a libertarian, unconstrained by social milieu, but having taken that role perhaps after having 'risen' to the rank of Countess - from which one may do what one wishes. 

Part III raises some things I thought may be uncommon for the times:

younger “negro”  lover

a black doctor

As discussed: this is Haiti - things have been different there for hundreds of years. It is a black society, not an Ango-Saxon one.

what’s the count? Count would be the Countess'es former spouse, who seems to have died.

what’s:

vendeuse?

couturier?

Madame la Comtesse? His mother, the madam, the countess. Not madam in the sense one might think.

crise cardiaque? Crisis of the heart: meaning heart attack, but may even mean also an emotional time.

courtesan? woman who spends time around 'court' giving pleasure, entertainment, but holding her own to gain privilege from association

mechant?

almanach de gotha?

billet-doux The letter of love: have you not received or given one Josh?

coup de grace 

grande amoureuse

en plein

tout ce que j ai eu de chance dans ma vie m’est venu de votre famille

salle

“he paid for his drinks only with his pen” a reference to him drawing cheques that bounce or being an author? Reference to Petit Pierre not paying for his drinks but rather currying favour with those who might provide them, by his useful epistles in the newspaper.

“In those days there were no secret police” Telling of the times, or the changes that have since occurred. “the telephone frequently worked in those days” . “during the years of occupation”. “the elections"

He reminisces that when he (Brown) first took occupation of the Trianon (the hotel) the Tonton Macoute were not in existence. Papa Doc had not been elevated by election to power, phones worked. But now....

What was the “only” purpose the bed was built for? For the courtesan to entertain. 

I like the expressions:

• “He was not boasting, just explaining” “He knew his value” - very hard to do, always misinterpreted by others. Yes Josh, sometimes we may explain but it sounds to the uninformed that we are boasting. Dealing with such times gracefully will achieve a better result.

• “He was quite right to trust me but not to drive a Mercedes sports car on the roads we have here”. I think that is the former owner of the Trianon, having died. He did however put the hotel in the Countess's name to protect it, and she asserts he was right to trust her. He hated his family, so it wasn't wasted there.

• “They say to be dead is about as quiet as you can get.  I don’t see the point in my anticipating death.  It lasts a long time”. She lives her life at a fast pace. Quietude is unnecessary during life. It will reign supreme in death.
• “..his face dripped with tears like a black roof in a storm”
• “nothing can be more inconsiderate to a man of Doctor Magiot’s profession than a telephone”. A lovely expression, evocatively making us aware of the distraction of the telephone, and hence the inability to continue a train of thought or passage of discussion -
• “one buttock heavily swollen with hundred dollar bills”. Yes; we have had some in our family who trusted only in a Greek wad of cash dollars being in the pocket, ready for the spending thereof - on business of course. It served two purposes. Depleted the growing cash mountain, avoiding the tax man's insidious eyes.

how do you pronounce “Magiot”? We must seek advice.

are the observations of the Trainon readily applicable to the Astor? [deleted under rules of courtesy and discretion]

Had his mother died during sex with Marcel? Yes; she implored him. He is much embarrassed. He did not wish that to happen. Well, who does!

Very cunning when it comes to business- “when I passed him on the stairs I noticed he smelt of rum, so I had a glass ready for him" . How nice, but manipulative.