Note 3 — XVII.
George Burnham Ives translation
There is in the text at this point a play upon words which it is impossible to render in English. "Les toilettes terminées, le déjeuner fini, pris sur le pouce--et sur le pouce de ces demoiselles vous pensez ce qu'il peut tenir," etc., that is to say: "the breakfast at an end, taken upon the thumb--and you can imagine how much the thumbs of those young ladies would hold." To eat _sur le pouce_ (eat upon the thumb) means to eat hastily, without taking time to sit down.