The French liner for the girl (4)
I believe the answer is:
lass
'girl' is the definition.
(lass can informally mean a girl)
'the french liner for' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la' ('the' in French).
'liner for' becomes 'ss' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'la'+'ss'='LASS'
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lass that I've seen before include "Sweet resident of Richmond Hill?" , "Young woman (-. Eng.)" , "Familiar form of address for female" , "Scottish girl" , "Damsel" .)