Chapter D (2)
FOUAN (LOUIS), known as Pere Fouan. He was the son of Joseph Casimir Fouan, and married Rose Maliverne, by whom he had three children, Hyacinthe, Buteau, and Fanny. He received seven acres of land from his father, and his wife brought him twelve acres more. This land he cultivated well, and with a passion for the soil, as such, which amounted to frenzy. It alone had his love, and his wife and children trembled before him under a rude despotism. At seventy years of age he was still healthy, but his limbs were failing, and he reluctantly decided to divide his land between his children. He retained his house and garden, which had come to him with his wife, and his family undertook to pay him a rent for the land handed over to them. Upon this, along with a nest-egg of three hundred francs per annum, known to no one, the old people would be able to live comfortably. The division made, the family soon became rapacious; Hyacinthe never paid anything, Buteau only a part, and Delhomme, Fanny’s husband, alone fulfilled his obligation. Mere Fouan died, and the old man lived alone for a year; after that he went to his daughter Fanny Delhomme, but her unkindness made his life miserable, and he accepted in turn the hospitality of his two sons, Buteau and Hyacinthe, both of whom had come to suspect the existence of his nest-egg and were anxious to secure it. In this sordid aim Buteau was eventually successful, and his subsequent treatment of the old man was even more infamous than it had been before. From this time Pere Fouan lived in isolation; he spoke to none and looked at none; as far as appearances went, he might have been blind and dumb. But even worse was to follow. He had seen the assault on Francoise Mouche which resulted in her death, and to ensure his silence he was murdered by Buteau and Lise, his son and daughter-in-law, who attempted to suffocate him, and subsequently burned him alive in his bed. La Terre.
FOUAN (MADAME ROSE), wife of the preceding, nee Maliverne. She worked on the farm like a man, rising first and going to bed last, her only reward being that she had lived. Stupid, and reduced by labour to the level of an animal, she had always trembled before the despotic authority of her husband. She brought up her family without love, and as if she resented their requiring even the simple necessaries of life. She did not long survive the division of land by her husband. Her favouritism for Hyacinthe, her elder son, excited the jealousy of Buteau, who in the course of a quarrel threw her to the ground, when she received such injuries that she died a few hours afterwards. La Terre.
FOUAN (MARIANNE). See La Grande.
FOUAN (MICHEL). See Pere Mouche.
FOUAN (OLYMPE), daughter of Hyacinthe. Her mother, who was a tramp, ran off when the child was three years old, leaving her to grow up as best she could. She was passionately fond of geese, of which she had a large flock. When little more than a child, she had as her lovers Delphin Becu and Nenesse Delhomme. La Terre.
FOUCARMONT, a naval officer who in ten years saved some money which he proposed to invest in the United States. He fell into the hands of Nana, however, and was soon completely ruined. When she turned him out of doors penniless, she merely advised him to go back to his ship. He was drowned later in the China seas. Nana.
FOUCART, the owner of a cheap restaurant frequented by Jory, Mahoudeau, and their band. L’Oeuvre.
FOUCART (MADAME), the nurse who attended Sidonie Rougon at the birth of Angelique and left the child at the foundling hospital. She assisted Sidonie both by taking her into her house and lending her money, but when Madame Foucart herself fell into difficulties Sidonie did nothing for her, not even paying back what she owed. It was from Madame Foucart that Hubert subsequently got information regarding the parentage of Angelique. Le Reve.
FOUCHARD, father of Honore Fouchard, and uncle, on the mother’s side, of Henriette and Maurice Levasseur. He was a small farmer at Remilly, who to make money more quickly took up the trade of butcher also. Avaricious to the last degree, and with a nature of unpitying hardness, he opposed the marriage of Honore with his servant Silvine Morange. At the end of two years of waiting Honore went off, after a terrible scene with his father, though the old man still kept the girl, with whom he was well pleased. When the French troops were marching to Sedan, Fouchard concealed all the animals on his farm, burying even his supply of bread and wine, in the hope of being able to sell to better advantage later on. The death of his son, who was killed in the battle, cost him a few tears, but he was quickly consoled by some good purchases of horses stolen from the battlefield. He took Prosper Sambuc as farm-worker, because the soldier, being liable to imprisonment by the Prussians, could not ask him for any wages. He began to do a considerable trade in butcher-meat with the conquering army, selling them all the diseased animals that he could secure. A suspicion of being concerned in the death of Goliath Steinberg led to his arrest, but he was released soon afterwards, thanks to the intervention of Captain von Gartlauben, a friend of the Delaherches. La Debacle.
FOUCHARD (HONORE), only son of the preceding. At twenty years of age, in 1867, he drew a good number for the conscription, but on account of the opposition of his father to his marriage with Silvine Morange, he enlisted, and was sent to Africa, in the artillery. When he heard that Silvine had become the mistress of Goliath Steinberg he became so ill that he had to remain in hospital for three months. He afterwards received a letter from Silvine saying that she had never loved any one but him, and when passing through Remilly on his way to the front, he saw her and forgave everything. His battery was among those which on 1st September, 1870, defended the Calvary d’Illy, but was cut to pieces by the terrible fire of the Prussians. Honore was killed, and fell across his gun, firmly grasping the letter from Silvine, which in his death-struggle he had drawn from his bosom. La Debacle.
FOUGERAY (MADEMOISELLE DE), eldest daughter of the Baronne de Fougeray. She entered a convent, because it was said, a young man with whom she was in love had died. The event created much talk in all classes of society in Paris. Nana.
FOUQUE (ADELAIDE), generally known as Aunt Dide, the common ancestress of the Rougon-Macquarts, born at Plassans in 1768, was the last representative of a family who had owned a market-garden there for several generations. “This girl, whose father died insane, was a long, lank, pale creature, with a scared look and strange gait.” In 1786, six months after the death of her father, she married one of her own workmen, named Rougon, “a rough-hewn peasant from the Basses Alpes.” Rougon died fifteen months after his marriage, leaving a son named Pierre. Scarcely a year had elapsed before the widow took as her lover a man named Macquart, who lived in a hovel adjoining her own property, and two children were born. The legitimate son, Pierre Rougon, was brought up along with his half brother and sister, Antoine and Ursule, with whom, however, he was not on good terms. From her eighteenth year Adelaide was subject to nervous fits, which brought on convulsions, and though she was not yet insane, these repeated shocks produced cerebral disorders. “She lived from day to day like a child; like a fawning animal yielding to its instincts.” These conditions continued for about twenty years, till the death of Macquart, and the children grew up as best they could. By this time Pierre realized the situation, and playing upon his mother’s mental weakness, he brought her completely under his sway. On the death of Macquart, Adelaide went to live in the hovel bequeathed to her by him, and Pierre sold the family property, appropriating the price. Living at first entirely alone, her intellect became more and more affected by the recurring convulsive fits. Subsequently her grandson Silvere Mouret lived with her, but after his execution, of which she was a witness, she became quite insane. La Fortune des Rougon.
She was always under restraint, and remained a living sore to the family. The little property which belonged to her son Antoine Macquart was close to the asylum where she was confined, and Pierre Rougon seemed to have placed him there to look after her. Adelaide seldom spoke, and for twelve years had never moved from her chair. La Conquete de Plassans.
At 104 years old she was still living in the asylum at Les Tulettes. She was little better than a skeleton, and in her long, thin face it was only in the eyes that there was any sign of life. Immovable in her chair, she remained from year to year like a spectre, calling up the horrors of her family history. A sudden accident, the death of little Charles Saccard from nasal hemorrhage, wakened in her sleeping brain recollections of years before; she saw again the murder of Silvere, killed by a pistol-shot, and she saw also her lover Macquart, the smuggler, killed like a dog by the gendarmes. The shock proved too much for her feeble strength, and she died the following day (in 1873), aged 105 years, three months, and seven days. Le Docteur Pascal.
FOUSSET (LE PERE), tenant of the farm of Millouard, in the Canton of Orgeres. He was a victim of the band of brigands commanded by Beau-Francois. La Terre.
FRANCHOMME (LOUIS), a cousin of Francoise Hamelin and her brother, with whom he went to reside for a time when recovering from a fever. His wife having become fond of Angelique Marie, who lived at that time with Francoise Hamelin, he obtained permission to take her to Paris, where she could be taught the trade of making flowers. Unfortunately, however, he died three months later. Le Reve.
FRANCHOMME (THERESE), wife of the preceding. After the death of her husband, she, being in delicate health, was obliged to leave the city and go to live with her brother Rabier, a tanner, who was settled at Beaumont. She died a few months afterwards, leaving to the care of the Rabiers the child Angelique, whom she had brought with her from Paris. Le Reve.
FRANCIS, the hairdresser of Nana. He was in the habit of lending money to his customers, and on one occasion he found, with the assistance of Labordette, a hundred thousand francs for Comte Muffat, who required the money for Nana. Nana.
FRANCIS, coachman to the Gregoires. He also did the heavy work of the household. Germinal.
FRANCOIS, a wine-merchant whose shop was situated at the corner of Rue des Poissonniers and of Rue de la Goutte d’Or. Coupeau frequently spent whole days there. L’Assommoir.
FRANCOIS, concierge and footman in Nana’s establishment. He was the husband of Victorine, the cook. He received visitors in the hall, wearing a gorgeous livery. Nana.
FRANCOIS (MADAME), a market-gardener of Nanterre. She drove regularly to Paris in the early morning with her vegetables, and on one occasion found Florent lying on the road from want and exhaustion. She took him to town in her cart, and subsequently showed kindness to him and Claude Lantier. Le Ventre de Paris.
FRANCOISE, housemaid to Madame Theophile Vabre. Pot-Bouille.
FRANCOISE, the servant of M. and Madame Sandoz in their little house in Rue Nollet. L’Oeuvre.
FRANGIPANE, a horse which belonged to Baron Verdier and ran in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
FREDERICK (MADAME), a widow who held the position of “second hand” in the dress department of “The Ladies’ Paradise.” Au Bonheur des Dames.
FIRMAT, an old peasant of Rognes who was a neighbour of Mouche. He became paralysed. La Terre.
FIRMAT (LA), wife of the preceding. She was well known in the village for her knowledge of animals, and was frequently consulted when it would otherwise have been necessary to call in a veterinary surgeon. She worked hard to support her invalid husband, to whom she was devoted, and wept at the thought that he was soon to die. La Terre.
G
GABET (MERE), an old woman who assisted the Huberts with their washing. She became ill, and being in great poverty, was assisted by Angelique, and later by Felicien. Le Reve.
GAGA, an elderly _demi-mondaine_ who had flourished in the reign of Louis Philippe, and was still notorious in the Second Empire. She had a daughter named Lili, who became the mistress of the Marquis Chouard. Nana.
GAGEBOIS, glass-works at Montsou. The strike of miners led to the fires being extinguished. Germinal.
GAGNIERE, an artist, one of the band of Claude Lantier. He belonged to Melun, where his well-to-do parents, who were both dead, had left him two houses; and he had learned painting, unassisted, in the forest of Fontainebleau. His landscapes were conscientious and excellent in intent, but his real passion was music. Becoming more and more engrossed in this, he took lessons in playing the piano from a middle-aged lady whom he married soon afterwards. He established himself at Melun in one of his two houses, going to Paris two or three times a month to attend a concert, and he continued to exhibit each year at the _Salon_ one of his little studies of the banks of the Seine. L’Oeuvre.
GALISSARD, a haberdasher of Plassans, whose daughter married Professor Lalubie. She was a pretty girl to whom Claude Lantier and Sandoz used to sing serenades.
GARCONNET, a Legitimist who was Mayor of Plassans at the time of the _Coup d’Etat_. He was taken prisoner by the insurgents. La Fortune des Rougon.
GARTLAUBEN (VON), captain in the Prussian Army. During the occupation of Sedan he was billeted on Delaherche. He was a person of some importance, as his uncle had been made Governor-General at Rheims, and exercised sovereign power over the district. Fascinated by Gilberte Delaherche, his chief wish was to be taken for a man of refinement, and not for a barbarous soldier. He was able to render some services to the Delaherches, and to make the Prussian occupation easier for them. La Debacle.
GASC, proprietor of a racing-stable. One of his horses, named Boum, ran in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
GASPARINE, a tall, handsome girl of Plassans, with whom Achille Campardon fell in love. She had no money, however, and he married her cousin Rose Domergue, who had a dowry of thirty thousand francs. Tears and recriminations followed, and Gasparine went to Paris, where for some time she had a situation in the shop of Madame Hedouin. Madame Campardon having fallen into ill-health, her husband returned to his first love, and a liaison existed between him and Gasparine for a considerable time. Ultimately she went to live with the Campardons, and managed their household affairs. Pot-Bouille.
GASTON was the son of a general, and was the same age as the Prince Imperial, though much stronger than he. The Emperor frequently made inquiries regarding the child. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
GAUDE, bugler in the 106th regiment of the line. “He was a big, skinny, sorrowful, taciturn man, without a hair on his chin, and blew his instrument with the lungs of a whirlwind.” On the 1st September, during the defence of the Hermitage, he became seized with the madness of heroism, and continued to blow after his comrades had been slain and until he himself was shot down. La Debacle.
GAUDIBERT (ISIDORE), Mayor of Barbeville since 1850, wrote some poetry on political subjects, and was decorated by the Minister of State, Eugene Rougon. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
GAUDRON, husband of Madame Gaudron. He was described as having the sluggishness of a beast. L’Assommoir.
GAUDRON (MADAME), a wool-carder who lived with her husband and their large family in the same tenement-house as the Coupeaus and the Lorilleux. She was one of the guests at the Coupeaus’ wedding. L’Assommoir.
GAUDRON FILS, the eldest child of the Gaudrons, was a journeyman carpenter. L’Assommoir.
GAUJEAN (M.), a silk manufacturer of Lyons who was dissatisfied with the monopoly created by the large establishments, such as that of Octave Mouret, and thought it could be broken by the creation of special shops in the neighbourhood, where the public could find a large and varied choice of articles. With this object he assisted Robineau to purchase Vincard’s business by giving him credit to a large amount; the scheme was not successful, and he lost heavily. Au Bonheur des Dames.
GAUTIER, a wine-grower at Saint-Eutrope, with whom Francois Mouret had dealings at one time. La Conquete de Plassans.
GAVARD, originally kept a rotisserie or poultry-roasting establishment in the Rue Saint-Jacques, at which time he became acquainted with Florent and Quenu. In 1856 he retired from this business, and to amuse himself took a stall in the poultry-market. “Thenceforth he lived amidst ceaseless tittle-tattle, acquainted with every little scandal in the neighbourhood.” Gavard was a leading spirit in the revolutionary circle which met in Lebigre’s wine-shop, and was the means of bringing Florent to attend the meetings there. He was arrested at the same time as Florent and was transported. Le Ventre de Paris.
GAVAUDAN (JOSEPHINE), a market-woman of Plassans who married Antoine Macquart in 1826. She was much addicted to drink, but worked in order to keep her husband in idleness. She died in 1850. La Fortune des Rougon.
GEDEON, an ass which belonged to Mouche. It was very mischievous, and on one occasion got access to a vat of new wine, with the result that it became extremely drunk. La Terre.
GEORGES, a young man whose acquaintance Renee Saccard made by chance while walking one day on the Quai Saint-Paul. Her fancy for him passed without her ever having asked his family name. La Curee.
GERALDINE, a character in _La Petite Duchesse_, played by Clarisse Besnus at the Theatre des Varietes. It was originally intended that the part should be played by Nana. Nana.
GILQUIN (THEODORE), a lodger at Madame Correur’s hotel at the same time as Eugene Rougon and Du Poizat. A man of shady character, he was frequently employed by Rougon, and by a fortunate accident was able to give him warning of the Orsini plot against the life of the Emperor. He was rewarded with the appointment of Commissary of Police at Niort. On the order of Rougon, he arrested Martineau, Madame Correur’s brother. He was removed from his position on account of having compromised himself by taking a bribe to procure a conscript exemption from service. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
GIRAUD (TATA) kept at Plassans a boarding-school for children, where the sculptor Mahoudeau had known Pierre Sandoz and other comrades who met later in Paris. L’Oeuvre.
GODARD (ABBE), cure of Bazoches-le-Doyen. The authorities of Rognes, which was in his parish, refused to provide for a priest of their own, and Abbe Godard, in order to perform Mass, had to walk each Sunday the three kilometres which separated the two communes. He was a short, stout man of hasty temper, who was disgusted with the indifference and irreligion of his parishioners, and his services were the shortest and baldest possible. In spite of his temper, he had, however, a passion for the miserable, and to these he gave everything--his money, his linen, almost the clothes off his back. La Terre.
GODEBOEUF, a seller of herbs who occupied the shop in Rue Pirouette which formerly belonged to Gradelle, the pork-butcher. Le Ventre de Paris.
GODEMARD, a pupil of Dequersonniere, the architect. See Gorju. L’Oeuvre.
GOMARD, the keeper of a working-man’s cafe in Rue de la Femme-sans-Tete, under the sign _Au Chien de Montargis_. Claude Lantier occasionally took his meals there. L’Oeuvre.
GONIN, a family of fisher-folks who lived at Bonneville. It consisted of Gonin, his wife, and one little girl. A cousin of the wife, named Cuche, came to live with them after his house had been washed away by the sea. Gonin soon after fell into bad health, and his wife and Cuche treated him so badly that the police talked of an inquiry. Pauline Quenu tried to reform the little girl, who had been allowed to grow up wild. La Joie de Vivre.
GORJU, a pupil of Dequersonniere, and himself a future architect. On one of the walls of the studio one could read this brief statement: “The 7th June, Gorju has said that he cared nothing for Rome. Signed, Godemard.” L’Oeuvre.
GOUJET, a blacksmith from the Departement du Nord, who came to Paris and got employment in a manufactory of bolts. “Behind the silent quietude of his life lay buried a great sorrow: his father in a moment of drunken madness had killed a fellow-workman with a crowbar, and after arrest had hanged himself in his cell with a pocket-handkerchief.” Goujet and his mother, who lived with him, always seemed to feel this horror weighing upon them, and did their best to redeem it by strict uprightness. “He was a giant of twenty-three, with rosy cheeks and blue eyes, and the strength of a Hercules. In the workshop he was known as Gueule d’Or, on account of his yellow beard. With his square head, his heavy frame, torpid after the hard work at the anvil, he was like a great animal, dull of intellect and good of heart.” For a time the Coupeaus were his neighbours, and he came to love Gervaise with a perfectly innocent affection, which survived all disillusionments, and subsisted up to the time of her death. It was he who lent her money to start a laundry, and afterwards repeatedly assisted her when in difficulties. L’Assommoir.
GOUJET (MADAME), mother of the preceding, was a lace-mender, and lived with her son in part of the house first occupied by the Coupeaus. She showed much kindness to them, though she was distressed by her son’s infatuation for Gervaise, and did not altogether approve of his lending her money to start a laundry. Notwithstanding this, she continued to assist Gervaise until neglect of work entrusted made it impossible to do so longer. She died in October, 1868, of acute rheumatism. L’Assommoir.
GOURAUD (BARON), was made a Baron by Napoleon I, and was a Senator under Napoleon III. “With his vast bulk, his bovine face, his elephantine movements, he boasted a delightful rascality; he sold himself majestically, and committed the greatest infamies in the name of duty and conscience.” La Curee.
GOURD (M.), at one time valet to the Duc de Vaugelade, and afterwards doorkeeper in the tenement-house in Rue de Choiseul which belonged to M. Vabre, and was occupied by the Campardons, the Josserands, and others. He spent much of his time spying on the tenants, and posed as guardian of the morals of the establishment. Pot-Bouille.
GOURD (MADAME), wife of the preceding. She was the widow of a bailiff at Mort-la-Ville, and she and her present husband owned a house there. She was exceedingly stout, and suffered from an affection of the legs which prevented her from walking. Pot-Bouille.
GRADELLE, brother of Madame Quenu, senr., and uncle of Florent and Quenu. He was a prosperous pork-butcher in Paris, and after Florent’s arrest he took young Quenu into his business. He died suddenly, without leaving a will, and Quenu succeeded to the business, and to a considerable sum of money which was found hidden at the bottom of a salting-tub. Le Ventre de Paris.
GRAND-DRAGON (LE), one of the band of brigands led by Beau-Francois. La Terre.
GRANDE (LA), elder daughter of Joseph Casimir Fouan, and sister of Pere Fouan, Michel Mouche, and Laure Badeuil. Married to a neighbour, Antoine Pechard, she brought to him seven acres of land against eighteen which he had of his own. Early left a widow, she turned out her only daughter, who, against her mother’s will, wished to marry a poor lad named Vincent Bouteroue. The girl and her husband died of want, leaving two children, Palmyre and Hilarion, whom their grandmother refused to assist. At eighty years of age, respected and feared by the Fouan family, not for her age but for her fortune, she exacted the obedience of all, and still directed the management of her land. She bitterly reproached her brother Louis for dividing his property between his children, and warned him that he need not come to her when they had turned him into the street, a threat which she carried into effect. She took delight in the squabbles of the Fouan family, exciting their cupidity by promising them a share of her property at her death. Meantime she made a will which was so complicated that she hoped it would lead to endless lawsuits amongst her heirs. La Terre.
GRANDGUILLOT, a notary at Plassans. He embezzled large sums belonging to his clients, among whom was Dr. Pascal Rougon, and thereafter fled to Switzerland. Le Docteur Pascal.
GRANDJEAN (M.), son of a sugar-refiner of Marseilles. He fell in love with Helene Mouret, a young girl of great beauty, but without fortune; his friends bitterly opposed the match, and a secret marriage followed, the young couple finding it difficult to make ends meet, till the death of an uncle brought them ten thousand francs a year. By this time Grandjean had taken an intense dislike for Marseilles, and decided to remove to Paris. The day after his arrival there he was seized with illness, and eight days later he died, leaving his wife with one daughter, a young girl of ten. Une Page d’Amour.
GRANDJEAN (MADAME HELENE), wife of the preceding. See Helene Mouret.
GRANDJEAN (JEANNE), born 1842, was the daughter of M. Grandjean and Helene Mouret, his wife. She inherited much of the neurosis of her mother’s family along with a consumptive tendency derived from her father, and from an early age had been subject to fits and other nervous attacks. One of these illnesses, more sudden and severe than usual, caused her mother to summon Doctor Deberle, and thus led to an intimacy which had disastrous results. Jeanne’s jealous affection for her mother amounted almost to a mania, and when she came to suspect that Dr. Deberle had become in a sense her rival, she worked herself into such a nervous state that she exposed herself to a chill, and having become seriously ill, died in a few days, at the age of thirteen. Une Page d’Amour.
GRANDMORIN (LE PRESIDENT), one of the directors of the Western Railway Company. “Born in 1804, substitute at Digne on the morrow of the events in 1830, then at Fontainebleau, then at Paris, he had afterwards filled the posts of procurator at Troyes, advocate-general at Rennes, and finally first president at Rouen. A multi-millionaire, he had been member of the County Council since 1855, and on the day he retired he had been made Commander of the Legion of Honour.” He owned a mansion at Paris in Rue du Rocher, and often resided with his sister, Madame Bonnehon, at Doinville. His private life was not unattended by scandal, and his relations with Louisette, the younger daughter of Madame Misard, led to her death. A somewhat similar connection with Severine Aubry, a ward of his own, had less immediately serious consequences, as he arranged for her marriage to Roubaud, an employee of the railway company, whom he took under his protection. Three years later Roubaud learned the truth by chance, and murdered Grandmorin in the Havre express between Malaunay and Barentin. The President left a fortune of over three and a half million francs, among other legacies being one to Severine Roubaud of the mansion-house of Croix-de-Maufras. La Bete Humaine.
GRANDMORIN (BERTHE), daughter of the preceding, was the wife of a magistrate, M. de Lachesnaye. She was a narrow-minded and avaricious woman, who affected ignorance of her father’s real character, and the influence of her husband tended to increase her meanness. After the murder of President Grandmorin, when vague suspicions fell on Roubaud, Berthe took up a position antagonistic to her old play-fellow Severine Roubaud, in the hope that a legacy left by Grandmorin to her would be cut down. La Bete Humaine.
GRANDSIRE (M.), the justice of peace who assisted the Huberts in making the necessary arrangements for their adoption of Angelique. Le Reve.
GRANOUX (ISIDORE), one of the group of conservatives who met in Pierre Rougon’s yellow room to declaim against the Republic. La Fortune des Rougon.
GRAS (MADAME), an old lady living in the Rue des Orties, who boarded and lodged young children for a small sum. When Denise Baudu got a situation in “The Ladies’ Paradise,” she put her young brother Pepe under the charge of Madame Gras for a time. Au Bonheur des Dames.
GREGOIRE (CECILE), daughter of Leon Gregoire. Her parents were devoted to her, and brought her up in happy ignorance, allowing her to do much as she liked. They taught her to be charitable, and made her dispense their little gifts to the poor; these were always in kind, as they held that money was likely to be misused. When the great strike broke out at Montsou, Cecile could comprehend nothing of the revolt of the poor, or the fury with which they regarded those better off than themselves, and when she fell into the hands of a fierce crowd was almost paralysed under the attack of La Brule and of Pere Bonnemort, from which she escaped with difficulty. A little later she chanced to call on a charitable errand at Maheu’s house, and unfortunately was left alone for a few moments with Bonnemort, who was now supposed to be helpless. The sight of her seemed, however, to waken memories in the old man, for in an accession of madness he found strength to throw himself upon the poor girl and strangle her. Germinal.
GREGOIRE (EUGENE), grandfather of Leon Gregoire. He inherited the share in the Montsou mine bought by his father, but the dividends at that time were small, and as he had foolishly invested the remainder of the paternal fortune in a company that came to grief, he lived meanly enough. The share passed to his son Felicien. Germinal.
GREGOIRE (FELICIEN), son of the preceding and father of Leon Gregoire. The family fortune began with him, for the value of the share in the Montsou mine had greatly increased, and he was able to buy the dismembered estate of Piolaine, which he acquired as national property for a ludicrous sum. However, bad years followed; it was necessary to await the conclusion of the revolutionary catastrophes, and afterwards Napoleon’s bloody fall. The little fortune of Felicien Gregoire passed to his son Leon. Germinal.
GREGOIRE (HONORE), great-grandfather of Leon Gregoire. He was in 1760 steward on the estate of Piolaine, a property which belonged to Baron Desrumaux. When the Montsou treaty was made, Honore, who had laid up savings to the amount of some fifty thousand francs, yielded tremblingly to his master’s unshakable faith. He gave up ten thousand francs, and took a share in the Montsou Company, though with the fear of robbing his children of that sum. When he died his share passed to his son Eugene. Germinal.
GREGOIRE (LEON), great-grandson of Honore Gregoire. It was he who profited at a stupefying rate of progress by the timid investment of his ancestor. Those poor ten thousand francs grew and multiplied with the company’s prosperity. Since 1820 they had brought in cent for cent ten thousand francs. In 1844 they had produced twenty thousand; in 1850, forty. During two years the dividend had reached the prodigious figure of fifty thousand francs; the value of the share, quoted at the Lille Bourse at a million, had centrupled in a century. Six months later an industrial crisis broke out; the share fell to six hundred thousand francs. But Leon refused to be alarmed, for he maintained an obstinate faith in the mine. When the great strike broke out he would not be persuaded of its seriousness, and refused to admit any danger, until he saw his daughter struck by a stone and savagely assaulted by the crowd. Afterwards he desired to show the largeness of his views, and spoke of forgetting and forgiving everything. With his wife and daughter Cecile he went to carry assistance to the Maheus, a family who had suffered sadly in the strike. Cecile was unfortunately left alone with old Bonnemort, Maheu’s father, who in a sudden frenzy attacked the girl and strangled her. This terrible blow entirely shadowed the lives of Gregoire and his wife. Germinal.
GREGOIRE (MADAME LEON), wife of the preceding, was the daughter of a druggist at Marchiennes. She was a plain, penniless girl, whom he adored, and who repaid him with happiness. She shut herself up in her household, having no other will but her husband’s. No difference of tastes separated them, their desires were mingled in one idea of comfort; and they had thus lived for forty years, in affection and little mutual services. Germinal.
GRESHAM, a jockey who, it was said, had always bad luck. He rode Lusignan in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
GROGNET, a perfumer in Rue de Grammont, whose business was ruined by the growth of Octave Mouret’s great establishment. Au Bonheur des Dames.
GROSBOIS, a Government surveyor who had also a small farm at Magnolles, a little village near Rognes. Liable to be summoned from Orgeres to Beaugency for purposes of survey, he left the management of his own land to his wife, and in the course of these constant excursions he acquired such a habit of drinking that he was never seen sober. That mattered little, however; the more drunk he was the better he seemed to see; he never made a wrong measurement or an error in calculation. People listened to him with respect, for he had the reputation of being a sly, acute man. La Terre.
GUENDE (MADAME DE), a friend of the Saccards. She was a woman well known in the society of the Second Empire. La Curee.
GUEULE-D’OR, the sobriquet of Goujet. L’Assommoir.
GUEULIN, nephew of Narcisse Bachelard, was a clerk in an insurance office. Directly after office hours he used to meet his uncle, and never left him, going the round of all the cafes in his wake. “Behind the huge, ungainly figure of the one you were sure to see the pale, wizened features of the other.” He said that he avoided all love affairs, as they invariably led to trouble and complications, but he was ultimately caught by his uncle in compromising circumstances with Mademoiselle Fifi, who was a protegee of the old man. Bachelard insisted on their marriage, and gave the girl a handsome dowry. Pot-Bouille.
GUIBAL (MADAME), wife of a barrister well known at the Palais de Justice, who led, it was said, a somewhat free life. The husband and wife were never seen together, and Madame Guibal consoled herself with M. De Boves, from whom she derived such large sums of money that he found difficulty in carrying on his own establishment. She was a tall, thin woman, with red hair, and a somewhat cold, selfish expression. Au Bonheur des Dames.
GUICHON (MADEMOISELLE), the office-keeper at the railway station at Havre. She was a slim, fair woman about thirty years of age, who owed her post to M. Dabadie, the chief station-master, with whom it was generally believed she was on intimate terms. Nevertheless Madame Lebleu, who lived on the same corridor and kept perpetual watch, had never been able to discover anything. La Bete Humaine.
GUIGNARD, a peasant who belonged to the same village as Zephyrin Lacour. He desired to sell his house, and Zephyrin and Rosalie, his sweetheart, looked forward to buying it. Une Page d’Amour.
GUILLAUME, a peasant of Rognes. He owned a piece of land beside the hovel of Hyacinthe Fouan. La Terre.
GUILLAUME, a young swineherd at La Borderie. He afterwards became a soldier. La Terre.
GUIRAUD (M. DE), a magistrate of Paris, who was a friend of Doctor Deberle and visited at his house. Une Page d’Amour.
GUIRAUD (MADAME DE), wife of the preceding. She was on intimate terms with Madame Deberle, and took part in the amateur theatricals arranged by that lady. Une Page d’Amour.
GUIRAUDE (MADAME), mother of Sophie and Valentin, patients of Dr. Pascal. Her husband died of phthisis, and she herself suffered from a slow decomposition of the blood. She died soon after her son Valentin. Le Docteur Pascal.
GUNDERMANN, the great Jew banker, master of the Bourse and of the financial world. He was a man of over sixty years of age, who had long suffered from ill-health. Constantly engaged in business of the greatest magnitude, he never went to the Bourse himself; indeed, he even pretended that he sent no official representatives there. He was not on friendly terms with Saccard, and when the Universal Bank was started he placed himself in antagonism towards it. The wild speculation in the shares of the bank gave him his chance; his principle was that when a share rose above its true value a reaction was bound to follow. Accordingly, when the bank shares rose to two thousand francs he began to sell, and though Saccard by steady buying forced them to over three thousand francs, he continued to sell. His losses meantime were, of course, enormous, but having got information through Baroness Sandorff that Saccard’s resources were at an end, he made a final effort, with the result that a panic ensued, the price of the shares broke, and Saccard, along with the bank, was ruined. L’Argent.
GUNTHER (OTTO), captain in the Prussian Guard. He was a cousin of Weiss on the mother’s side. His feelings were strongly anti-French, and he refused to give any assistance to Henriette Weiss after the death of her husband, when she was searching for his body. La Debacle.
GUSTAVE, Maxime Saccard’s hairdresser. La Curee.
GUTMANN, a soldier in the Prussian Army, who took part in the attack on Bazeilles. It was he who tore Henriette Weiss from the arms of her husband, who, being a civilian, was about to be executed for firing upon the Prussian troops. Henriette found him later in the ambulance at Remilly. He was unable to speak, a ball having carried away half his tongue, and they could only guess from the sounds he made that his name was Gutmann. Henriette, moved by pity, remained with him to the end, and she alone followed him to the place of burial. La Debacle.
GUYOT (ABBE), a priest of Saint-Eutrope. He took duty temporarily at Artaud while Abbe Mouret was ill. La Faute de l’Abbe Mouret.
GUYOT-LAPLANCHE, a man of considerable importance in the Second Empire, whom Clorinde Balbi gained to the cause of Eugene Rougon. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
H
HAFFNER, a well-known manufacturer, at Colmar. He was a multi-millionaire, and became a politician during the time of the Second Empire. He was the husband of Suzanne Haffner. La Curee.
HAFFNER (MADAME SUZANNE), wife of a celebrated manufacturer of Colmar, a millionaire twenty times over, whom the Empire was transforming into a politician. She was the inseparable companion of the Marquise d’Espanet, and had been a schoolfellow of Madame Renee Saccard. La Curee.
HALLEGRAIN (CAPTAIN JACQUES), the father of Christine. He was a Gascon from Montauban. A stroke of paralysis in the legs caused his retirement from the army, and he settled at Clermont with his wife and daughter. One day, when they were at church, he died of a second attack of paralysis. L’Oeuvre.
HALLEGRAIN (MADAME), wife of the preceding. She survived him for five years, remaining at Clermont, managing as well as she could on her scanty pension, which she eked out by painting fans, in order to bring up her daughter as a lady. During these five years Madame Hallegrain became each day paler and thinner, until she was only a shadow; one morning she could not rise, and she died, looking sadly at Christine, with her eyes full of great tears. L’Oeuvre.
HALLEGRAIN (CHRISTINE), daughter of the preceding, was born at Strasburg. Her father died when she was twelve years old, and her mother, who had a severe struggle to make a living for herself and her child, only survived him five years. Christine was left penniless and unprotected, without a friend, save La Mere des Saints-Anges, the Superior of the Sisters of the Visitation, who kept her in the convent until she got a situation as reader and companion to Madame Vanzade, an old lady who lived in Paris. Chance led to a meeting between Christine and Claude Lantier on the evening of her arrival in the city, and the acquaintanceship ripened into love. Ultimately she ran off with him, and they took up house at Bennecourt, where they lived happily for several years, a son being born to them in 1860. She was devoted to Claude, who was engrossed in his art, and when she saw that he was becoming discontented in the country she urged his return to Paris. There he became obsessed by the idea of a masterpiece, by means of which he was to revolutionize the world of art, and Christine allowed him to sacrifice their child and herself to his hopes of fame. They began to encroach on the principal of their small fortune, and while this lasted were not unhappy, though Claude’s increasing mental disturbance already gave cause for anxiety. Their marriage had taken place some time previously, and this had tended to make her position more comfortable. The exhaustion of their means was followed by great hardships, but Christine continued to sacrifice everything to her husband. The death of their child drew him away from his task for a time, but he again took it up, his mind becoming more and more unhinged. Christine made a last effort to detach him, but the call of his masterpiece was too strong, and one morning she found him hanging in front of the picture, dead. She fell on the floor in a faint, and lay there to all appearance as dead as her husband, both of them crushed by the sovereignty of art. L’Oeuvre.
HAMELIN (CAROLINE), sister of Georges Hamelin, accompanied him to Paris after the death of their father. She took a situation as governess, and soon after married a millionaire brewer in whose house she was employed. After a few years of married life, she was obliged to apply for a separation in order to avoid being killed by her husband, a drunkard who pursued her with a knife in fits of insane jealousy. Living with her brother, in the flat of the Orviedo mansion above that occupied by Saccard, she made the acquaintance of the latter, becoming after a time his housekeeper and subsequently his mistress. During the absence of her brother in the East, after the foundation of the Universal Bank, she did everything she could to protect his interests, and tried to persuade Saccard to discontinue the gambling in the shares of the bank which ultimately led to its ruin. Like her brother, she sold all her shares in the bank, and after the final crash divested herself of all her means in the assistance of ruined shareholders. She followed her brother in his flight to Rome. L’Argent.
HAMELIN (GEORGES), son of a Montpellier physician, a remarkable savant, an enthusiastic Catholic, who had died poor. After his father’s death he came to Paris, along with his sister Caroline, and entered the Polytechnic school. He became an engineer, and having received an appointment in connection with the Suez Canal, went to Egypt. Subsequently he went to Syria, where he remained some years, laying out a carriage road from Beyrout to Damascus. He was an enthusiast, and his portfolio was full of schemes of far-reaching magnitude. Having met Saccard in Paris, he joined with him in the formation of the Universal Bank, which was intended to furnish the means of carrying out some at least of his schemes. Against his wish, Hamelin was made chairman of the bank, and he thus became liable for the actions of the other directors, though he was himself absent in the East forming the companies in which the bank was interested. He was a man of high honour, and when the gamble in the shares of the bank reached an excessive point, he did all he could to restrain it, even selling his own shares. The money received for these was subsequently used in relieving other shareholders who lost their all. When the crash came, Hamelin was arrested along with Saccard, and, after trial, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of three thousand francs. By a technicality of law they were allowed a month to appeal, during which they were at liberty. With the connivance of Eugene Rougon, they fled the country, Hamelin going to Rome, where he secured a situation as an engineer. L’Argent.
HAMELIN (FRANCOISE), sister of M. Hamelin, a farmer, who lived at Soulanges. She brought up Angelique Marie, who was handed over to her by the Foundling Hospital when only a few days old. Angelique remained with her until she went to Paris with Madame Franchomme, some years later. Le Reve.
HARDY, tax-collector at Cloyes. La Terre.
HARTMANN (BARON), Director of the Credit Immobilier, a concern which had large interests in property immediately adjoining “The Ladies’ Paradise.” The Baron had been a lover of Madame Desforges, and through her influence he agreed to give financial support to Octave Mouret, thereby enabling him to carry out the large schemes of extension to which he had long looked forward. Au Bonheur des Dames.
HAUCHECORNE, principal assistant in the draper’s shop known as _Vieil Elbeuf_. He married Desiree, the daughter of his employer, and succeeded to the business, which he ultimately handed over to Baudu, his own son-in-law. Au Bonheur des Dames.
HAUCHECORNE (MADAME), wife of the preceding. See Desiree Finet.
HAUCHECORNE (ELIZABETH), daughter of the preceding. See Madame Baudu.
HAUTECOEUR (MONSEIGNEUR JEAN D’) was a member of one of the oldest and proudest families in France. He was for some time in the army, and until he was forty years of age he led an adventurous life, travelling everywhere and having many strange experiences. At last he chanced to meet Mademoiselle Pauline, daughter of the Comte de Valencay, very wealthy, marvellously beautiful, and scarcely nineteen years of age. They were married, but at the end of a year Pauline had a son and died. A fortnight later M. d’Hautecoeur entered into Holy Orders, and soon became a priest; twenty years afterwards he was made a bishop. During all that time he refused to see Felicien, his son, who had been brought up by an old abbot, a relation of his wife. He intended to have his son brought up as a priest, but the lad having no vocation, he gave up the idea and brought him to live at Beaumont. There Felicien met and fell in love with Angelique, but the Bishop sternly forbade any thought of marriage between them, and even went the length of arranging a marriage between his son and Claire de Voincourt. A touching personal appeal by Angelique had no effect in gaining the Bishop’s consent, but he was secretly much moved, and when she fell into ill-health he himself came to administer the last rites of the Church. Her semi-miraculous recovery led to the Bishop consenting to his son’s marriage, which was celebrated a few months later in the cathedral of Beaumont. Le Reve.
HAUTECOEUR (MARQUISE JEAN XII DE). See Paule de Valencay.
HAUTECOEUR (ANGELIQUE DE). See Angelique Marie.
HAUTECOEUR (FELICIEN D’), only child of Jean d’Hautecoeur, who was afterwards Bishop of Beaumont. Felicien’s mother having died at his birth, his father took Holy Orders, and refused to see him for over twenty years. Having ultimately come to live with his father at Beaumont, Felicien met and fell in love with Angelique, the adopted daughter of Hubert, the chasuble-maker. The Bishop having absolutely refused to consent to the marriage, the Huberts endeavoured to separate the lovers by persuading Angelique that Felicien no longer cared for her. They were aided in this by a rumour that Felicien was to marry Claire de Voincourt. A meeting between Angelique and Felicien cleared away the mists, but by this time the girl had fallen into ill-health and appeared to be dying. The Bishop, who had formerly been secretly moved by an appeal made to him by Angelique, came to administer to her the last rites of the Church. A semi-miraculous recovery followed, and, the Bishop having consented, Felicien was married to Angelique in the cathedral of Beaumont. The recovery had, however, been a mere spark of an expiring fire, for as Felicien led his new-made wife to the cathedral porch, she slipped from his arm, and in a few moments was dead. Le Reve.
HAZARD, a horse in the Mechain stable. It ran in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
HEDOUIN (CHARLES), originally a salesman in the draper’s shop known as _Au Bonheur des Dames_, he became a partner by marrying Caroline Deleuze, a daughter of one of the proprietors. He fell into ill-health, but when he died the business was left in a flourishing condition. Pot-Bouille.
HEDOUIN (MADAME CAROLINE), wife of M. Hedouin, the proprietor of a draper’s shop in Paris known as “The Ladies’ Paradise.” She was a handsome woman with strong commercial capabilities, and during the frequent absences of her husband she undertook the management of the business. When Octave Mouret came to Paris, he first got employment at “The Ladies’ Paradise,” and with a view to establishing his position he conceived the idea of becoming Madame Hedouin’s lover. She discouraged his advances, however, and he gave up his situation. M. Hedouin died soon afterwards, and his widow, finding the responsibilities of business too heavy, invited Octave Mouret to return; a few months afterwards they were married. Pot-Bouille.
After her marriage with Octave Mouret the business extended rapidly, and an enlargement of the shop soon became necessary. While the work was in progress she met with an accident which resulted in her death three days later. Au Bonheur des Dames.
HELENE (DUCHESSE), the principal character in _La Petite Duchesse_, a piece by Fauchery played at the Theatre des Varietes. The part was originally given to Rose Mignon, but was played by Nana, who was a complete failure in it. Nana.
HELOISE, an actress at the Folies. She was plain-looking, but very amusing. Au Bonheur des Dames.
HENNEBEAU, general manager of the Montsou Mining Company, was born in the Ardennes. In his early life he had undergone the hardships of a poor boy thrown as an orphan on the Paris streets. After having followed the courses of the Ecole des Mines, at the age of twenty-four he became engineer to the Sainte-Barbe mine, and three years later he became divisional engineer in the Pas-de-Calais, at the Marles mines. When there he married the daughter of the rich owner of a spinning factory at Arras. For fifteen years they lived in the same small provincial town, and no event broke the monotony of existence, not even the birth of a child. An increasing irritation detached Madame Hennebeau, who was disdainful of this husband who gained a small salary with such difficulty. The misunderstandings between them became more pronounced, but with the view of pleasing his wife Hennebeau accepted a situation in an office in Paris. But Paris only completed their separation, for she immediately threw herself into all the luxurious follies of the period. During the ten years spent there she carried on an open intrigue with a man whose desertion nearly killed her. It was then that her husband accepted the management of the Montsou mines, still hoping that his wife might be changed down there in that desolate black country. When the great strike of miners broke out he at first minimized its seriousness, thinking that it would not last a week. By his lack of decided action he forfeited to some extent the confidence of his directors, but he regained this by the subsequent measures taken by him for bringing the strike to an end, and ultimately received the decoration of an officer of the Legion of Honour. His domestic life was, however, once more embittered by the discovery of a liaison between his wife and his nephew, Paul Negrel. Germinal.
HENNEBEAU (MADAME), wife of the preceding, was the daughter of a rich spinner at Arras. She did not get on well with her husband, whom she despised for his small success, and after she accompanied him to Paris she entered into a notorious liaison with a man whose subsequent desertion nearly killed her. For a time after their removal to Montsou she seemed more contented, but this did not last long, and she ultimately consoled herself with her husband’s nephew, Paul Negrel. She was angry at the strikers, as they interfered with the arrival of provisions for a dinner-party which she was giving; but she was incapable of understanding the sufferings of the miners and their families in the hardships they were forced to undergo. Germinal.
HEQUET (CAROLINE), a well-known _demi-mondaine_ in Paris. Her father, who was a clerk in Bordeaux, was long since dead, and her mother, accepting the situation, looked after Caroline’s financial affairs with the strictest regularity. She bought the estate known as _La Mignotte_ after Nana tired of it. Nana.
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A Zola Dictionary; the Characters of the Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola;Chapter D (2)
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