A Zola Dictionary Part 29

REMANJOU (MADEMOISELLE), an old lady who lived in the same tenement house in Rue de la Goutte d'Or as the Coupeaus and the Lorilleux, where she made a scanty livelihood by dressing dolls. She was one of the guests at the Coupeaus' wedding party. L'a.s.sommoir.

RENAUDIN, a notary at Paris, who adjusted the Contract of Marriage between Auguste Vabre and Berthe Josserand. He acted in concert with Duveyrier in selling some heritable property to the loss of other members of the family. Pot-Bouille.

RENAUDIN, a medical man at Grenelle. Josephine Dejoie was at one time cook in his house. L'Argent.

RENGADE, a gendarme whose eye was accidentally destroyed by Silvere Mouret during a struggle for possession of a carbine after the entry of the insurgents into Pla.s.sans. La Fortune des Rougon.

REUTHLINGUER (BARON DE), a banker, and possessor of one of the largest fortunes in Europe. He was a friend of Clorinde Balbi, and from her received valuable information on political subjects. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

RHADAMANTE, the sobriquet of a professor at the college of Pla.s.sans. He was supposed never to have laughed. L'Oeuvre.

RICHOMME, one of the captains of the Voreux pit. He tried in vain to prevent a collision between the strikers and the troops, and even when bricks were being thrown he went between two parties, imploring one and advising the other, careless of danger. He was one of the first to fall when the troops ultimately fired. Germinal.

RIVOIRE, a member of the firm of Piot and Rivoire. Au Bonheur des Dames.

ROBERT (MADAME), a regular customer at the restaurant Laure Piedefer.

She was jealous of Nana's relations with Satin, and revenged herself by writing anonymous letters to m.u.f.fat and to other lovers of her enemy.

Nana.

ROBIN-CHAGOT (VISCOUNT DE), vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Universal Bank. He was selected for the position in the belief that he would sign anything put before him without making too many inquiries.

L'Argent.

ROBINEAU, "second hand" in the silk department at "The Ladies'

Paradise." As the result of a conspiracy among his subordinates, he was dismissed, and soon afterwards bought the business of M. Vincard, a silk merchant, with money belonging to his wife. His capital was inadequate, but M. Gaujean, a silk manufacturer who had quarrelled with Octave Mouret, promised to give him unlimited credit. Robineau's intention was to break up the monopoly of the cheaper cla.s.s of silks which Mouret had secured, but he soon found that each reduction in price which he made was met by a still larger one. As he had no other departments out of which to average his profits, ruin inevitably followed, and he attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself under an omnibus; his injuries were not serious, however, and he ultimately recovered. Au Bonheur des Dames.

ROBINEAU (MADAME), wife of the preceding. "Daughter of an overseer in the Department of Highways, entirely ignorant of business matters, she still retained the charming awkwardness of a girl educated in a Blois convent." Her small fortune enabled her husband to buy the silk business of M. Vincard, and she a.s.sisted him in carrying it on. Their subsequent ruin affected her less than the attempted suicide of her husband, to whom she was devoted. Au Bonheur des Dames.

ROBINE, a regular attender at the revolutionary meetings in Lebigre's wine-shop. He sat for hours listening to arguments but never made any remarks. He escaped arrest. Le Ventre de Paris.

ROBINE (MADAME), wife of the preceding, lived with her husband in Rue Saint-Denis. No one ever entered their house, and even her personal appearance was unknown to her husband's friends. Le Ventre de Paris.

ROBINOT (MADAME), an acquaintance of the Deberles. Une Page d'Amour.

ROBIQUET, farmer of La Chamade. Being near the end of his lease, he ceased to manure the land, allowing it to go to ruin. He was eventually turned out as he did not pay his rent. La Terre.

ROCHART (MONSEIGNEUR), Bishop of Faverolles. He upheld the Sisters of the Holy Family in the matter of the succession to Cheva.s.su's estate, but was beaten by Eugene Rougon, the Minister of State, who supported the claim of the Charbonnels. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

ROCHAS, lieutenant in the 106th Regiment of the line, commanded by Colonel de Vineuil. The son of a journeyman mason from Limousin, he was born in Paris, and not caring for his father's calling, enlisted when he was only eighteen. He gained a corporal's stripes in Algeria, rose to the rank of sergeant at Sebastopol, and was promoted to a lieutenancy after Solferino. Fifteen years of hards.h.i.+p and heroic bravery was the price he had paid to be an officer, but his education was so defective that he could never be made a captain. He held the old traditions that a defeat of the French army was impossible, and all through the campaign against Germany in 1870 he refused to believe in the repeated catastrophes. In the fierce attack by the Prussians on the Hermitage, he fought desperately against an overwhelming force, and up to the end encouraged his men by shouting that the victory was theirs. In the end he fell, mowed down by a hail of bullets. La Debacle.

ROCHEFONTAINE, proprietor of a large factory at Chateaudun. He was desirous of serving as a Deputy, but did not secure the support of the Government, and, standing as an independent candidate, was defeated.

Later, in consequence of the disgrace of M. de Chedeville, he became the official candidate, and in spite of a brusqueness of manner which made him unpopular, he was elected. La Terre.

RODRIGUEZ, a distant relative of the Empress, who made a claim upon the State for a large sum, which he said had been due since 1808. Eugene Rougon, the Minister of State, gave great offence to the Empress by opposing the claim. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

ROGNES-BOUQUEVAL (LES), an ancient and n.o.ble family whose estate, already much reduced by enforced sales, was declared national property in 1793, and was purchased piece by piece by Isidore Hourdequin. La Terre.

ROIVILLE (LES), members of Parisian society at whose house Baroness Sandorff occasionally met Gundermann. L'Argent.

ROSALIE, an old chair-mender at Rognes. The poor woman lived all alone, sick and without a copper. Abbe G.o.dard came to her a.s.sistance. La Terre.

ROSE, a waitress in Lebigre's wine-shop. Le Ventre de Paris.

ROSE, servant in the household of Francois Mouret, was an old woman of crabbed nature and uncertain temper. She fell under the influence of Abbe Faujas, and encouraged her mistress in the religious observances which led to the neglect of her family. Later, when Madame Mouret's health became impaired, and she became subject to fits, it was chiefly Rose who threw suspicion on her master, encouraging the belief that he was insane and had inflicted injuries on his wife. La Conquete de Pla.s.sans.

ROSE, a peasant girl at Artaud; sister of Lisa. La Faute de l'Abbe Mouret.

ROSE, maid-servant to Madame Hennebeau. She was not alarmed by the violence of the strikers, as, belonging to that district, she knew the miners, and believed them not to be wicked. Germinal.

ROSE, daughter of the concierge at the sub-prefecture at Sedan. She was a worker in Delaherche's factory, and he applied to her for information regarding the course of the battle, as she was in a position to hear the gossip of the officers and officials. When Napoleon III decided to request an armistice from the Prussians, it was Rose who furnished a tablecloth to be used as a white flag. La Debacle.

ROSE, niece of Aristide Saccard's hairdresser. She was a pretty girl of about eighteen, whom Saccard sent to his son Maxime under the pretext of nursing him, but in reality with a view to hastening the course of a nervous disease from which the young man suffered. Aristide agreed to pay her a percentage on the fortune which he hoped to acquire at his son's death. Le Docteur Pascal.

ROUBAUD, a.s.sistant station-master at Havre. Born in the south of France, at Pla.s.sans, he had a carter for father. He had quitted the army with the stripes of a sergeant-major, and for a long time had been general porter at the station at Nantes. He had been promoted head porter at Barentin, and it was there that he first saw Severine Aubry, the G.o.d-daughter of President Grandmorin, whom he married. This was the sole romance of his existence, and it was coupled with fortune, for apart from Severine and her marriage portion of ten thousand francs, the President, now a director of the Western Railway Company, got him appointed a.s.sistant station-master at Havre. He proved an excellent official, and the only thing against him was a suspicion that he was affected by republican principles. For three years Roubaud's married life was a happy one, until a chance lie of his wife's gave him a clue to her former relations with Grandmorin. Driven frantic by jealousy, he forced her to reveal the truth, afterwards compelling her to become his accomplice in the murder of the President in the Havre express. The Roubauds established an alibi, though slight suspicion attached to them, and Denizet, the examining magistrate, endeavoured to fasten the crime on Cabuche. For political reasons it was not considered desirable that Grandmorin's character should be publicly discussed, and the inquiry regarding the murder was dropped. Roubaud was aware, however, that Jacques Lantier had strong suspicions, and tried to secure his silence by making him a friend; a friends.h.i.+p which soon developed into a liaison between Lantier and Severine. With the murder of Grandmorin, the disintegration of Roubaud's character began; he gradually became a confirmed gambler, and having lost all his own money began to use that which he had taken from the body of his victim in order to establish a false motive for the crime. The relations between him and his wife became more and more strained, until they reached such a pitch that Lantier and she planned his murder. The homicidal frenzy of Lantier, to which Severine fell a victim, ended the plot, but Roubaud and Cabuche, who arrived on the scene immediately after the murder, were arrested under what appeared to be suspicious circ.u.mstances, and, after trial, were sentenced to penal servitude for a crime which they did not commit.

La Bete Humaine.

ROUBAUD (MADAME), wife of the preceding. See Severine Aubry. La Bete Humaine.

ROUDIER, a regular attender at the political meetings held in the Rougons' yellow drawing-room. La Fortune des Rougon.

ROUGE D'AUNEAU (LE), lieutenant of Beau-Francois, leader of the band of brigands. He wrote a complaint while in prison. La Terre.

ROUGETTE, a cow bought by the sisters Mouche at the market of Cloyes. La Terre.

ROUGON, a young gardener who worked for the Fouque family, and afterwards married Adelaide. Fifteen months afterwards he died from sunstroke, leaving a son named Pierre. La Fortune des Rougon.

ROUGON, alias SACCARD (ARISTIDE), born 1815, youngest son of Pierre Rougon, was educated, like his brothers, at Pla.s.sans and Paris, but failed to pa.s.s his examinations. His character was a combination of covetousness and slyness: his greatest desire was the acquisition of rapid fortune, gained without work. In 1836 he married Angele Sicardot, who brought him a dowry of ten thousand francs. As Aristide did no work, and lived extravagantly, the money was soon consumed, and he and his wife were in such poverty that he was at last compelled to seek a situation. He procured a place at the Sub-Prefecture, where he remained nearly ten years, and only reached a salary of eighteen hundred francs.

During that time "he longed, with ever-increasing malevolence and rancour, for those enjoyments of which he was deprived" by his lowly position. In 1848, when his brother Eugene left for Paris, he had a faint idea of following him, but remained in the hope of something turning up. In opposition to his father, he expressed Republican principles, and edited a newspaper called the _Independant_. At the time of the _Coup d'Etat_, he became alarmed at the course of events, and pretended that an accident to his hand prevented him from writing. His mother having given him private information as to the success of the Bonapartist cause, he changed the politics of his paper, and became reconciled to his parents. La Fortune des Rougon.

Early in 1852 he went to Paris, taking with him his wife and daughter Clotilde, then a child of four; his son Maxime he left at Pla.s.sans.

Through the influence of his brother Eugene, he got an appointment as a.s.sistant surveying clerk at the _Hotel de Ville_, with a salary of two thousand four hundred francs. Before entering on his duties, however, he changed his name to Saccard on the suggestion of his brother, who feared that he might be compromised by him. In 1853, Aristide was appointed a surveying commissioner of roads, with an increased salary. At this period great schemes of city improvement were under discussion, and Aristide by spying and other shady means got early information as to the position of the proposed new streets. Great chances of fortune were arising, but he had no capital. The death of his wife enabled him to enter into a plan proposed by his sister Sidonie, who had heard of a family willing to make a considerable sacrifice to find a not too inquisitive husband for their daughter. He accordingly married Renee Beraud du Chatel, and gained control of a considerable sum of ready money, in addition to the fortune settled on his wife. By means of a cleverly contrived swindle, in which he was a.s.sisted by his friend Larsonneau, he got a fabulous price for some property acquired by him, and the foundation of his fortune was laid. From this time, he lived a life of the wildest extravagance, and, though his gains were frequently enormous, his expenses were so great that it was only with difficulty that he was able to prevent a catastrophe. La Curee.

He as appointed by Pauline Quenu's family council to be her "surrogate guardian." La Joie de Vivre.

After a last and disastrous land speculation, Saccard was obliged to leave his great house in the Parc Monceau, which he abandoned to his creditors. At first undecided as to his movements, he took a flat in the mansion in Rue Saint-Lazare, which belonged to Princess d'Orviedo. There he met Hamelin, the engineer, and his sister Caroline, with whom he soon became on intimate terms. Hamelin having spent much time in the East, had formed many schemes for great financial ventures, and Saccard was so impressed with these that he formed a syndicate for the purpose of carrying some of them out. With this view the Universal Bank was formed, and was at first very successful. By persistent advertising, and other means, the shares of the Bank were forced to an undue price, and then Saccard began to speculate in them on behalf of the Bank itself. The great financier Gundermann, with whom Saccard had quarrelled, then began a persistent attack on the Bank, selling its shares steadily day after day. Saccard continued to buy as long as he was able; but the end came, the price broke, and he, as well as the Bank, which was now one of its own largest shareholders, was ruined. Since his previous failure, Saccard had not been on friendly terms with his brother Eugene Rougon, and, some time before the collapse of the Bank, had made violent attacks upon him in his newspaper. Consequently Rougon did nothing to a.s.sist him in the criminal proceedings which followed the final catastrophe; he did not, however, wish to have a brother in jail, and arranged matters so that an appeal was allowed. Next day Saccard escaped to Belgium.

L'Argent.

After the fall of the Second Empire, he returned to Paris, despite the sentence he had incurred. Some complicated intrigue must have been at work, for not only did he obtain a pardon, but once more took part in promoting large undertakings, with a finger in every pie and a share of every bribe. In 1872 he was actively engaged in journalism, having been appointed Director of the _Epoque_, a Republican journal which made a great success by publis.h.i.+ng the papers found in the Tuileries. Covetous of his son's fortune, he hastened a disease from which Maxime suffered, by encouraging him in vicious courses, and in the end got possession of the whole estate. By a singular irony, Aristide, now returned to his original Republicanism, was in a position to protect his brother Eugene, whom in earlier days he had so often compromised. Le Docteur Pascal.

ROUGON (MADAME ANGELE), first wife of the preceding, was a daughter of commander Sicardot. She brought her husband a dowry of ten thousand francs. La Fortune des Rougon.

Along with her daughter Clotilde, she accompanied her husband to Paris in 1852, and being an amiable woman without ambition she was quite satisfied with the modest position he at first secured. She died in 1854 of inflammation of the lungs. La Curee.

ROUGON, alias SACCARD (MADAME RENEE), the second wife of Aristide Rougon, alias Saccard, was the elder daughter of M. Beraud du Chatel, the last representative of an old middle-cla.s.s family. Having become seriously compromised, she was hurriedly married to Saccard through the agency of his sister Madame Sidonie, and a considerable sum of money as well as land was settled upon her. Wholly given over to pleasure and extravagance, she soon got deeply into debt, and her husband took advantage of this from time to time by inducing her to make over to him her property, in order that he might speculate with it. She engaged in a shameful liaison with her husband's son Maxime, which ultimately brought her great unhappiness, and she died of acute meningitis at an early age.

La Curee.

ROUGON (CHARLES), born 1857, son of Maxime Rougon, alias Saccard, and of Justine Megot, a maid-servant of Madame Renee Saccard. The child and his mother were sent to the country with a little annuity of twelve hundred francs. La Curee.

At fifteen years of age he lived at Pla.s.sans with his mother, who had married a saddler named Anselme Thomas. Charles was a degenerate who reproduced at a distance of three generations his great-great-grandmother, Adelaide Fouque. He did not look more than twelve years old, and his intelligence was that of a child of five.

There was in him a relaxation of tissues, due to degeneracy, and the slightest exertion produced hemorrhage. Charles was not kindly treated by his stepfather, and generally lived with his great-grandmother Felicite Rougon. He was frequently taken to visit the aged Adelaide Fouque in the asylum at Les Tulettes, and on one occasion, in 1873, when he chanced to be left alone with her he was seized with bleeding at the nose, and, under the fixed eyes of his ancestress, he slowly bled to death. Le Docteur Pascal.