A Zola Dictionary Part 6

BERGERET (MADAME), concierge of the house at Pla.s.sy occupied by Helene Grandjean. Une Page d'Amour.

BERLINGOT, a horse which belonged to M. Mechain and gained the Prix d'Ispahan. Nana.

BERLOQUE, alias CHICOT, a miner who was killed by a landslip in the pit at Voreux. Germinal.

BERNHEIM (LES FRERES), proprietors of the gla.s.s-works of Saint-Joseph where Josserand was employed as cas.h.i.+er. Pot-Bouille.

BERTHIER (MADAME), was a friend of Madame Deberle, and took part in the amateur theatricals arranged by that lady. Une Page d'Amour.

BERTHIER, authorized clerk to Mazaud, the stockbroker. L'Argent.

BERTHOU, the celebrated painter of _Nero in the Arena_. Claude Lantier took lessons from him for six months, but their ideas were not in sympathy, and repeatedly the master told Claude that he would never do anything good. L'Oeuvre.

BERTRAND, a large dog which belonged to Sandoz. It barked furiously at visitors, until it recognized a friend of its master, whom it would greet with joyous welcome. L'Oeuvre.

BESNUS (CLARISSE), an actress at the Theatre des Varietes, where she played the part of Iris in the _Blonde Venus_, and Geraldine in the _Pet.i.te d.u.c.h.esse_. She was mistress of Hector de la Faloise for a time.

Nana.

BESSIERE, station-master at Barentin. He saw the Roubauds in the Havre express on the evening of the murder of President Grandmorin, and his evidence confirmed their alibi. La Bete Humaine.

BEULIN-D'ORCHERE (M.) was a member of a legal family. After being public prosecutor at Orleans and advocate-general at Rouen, he came to Paris as counsellor at the Appeal Court, of which he afterwards became president.

His sister Veronique married Eugene Rougon. He was appointed first president of the Court of Paris after Rougon's return to office. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

BEULIN-D'ORCHERE (VERONIQUE), a quiet, subdued woman about thirty-six years of age, who lived with her brother and seldom went out except to attend Low Ma.s.s at Saint-Sulpice. She married Eugene Rougon, to whom she brought a considerable fortune. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

BIBI-LA-GRILLADE, the sobriquet of one of Coupeau's fellow-workmen, with whom he was on intimate terms. He was one of the party at Coupeau's wedding with Gervaise Macquart. L'a.s.sommoir.

BIJARD, a drunken locksmith, who killed his wife by systematic ill-usage. On the rare occasions when he worked, he always had a bottle of alcohol beside him, from which he took large draughts every half-hour. After the death of his wife, he transferred his cruelty to his little daughter Lalie, who did not long survive. L'a.s.sommoir.

BIJARD (MADAME) lived with her husband and their children in the same tenement as the Coupeaus and Lorilleux. She was a hard-working woman who did was.h.i.+ng for Gervaise Coupeau's laundry, but her husband, a drunken brute, abused her to such an extent that she ultimately died of injuries received at his hands, or, more accurately, feet. The poor woman, in order to save her husband from the scaffold, said before she died that she had hurt herself by falling on the edge of a tub. L'a.s.sommoir.

BIJARD (LALIE), daughter of the preceding, a child of eight when her mother died, had acted as the little mother of the family. "Without a word said, quite of her own accord, she took the dead woman's place, to such an extent that her foolish brute of a father, to make the likeness complete, battered about the daughter now as he had battered the mother before. When he came in drunk, he felt the need of a woman to attack. He did not even notice what a tiny little thing Lalie was; he hit her as he would have hit a grown woman. He beat her shamelessly, he kicked her for a yes or no; and she took it all with a resigned look in her beautiful eyes, without a murmur. Then when her father was tired of kicking her from corner to corner of the room, she waited until she had the strength to pick herself up, and then went back to her work. It was part of her daily task to be beaten." As the result of this infamous treatment the child died, but again the man unfortunately escaped punishment.

L'a.s.sommoir.

BIJARD (HENRIETTE), second daughter of Bijard. She was five years old at the time of her mother's death. L'a.s.sommoir.

BIJARD (JULES), third child of Bijard. When his mother died he was three years old. L'a.s.sommoir.

BIJOU, the pet dog of Nana. He excited the jealousy of Comte de m.u.f.fat.

Nana.

BILLECOQ (HERMINIE), a protegee of Madame Correur, who induced Eugene Rougon to provide a dowry, in order that she might marry an officer who had compromised her. The officer did not, however, fulfill his promise, but went off with the dowry, of which he had obtained possession. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

BLACHET, a deputy. He desired leave of absence. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

BLAISOT, a banker at Paris. L'Argent.

BLANCHETTE, a cow which belonged to Lise and Francoise Fouan. La Terre.

BLERIOT (M. DE), prefect of the department in which Pla.s.sans is situated. He accompanied Colonel Ma.s.son and the troops which crushed the Republican rising in 1851. La Fortune des Rougon.

BLEUZE, a rope-walk at Montsou which was ruined by the miners' strike.

Germinal.

BLOND (MARIA), a young girl of fifteen who had grown up on the pavements of Paris. She frequented the restaurant kept by Laure Piedefer. Nana.

BOCHE (M.) the concierge of the large tenement-house in which resided the Coupeaus, Lorilleux, and others. He and his wife were friendly with the various tenants in turn, sometimes siding with one and sometimes with another in the quarrels which so frequently arose. In the presence of the landlord, of whom they were afraid, they a.s.sumed an air of great importance, and affected not to know the tenants. They were present at Gervaise Coupeau's birthday party. L'a.s.sommoir.

BOCHE (MADAME), wife of the preceding. L'a.s.sommoir.

Nana informed Satin that Madame Boche is dead. Nana.

BOCHE (PAULINE), daughter of the preceding, was a girl of about the same age as Nana Coupeau, whose companion she was in all kinds of mischief.

L'a.s.sommoir.

BOCQUET (MADAME), mother of Clarisse. Pot-Bouille.

BOCQUET (CLARISSE), a woman on whom Duveyrier squandered large sums of money. She ultimately gained such complete influence over him, and made him so unhappy, that he attempted to commit suicide. Pot-Bouille.

BODIN (DOCTOR) was the regular medical attendant of Madame Helene Grandjean and her daughter Jeanne. A sudden illness of Jeanne made it necessary to call in Doctor Deberle, who subsequently met the older man in consultation from time to time. Une Page d'Amour.

BOHAIN (MARQUIS DE), an elderly n.o.bleman whose presence and manners were of a kind to adorn a board of directors, and whose ill.u.s.trious name was of value on a prospectus. He was in consequence always in demand by new companies. Since he began living by speculation, he and his wife had been legally separated, so far as estate went, and he lived with her only as a lodger, with nothing of his own except his clothes. "On two occasions already he had refused to pay up what he owed; he pocketed as long as he won, but as soon as he lost he did not pay." At the request of Saccard, the Marquis became a director of the Universal Bank. When the great gamble in the shares of the bank began, the Marquis followed his usual plan; having played through Mazaud for a rise, he refused to pay his losses, though he had gained two million francs through Jacoby, through whom he had played for a fall. L'Argent.

BONGRAND, a great artist, painter of the _Village Wedding_. He was a stout man, forty-five years old, with an expressive face and long grey hair; recently he had become a member of the Inst.i.tute and an officer of the Legion of Honour. The grandson of a farmer in the Beauce country, the son of a man risen to the middle cla.s.ses, with peasant blood in his veins, owing his culture to a mother of very artistic tastes, he was rich, had no need to sell his pictures, and retained many tastes and opinions of Bohemian life. His masterpiece, the _Village Wedding_, had brought about a revolution in art only parallel with Courbet, and he was acknowledged as Master by all the artists of the young school. The picture remained, however, his greatest work, though he objected to have it so designated, in the fear that it might be thought his powers were failing. A later picture called the _Village Funeral_ was intended to surpa.s.s it, but failed to arrest attention, and was indeed only an echo of the earlier work. He was one of the few mourners at the funeral of Claude Lantier. L'Oeuvre.

BONHOMME, the horse which for a quarter of a century had carried Doctor Pascal on his visits to his patients. Latterly the old Bonhomme became blind, and was no longer being driven, but being much loved by his master, was tenderly cared for until his death. Le Docteur Pascal.

BONNAUD, formerly head of the counting-house of a railway company.

Pot-Bouille.

BONNEHON (MADAME), sister of President Grandmorin. She was married to a wealthy manufacturer, who left her a widow at the age of thirty. In the mansion-house of Doinville, which belonged to her, she led a pleasant life, not without occasional affairs of the heart, but so correct in every way that she remained a leader of society in Rouen. She was a handsome woman, and in spite of her fifty years still retained much of her former charm. Among her friends she included Chaumette and Desbazeilles, both officials of the court at Rouen. Madame Bonnehon had a good opinion of the Roubauds, and did not approve of the position taken up by her niece Berthe regarding the legacy left to them by President Grandmorin. For the honour of her family she desired that the inquiry as to the murder of the President should not be continued. La Bete Humaine.

BONNEMORT, the sobriquet of Vincent Maheu. His family had been miners for generations, and he himself had worked in the pit since he was eight years old. After forty-five years of work underground he was given a post as fireman, and for five years worked each night at the Voreux pit for a wage of forty sous. He suffered greatly from rheumatism, which eventually turned into a form of dropsy, while his mind became affected to some extent by the sufferings occasioned by the great strike which took place at Voreux and other neighbouring pits. After the terrible scenes at Montsou, he could only sit in his chair before the fireless grate, with fixed and unseeing eyes, but in a sudden accession of madness he found strength to strangle Cecile Gregoire, who chanced to be left alone with him for a few moments. Germinal.

BONNET. See De Mareuil.

BORDENAVE, manager of the Theatre des Varietes. He was a coa.r.s.e man, with cynical views as to the stage, and cared nothing as to the means by which a popular success might be secured. Though he was well aware that Nana could neither sing nor act, he saw that her beauty was of a type likely to attract the Parisian public, and accordingly gave her the chief part in the _Blonde Venus_. It was he who showed H.R.H. The Prince of Scots the honours of "behind the scenes." Nana.

BORGNE-DE-JOUY, one of the band of brigands which was led by Beau-Francois. He betrayed his companions. La Terre.

BOSC, an old actor at the Theatre des Varietes, where he played the part of Jupiter in the _Blonde Venus_, and the Duc de Beaurivage in the _Pet.i.te d.u.c.h.esse_. He had a good-natured but somewhat drunken appearance. He treated women with disdain, and the idea that any man should trouble himself about them raised in him the only indignation of which he was capable. Nana.

BOUCHARD (M.), head-clerk in the office of the Minister of Interior.

His house was the first thrown open to Eugene Rougon on his arrival in Paris. Later on, Bouchard inherited his father's property, and at fifty-four years of age married Adele Desvignes. He was appointed head of a department after Rougon's return to office. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

BOUCHARD (MADAME), wife of the preceding, was the daughter of a respectable family at Rambouillet. M. Bouchard "had been anxious to marry a young lady from the provinces, because he made a point of having a steady wife. However, the fair and adorable little Adele, with her innocent blue eyes, had in less than four years proved to be a great deal more than a mere flirt." Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

BOULAND(MADAME), the nurse who attended Madame Lazare Chanteau. La Joie de Vivre.