After the fall of the Empire, Eugene became a simple Deputy, and in the Assembly remained to defend the old order of things which the downfall had swept away. Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (MADAME EUGENE), wife of the preceding. See Veronique Beulin-d’Orchere. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
ROUGON (MARTHE), born 1820, daughter of Pierre Rougon; married in 1840 her cousin Francois Rougon; had three children. La Fortune des Rougon.
She accompanied her husband to Marseilles, where by close attention to business they accumulated a fortune in fifteen years, returning to Plassans at the end of that period and settling down there. Her life at Plassans was a happy one until the household fell under the influence of Abbe Faujas. From the first she was in love with the priest, and as he gave her no encouragement in this, she devoted herself to church services to the entire neglect of her household and family. As time went on, her passion for the Abbe grew more extreme, and her health became undermined to a serious extent. She became subject to fits of an epileptic nature, and having injured herself in some of these, she allowed the injuries to be attributed to her husband, whom she had now grown to regard as an encumbrance. Though she was aware that he was not insane, she allowed him to be removed to an asylum, where confinement soon completed the work begun by her own conduct. The Abbe Faujas having resolutely resisted her advances, her health became still worse, and she died in her mother’s house on the same night that her husband escaped from the asylum and burned down their old home. La Conquete de Plassans.
ROUGON (MAXIME), born 1840, son of Aristide Rougon. La Fortune des Rougon.
When his father went to Paris in 1852, Maxime remained at school at Plassans, not going to Paris till after his father’s second marriage. From early youth he was of vicious character, and the idleness and extravagance of the life in his father’s house only completed the training begun at Plassans. After carrying on a disgraceful liaison with his father’s second wife, he married Louise de Mareuil, through whom he got a considerable dowry. La Curee.
After the death of his wife, six months after their marriage, he returned to Paris, where he lived quietly upon the dowry brought to him by her. He refused to join in any of his father’s schemes, or to assist him in any way, and was consequently not affected by the failure of the Universal Bank. L’Argent.
After the war he re-established himself in his mansion in Avenue du Bois-de-Boulogne, where he lived on the fortune left by his wife. “He had become prudent, however, with the enforced restraint of a man whose marrow is diseased, and who seeks by artifice to ward off the paralysis which threatened him.” In the fear of this impending illness, he induced his sister Clotilde to leave Doctor Pascal, and go to live with him in Paris, but in his constant fear of being taken advantage of he soon began to be suspicious of her, as he did of every one who served him. His father, who wished to hasten his own inheritance, encouraged him in a renewal of his vicious courses, and he died oflocomotor ataxyat the age of thirty-three. Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (MADAME MAXIME). See Louise de Mareuil.
ROUGON (PASCAL), born 1813, second son of Pierre Rougon, “had an uprightness of spirit, a love of study, a retiring modesty which contrasted strangely with the feverish ambitions and unscrupulous intrigues of his family.” Having acquitted himself admirably in his medical studies at Paris, he returned to Plassans, where he lived a life of quiet study and work. He had few patients, but devoted himself to research, particularly on the subject of heredity, with special reference to its results on his own family. In the hope of alleviating suffering, he followed the Republican insurgents in their march from Plassans in December, 1851. La Fortune des Rougon.
In 1854 his niece Clotilde, daughter of his brother Aristide, went to live with him. He had frequently offered to take her, but nothing was arranged till after the death of her mother, at which time she was about seven years old. La Curee.
His practice as a medical man extended to Les Artaud, and he attended his nephew Abbe Serge Mouret during an attack of brain fever. On the priest’s partial recovery, he removed him to the Paradou, and left him in the care of Albine, niece of old Jeanbernat, the caretaker of that neglected demesne. Dr. Pascal was much attached to Albine, and deeply regretted the sad love affair which resulted from Mouret’s forgetfulness of his past. He had no religious beliefs himself, and he urged Mouret to return to Albine, but the voice of the Church proved too strong in the end. La Faute de l’Abbe Mouret.
At sixty years of age Pascal was so fresh and vigorous that, though his hair and beard were white, he might have been mistaken for a young man with powdered locks. He had lived for seventeen years at La Souleiade, near Plassans, with his niece Clotilde and his old servant Martine, having amassed a little fortune, which was sufficient for his needs. He had devoted his life to the study of heredity, finding typical examples in his own family. He brought up Clotilde without imposing on her his own philosophic creed, even allowing Martine to take her to church regularly. But this tolerance brought about a serious misunderstanding between them, for the girl fell under the influence of religious mysticism, and came to look with horror on the savant’s scientific pursuits. Discovered by him in an attempt to destroy his documents, he explained to Clotilde fully and frankly the bearing of their terrible family history on his theory of heredity, with the result that her outlook on life was entirely changed; he had opposed the force of human truth against the shadows of mysticism. The struggle between Pascal and Clotilde brought them to a knowledge of mutual love, and an illicit relationship was established between them. He would have married her (this being legal in France), but having lost most of his money he was unwilling to sacrifice what he believed to be her interests, and persuaded her to go to Paris to live with her brother Maxime. Soon after her departure he was seized with an affection of the heart, and, after some weeks of suffering, died only an hour before her return. Immediately after his death his mother, Madame Felicite Rougon, took possession of his papers, and in an immenseauto-da-fedestroyed in an hour the records of a lifetime of work. Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (PIERRE), born 1787, legitimate son of Adelaide Fouque, was a thrifty, selfish lad who saw that his mother by her improvident conduct was squandering the estate to which he considered himself sole heir. His aim was to induce his mother and her two illegitimate children to remove from the house and land, and in this he was ultimately successful. Having sold the property for fifty thousand francs, he induced his mother, who by this time was of weak intellect, to sign a receipt for that sum, and was so able to defraud his half-brother and sister of the shares to which they would have been entitled. Soon thereafter he married Felicite Puech, the daughter of an oil dealer in Plassans. The firm of Puech and Lacamp was not prosperous, but the money brought by Pierre Rougon retrieved the situation, and after a few years the two original partners retired. Fortune, however, soon changed, and for thirty years there was a continual struggle to make ends meet. Three sons and two daughters were born, and their education was a heavy drain upon their parents’ means. In 1845 Pierre and his wife retired from business with forty thousand francs at the most. Instigated by the Marquis de Carnavant, they went in for politics, and soon regular meetings of the reactionary party came to be held in their “yellow drawing-room.” Advised, however, by their son Eugene, they resolved to support the cause of the Bonapartes, and at the time of theCoup d’Etatof 1851 Pierre was the leader of that party in Plassans. Having concealed himself when the Republican insurgents entered Plassans, he avoided capture, and after they retired he led the band of citizens which recaptured the town hall. This bloodless victory having been somewhat minimized by the townspeople, Pierre and his wife, with a view to establishing a strong claim for subsequent reward, bribed Antoine Macquart to lead the Republicans left in Plassans to an attack on the town hall. To meet this he prepared a strong ambuscade, and the Republicans were repulsed with considerable loss. As a result of this treachery, Pierre was regarded by his fellow-citizens as the saviour of the town, and the Government subsequently appointed him Receiver of Taxes, decorating him with the Cross of the Legion of Honour. La Fortune des Rougon.
He settled down quietly and took little part in public affairs, though his wife continued to hold weekly receptions at which members of the different political parties were represented. La Conquete de Plassans.
He became so corpulent that he was unable to move, and was carried off by an attack of indigestion on the night of 3rd September, 1870, a few hours after hearing of the catastrophe of Sedan. The downfall of the regime which he prided himself on having helped to establish seemed to have crushed him like a thunderbolt. Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (MADAME FELICITE), wife of the preceding, and daughter of Puech, the oil-dealer. She was married in 1810, and had three sons and two daughters. A woman of strong ambitions, she hoped to better her social position by the aid of her sons, on whose education she spent large sums. Disappointed in this hope for many years, she and her husband retired from business with barely sufficient means to keep themselves in comfort. She, instigated by the Marquis de Carnavant (her putative father), urged her husband to take part in politics, and meetings of the reactionary party were regularly held in her “yellow drawing-room.” While the success of theCoup d’Etatwas in some doubt, she encouraged her husband in maintaining the position he had taken up; and, having ascertained that the success of the Bonapartists was assured she arranged with Antoine Macquart for the attack on the town hall, the repulse of which led to the rise of the family fortunes. La Fortune des Rougon.
After her husband’s appointment as Receiver of Taxes, she continued her weekly receptions, but endeavoured to give them a non-political character by inviting representatives of all parties. Her son Eugene, now a Minister of State, kept her advised as to the course she should pursue, and on his instructions she gave some assistance to Abbe Faujas in his political “conquest of Plassans.” La Conquete de Plassans.
In 1856 she interested herself in a lawsuit raised by M. Charbonnel, a retired oil-merchant of Plassans, and requested her son Eugene, the President of the Council of State, to use his influence on behalf of her friend. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
After the disasters of the war, Plassans escaped from her dominion, and she had to content herself with the role of dethroned queen of the old regime. Her ruling passion was the defence of the glory of the Rougons, and the obliteration of everything tending to reflect on the family name. In this connection she welcomed the death of Adelaide Fouque, the common ancestress of the Rougons and the Macquarts, and she did nothing to save her old accomplice Antoine Macquart from the terrible fate which overtook him. After these events, her only remaining trouble was the work on family heredity which had for years occupied her son Pascal. Assisted by his servant Martine, she eventually succeeded in burning the whole manuscript to which Pascal had devoted his life. Her triumph was then secure, and in order to raise a monument to the glory of the family she devoted a large part of her fortune to the erection of an asylum for the aged, to be known as the Rougon Asylum. At eighty-two years of age, she laid the foundation stone of the building, and in doing so conquered Plassans for the third time. Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (SIDONIE), born 1818, daughter of Pierre Rougon. La Fortune des Rougon.
She married at Plassans an attorney’s clerk, named Touche, and together they went to Paris, setting up business in the Rue Saint-Honore, as dealers in fruit from the south of France. The venture was unsuccessful, and the husband soon disappeared. At the rise of the Second Empire, Sidonie was thirty-five; but she dressed herself with so little care and had so little of the woman in her manner that she looked much older. She carried on business in lace and pianos, but did not confine herself to these trades; when she had sold ten francs worth of lace she would insinuate herself into her customer’s good graces and become her man of business, attending attorneys, advocates, and judges on her behalf. The confidences she everywhere received put her on the track of good strokes of business, often of a nature more than equivocal, and it was she who arranged the second marriage of her brother Aristide. She was a true Rougon, who had inherited the hunger for money, the longing for intrigue, which was the characteristic of the family. La Curee.
In 1851 she had a daughter by an unknown father. The child, who was named Angelique Marie, was at once sent to the Foundling Hospital by her mother, who never made any inquiry about her afterwards. Le Reve.
She attended the funeral of her cousin, Claude Lantier, the artist. Arrived at his house, “she went upstairs, turned round the studio, sniffed at all its bare wretchedness, and then walked down again with a hard mouth, irritated at having taken the trouble to come.” L’Oeuvre.
“After a long disappearance from the scene, Sidonie, weary of the shady callings she had plied, and now of a nunlike austerity, retired to the gloomy shelter of a conventual kind of establishment, holding the purse-strings of the Oeuvre du Sacrament, an institution founded with the object of assisting seduced girls, who had become mothers, to secure husbands.” Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (VICTOR), son of Aristide Saccard and Rosaline Chavaille. Brought up in the gutter, he was from the first incorrigibly lazy and vicious. La Mechain, his mother’s cousin, after discovering his paternity, told the facts to Caroline Hamelin, who, to save Saccard annoyance, paid over a considerable sum and removed the boy toL’Oeuvre du Travail, one of the institutions founded by the Princess d’Orviedo. Here every effort was made to reclaim him, but without success; vice and cunning had become his nature. In the end he made a murderous attack upon Alice du Beauvilliers, who was visiting the hospital, and having stolen her purse, made his escape. Subsequent search proved fruitless; he had disappeared in the under-world of crime. L’Argent.
“In 1873, Victor had altogether vanished, living, no doubt, in the shady haunts of crime—since he was in no penitentiary—let loose upon the world like some brute foaming with the hereditary virus, whose every bite would enlarge that existing evil—free to work out his own future, his unknown destiny, which was perchance the scaffold.” Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUGON (——-), the child of Doctor Pascal Rougon and of Clotilde Rougon, born some months after his father’s death. Pascal a few minutes before he died, drew towards him the genealogical tree of the Rougon-Macquart family, over which he had spent so many years, and in a vacant space wrote the words: “The unknown child, to be born in 1874. What will it be?” Le Docteur Pascal.
ROUSSE (LA), a peasant girl of Les Artaud, who assisted to decorate the church for the festival of the Virgin. La Faute de l’Abbe Mouret.
ROUSSEAU, one of the auditors of the Universal Bank, an office which he shared with Lavigniere, under whose influence he was to a great extent. L’Argent.
ROUSSELOT (MONSEIGNEUR), Bishop of Plassans, an amiable but weak man, who was entirely under the influence of Abbe Fenil. Having got into disfavour with the Government over the election of a Legitimist as Deputy, he was anxious to retrieve his position, and with this object agreed to appoint Abbe Faujas vicar of Saint-Saturnin’s church. This led to a quarrel with Abbe Fenil, who, of course, resented the appointment. The Bishop being still in some doubt as to the standing of Abbe Faujas with the Government, went to Paris, where he interviewed Eugene Rougon, the Minister of State. Satisfied with the information which he received, he threw himself heartily into the political struggle then proceeding at Plassans, giving Faujas every assistance in carrying out his schemes on behalf of the Bonapartist candidate. La Conquete de Plassans.
ROUSSIE (LA), a woman who had formerly worked as a putter in the Voreux pit. Germinal.
ROUSTAN (ABBE), one of the clergy of Sainte-Eustache church. Madame Lisa Quenu consulted him as to her proposed course of action regarding Florent. Le Ventre de Paris.
ROUVET, an old peasant who lived in the same village as Zephyrin Lacour and Rosalie Pichon. One of her pleasures consisted in calling to mind the sayings of the old man. Une Page d’Amour.
ROZAN (DUC DE), was a young man of dissolute life, who, after getting the control of his fortune, soon went through the greater part of it. He was the lover of Renee Saccard for a time. La Curee.
ROZAN (DUCHESSE DE), mother of the preceding. She kept her son so short of money that, till he was thirty-five, he seldom had more than a dozen louis at a time. Her death was largely occasioned by the knowledge of the enormous amount of debts her son had incurred. La Curee.
RUSCONI (CHEVALIER), the Sardinian Minister at Paris, a friend of Comtesse Balbi, and her daughter. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
SABATANI, a native of the Levant, who appeared in Paris after defaulting on some foreign Stock Exchange. He was a handsome man, and little by little gained the confidence of the Bourse “by scrupulous correctness of behaviour and an unremitting graciousness even towards the most disreputable.” He began doing business with Mazard by depositing a small sum as “cover” in the belief that the insignificance of the amount would in time be forgotten; and “he evinced great prudence, increasing the orders in a stealthy gradual fashion, pending the day when, with a heavy settlement to meet, it would be necessary for him to disappear.” When Saccard founded the Universal Bank, he selected Sabatani as the “man of straw” in whose name the shares held by the Bank itself were to be taken up. Sabatani soon increased his speculations to an enormous extent, gaining large sums, but after the collapse of the Universal Bank he disappeared without paying his “differences,” thereby contributing largely to the ruin of Mazard. L’Argent.
SABOT, a vine-grower of Brinqueville. He was a renowned joker, who entered into a competition with Hyacinthe Fouan, but was beaten by him. La Terre.
SACCARD, the name assumed by Aristide Rougon, on the suggestion of his brother Eugene. See Rougon (Aristide). La Curee.
SACCARD (VICTOR). See Victor Rougon.
SAFFRE (DE), secretary to Eugene Rougon, the Minister of State. La Curee.
SAGET (MADEMOISELLE), an old lady who had lived in the Rue Pirouette for forty years. She never spoke about herself, but she spent her life in getting information about her neighbours, carrying her prying curiosity so far as to listen behind their doors and open their letters. She went about all day pretending she was marketing, but in reality merely spreading scandal and getting information. By bullying little Pauline Quenu, she got a hint of Florent’s past history, which she promptly spread through the markets, even going the length of writing an anonymous letter to the Prefect of Police. Le Ventre de Paris.
SAINT-FIRMIN (OSCAR DE), a character inLa Petite Duchesse, a play by Fauchery. The part was played by Prulliere. Nana.
SAINT-GERMAIN (MADEMOISELLE DE), was the owner of a princely house in Rue Saint-Lazare, which after her death became the property of Princess d’Orviedo. L’Argent.
SAINTS-ANGES (LA MERE DES), superior of the Convent of the Visitation at Clermont. She saved from the cloister Christine Hallegrain, who had not a religious vocation, and obtained for her a situation to Madame de Vanzade. L’Oeuvre.
SALMON, a speculator on the Paris Bourse who passed for a man of extraordinary acumen by listening to everyone and saying nothing. He answered only by smiles, and one could never tell in what he was speculating or whether he was speculating at all. L’Argent.
SALNEUVE (DE), a man of considerable importance in the Second Empire, whose influence was secured for Eugene Rougon by Clorinde Balbi. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
SAMBUC (GUILLAUME), one of the francs-tireurs who carried on a guerilla warfare against the Germans in 1870. He was the worthy son of a family of scoundrels, and lived by theft and rapine. He furnished most valuable information to the French generals regarding the movement of the Prussians to surprise Beaumont, but his information was disregarded till too late. The francs-tireurs had a particular hatred against Goliath Steinberg, the German spy, and, instigated by Silvine Morange, Sambuc arranged for his capture, afterwards killing him by cutting his throat. La Debacle.
SAMBUC (PROSPER), brother of the preceding. Of a nature docile and hard-working, he hated the life of the woods, and would have liked to be a farm labourer. He entered the army and became one of the Chasseurs d’Afrique. Sent to France to take part in the war against Germany, he shared in many weary marches, but saw no fighting, till the battle of Sedan, when his horse, Zephir, which he loved like a brother, was killed under him. He made his escape after the battle, and having been able to change his uniform for the clothes of a countryman, he returned to Remilly and got employment on the farm of Fouchard. La Debacle.
SANDORFF, a member of the Austrian Embassy at Paris. He married Mlle. de Ladricourt, who was much younger than he. He was very niggardly. L’Argent.
SANDORFF (BARONESS), wife of the Councillor to the Austrian Embassy, who was thirty-five years older than herself. She was an inveterate speculator, and, as her husband refused to assist her, she found it necessary to have recourse to her lovers when her losses were greater than usual. She stopped at nothing to gain information, and at one time was on intimate terms with Saccard. Having quarrelled with him, she hastened the downfall of the Universal Bank, by giving information to Gundermann which caused him to continue his attack on the Bank. L’Argent.
SANDOZ (PERE), a Spaniard who took refuge in France in consequence of a political disturbance in which he was involved. He started near Plassans a paper mill with new machinery of his own invention. When he died, almost heart-broken by the petty local jealousy that had sought to hamper him in every way, his widow found herself in a position so involved, and burdened with so many tangled lawsuits, that the whole of her remaining means were swallowed up. L’Oeuvre.
SANDOZ MERE (MADAME), wife of the preceding, was a native of Burgundy. Yielding to her hatred of the Provencals, whom she blamed for the death of her husband, and even for the slow paralysis from which she herself was suffering, she migrated to Paris, with her son Pierre, who then supported her out of a clerk’s small salary. In Rue d’Enfer she occupied a single room on the same flat as her son, and there, disabled by paralysis, lived in morose and voluntary solitude, surrounded by his tender care. Later, Pierre, who was now married, and was making a considerable income, took a house in Rue Nollet, and there Madame Sandoz passed her remaining years. L’Oeuvre.
SANDOZ (PIERRE), a famous novelist whose youth was spent at Plassans, where at school he was the inseparable companion of Claude Lantier and Dubuche. The favourite amusement of the boys was walking, and together they took long excursions, spending whole days in the country. After the death of his father Sandoz went to Paris, where he got employment at a small salary at theMairieof the fifth arrondissement, in the office for registration of births; he was chained there by the thought of his mother, whom he had to support, and to whom he was tenderly attached. Presently he published his first book: a series of mild sketches, brought with him from Plassans, among which only a few rougher notes indicated the mutineer, the lover of truth and power. He lived at this time with his mother in a little house in Rue d’Enfer, and there he received each Thursday evening his old friends from Plassans, Claude Lantier and Dubuche, and with them Fagerolles, Mahoudeau, Jory, Gagniere, now reunited at Paris, and all animated by the same passion for art. He was still obsessed by a desire for literary glory, and had thoughts of writing a poem on some vast subject, but at last he hit on a scheme which soon took form in his mind. With reference to it he said, “I am going to take a family, and I shall study its members, one by one, whence they come, whither they go, how they react upon one another—in short, humanity in a small compass, the way in which humanity grows and behaves. On the other hand, I shall set my men and women in a determined period of history, which will provide me with the necessary surroundings and circumstances, a slice of history—you understand, eh? A series of fifteen or twenty books, episodes that will cling together although having each a separate framework, a suite of novels with which I shall be able to build myself a house for my old age if they don’t crush me.” The first of the novels met with some success, and Sandoz having resigned his appointment, and put his trust entirely in literature, married a young girl named Henriette, the daughter of middle-class parents, and removed his house to Rue Nollet. In course of time his circumstances became still more comfortable, and he again removed to a large house in Rue de Londres. When Claude Lantier fell into misery and despair, a gradual separation came about between him and his friends, but Sandoz remained true to the old companionship. He was one of the few mourners who attended the funeral of the unfortunate artist. L’Oeuvre.
SANDOZ (MADAME HENRIETTE), wife of the preceding. She was an orphan, the daughter of a small shop-keeper, without a penny, but pretty and intelligent. She occupied herself much with the affairs of the kitchen, being specially proud of some of her dishes. Even later, when the family was more prosperous and had removed to a large flat in Rue de Londres, Henriette continued to take personal charge, out of affection for her husband, whose only fault was a tendency to gluttony. L’Oeuvre.
SANQUIRINO (DUCHESSE), a lady of the Italian aristocracy, who resided at Paris. She gave Eugene Rougon very unsatisfactory information regarding Comtesse Balbi and her daughter Clorinde. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
SANS-POUCE, one of the brigands of the band of Beau-Francois. La Terre.
SAPIN, sergeant in Captain Beaudoin’s company of the 106th Regiment of the line. “The son of a Lyons grocer in a small way of business, spoilt by his mother, who was dead, and unable to get on with his father, he had remained in the regiment disgusted with everything, but unwilling to be bought out.” Later he became engaged to one of his cousins, who had a small dowry, and began to take an interest in life. During the march to Sedan, however, he became impressed with the idea that he would be killed, and this belief was realized during the fighting on 1st September, 1870. La Debacle.
SAPIN (LA), a disreputable old woman at Magnolles who performed illegal operations and pretended to work magic.
SARRIET (MADAME), sister of Madame Lecoeur and of Madame Gavard; mother of La Sarriette. Le Ventre de Paris.
SARRIET, usually called La Sarriette, was the niece of Madame Lecoeur. She grew up in the markets and her sympathies were with the lower ranks of the people. At twenty she set up in business as a fruit-dealer, and took as her lover a young man named Jules, who was employed by her aunt as a porter. After the arrest of Gavard, her uncle by marriage, La Sarriette and her aunt divided his money between them. Le Ventre de Paris.
SARTEUR, a journeyman hatter at Plassans. He was afflicted with homicidal mania, and was confined for a time in the asylum at Tulettes. While there he was treated by Doctor Pascal Rougon, who affected a cure by hypodermic injections of a substance with which he had long experimented. Sarteur was released from the asylum, but the cure was not permanent, for a few months afterwards the unfortunate man became conscious of a return of his homicidal mania, and, to prevent its operation, hanged himself. Le Docteur Pascal.
SATIN, a friend of Nana from childhood, having, like her, attended the school of Mademoiselle Josse. She was a regular customer at Laure Piedefer’s restaurant, where she met Madame Robert. She lived for a time with Nana, of whom she was intensely jealous, and in time gained control of the whole household. She died in the hospital of Lariboisiere. Nana.
SAUCISSE (LA PERE), an old peasant of Rognes, who owned an acre of land which he sold to Pere Fouan for an annuity of fifteen sous a day. In order to dupe the old man, he pretended to be in bad health. Later, terrorized by Buteau, he cancelled the agreement, and repaid half the sums he had received. La Terre.
SAUVAGNAT, a friend of Pluchart. He lived at Marchiennes. Germinal.
SAUVAGNAT, chief of the depot at Havre, lived in a cottage near the engine depot, which his sister Philomene kept for him, but greatly neglected. He was an obstinate man and a strict disciplinarian, greatly esteemed by his superiors, but had met with the utmost vexation on account of his sister, even to the point of being threatened with dismissal. If the Company bore with her now on his account, he only kept her with him because of the family tie; but this did not prevent him belabouring her so severely with blows whenever he caught her at fault that he frequently left her half dead on the floor. La Bete Humaine.
SAUVAGNAT (PHILOMENE), sister of the preceding, was a tall, thin woman of thirty-two, who after numerous love-affairs had settled down with Pecqueux, whose mistress she became. She had the reputation of drinking. A subsequent intrigue between her and Jacques Lantier excited the jealousy of Pecqueux to the point of murder. La Bete Humaine.
SAUVEUR (MADAME), a dress-maker, who numbered Madame Desforges among her customers. She frequented Mouret’s shop,Au Bonheur des Dames, on the occasions of great sales, purchasing large quantities of stuff which she afterwards sold to her own customers at higher prices. Au Bonheur des Dames.
SAUVIGNY (DE), judge of the race for the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
SCHLOSSER, a speculator on the Paris Bourse. He was secretly associated with Sabatani, with whom he carried out many schemes to their mutual advantage. L’Argent.
SCOTS (H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF). See Ecosse.
SEDILLE, a native of Lyons, who established himself in Paris, and after thirty years’ toil succeeded in making his silk business one of the best known in the city. Unfortunately he acquired a passion for gambling, and a couple of successful ventures made him altogether lose his head. From that time he neglected his business, and ruin lay inevitably at the end. On the invitation of Saccard he became a Director of the Universal Bank. Like the other Directors, he speculated largely in the shares of the Bank; but, unlike most of them, he did not sell in time, with the result that he was completely ruined, and his bankruptcy followed. L’Argent.
SEDILLE (GUSTAVE), son of M. Sedille, the silk merchant. To the disappointment of his father, he despised commercial pursuits, and cared only for pleasure. In the hope that he might take an interest in finance, he was given a situation in the office of Mazard, the stockbroker, where, however, he did little work, and soon engaged in speculations on his own account. The failure of the Universal Bank left him penniless, and deep in debt. L’Argent.
SICARDOT (COMMANDER), the father-in-law of Aristide Rougon. He had the strongest intellect of the politicians who met in Pierre Rougon’s yellow drawing-room. He was taken prisoner by the insurgents at the time of theCoup d’Etat. La Fortune des Rougon.
SICARDOT, the name of Aristide Rougon’s wife’s family. He adopted this name when he went to Paris in 1851, using it for considerable time before he again changed it to Saccard. L’Argent.
SICARDOT (ANGELE). See Madame Aristide Rougon.
SIDONIE (MADAME), the name by which Sidonie Rougon (q.v.) was generally known. La Curee.
SIMON (LA MERE), an old woman who assisted Severine Roubaud in her housework. La Bete Humaine.
SIMONNOT, a grocer at Raucourt. His premises were raided by the Bavarians after the Battle of Beaumont. La Debacle.
SIMPSON, an American who was attache at his country’s Embassy at Paris. He was a frequent visitor at the house of Renee Saccard. La Curee.
SIVRY (BLANCHE DE), the name assumed by Jacqueline Baudu, a girl who came to Paris from a village near Amiens. Magnificent in person, stupid and untruthful in character, she gave herself out as the granddaughter of a general, and never owned to her thirty-two summers. She was much annoyed at the outbreak of war with Germany, because her lover, a young Prussian, was expelled from the country. Nana.
SMELTEN, a baker at Montsou. He gave credit for some time during the strike, in the hope of recovering some of his business taken away by Maigrat. Germinal.
SMITHSON (MISS), Lucien Deberle’s English governess. Une Page d’Amour.
SONNEVILLE, a manufacturer at Marchiennes. His business was seriously affected by the strike of miners at Montsou. Germinal.
SOPHIE, a workwoman employed at Madame Titreville’s artificial flower-making establishment. L’Assommoir.
SOPHIE, an old waiting-maid in the service of the Duchesse de Combeville, whose daughter, Princess d’Orviedo, she brought up. When the Princess shut herself up from the world, Sophie remained with her. L’Argent.
SOPHIE, daughter of Guiraude. Predestined to phthisis by heredity, she was saved, thanks to Dr. Pascal Rougon, who sent her to live with an aunt in the country, where she was brought up in the open air. When she was seventeen years old she married a young miller in the neighbourhood. Le Docteur Pascal.
SOULAS, an old shepherd at La Borderie, where he had been for half a century. At sixty-five he had saved nothing, having been eaten up by a drunken wife, “whom at last he had the pleasure of burying.” He had few friends, except his two dogs, Emperor and Massacre, and he especially hated Jacqueline Cognet with the jealous disgust of an old servant at her rapid advancement. He was aware of her numerous liaisons, but said nothing until she brought about his dismissal, when he told everything to his master, Alexandre Hourdequin. La Terre.
SOURDEAU, a bone-setter at Bazoches-le-Doyen, who was supposed to be equally good for wounds. La Terre.
SOUVARINE, an engine-man at the Voreux pit, who lodged with the Rasteneurs. He was a Russian of noble family, who had at first studied medicine, until, carried away by social enthusiasm, he learned a trade in order that he might mix with the people. It was by this trade that he now lived, after having fled in consequence of an unsuccessful attempt against the Czar’s life, an attempt which resulted in his mistress, Annouchka, and many of his friends, being hanged. His principles were those of the most violent anarchy, and he would have nothing to do with the strike at Montsou, which he considered a merely childish affair. Disgusted at the return of the miners to their work, he resolved to bring about the destruction of the Voreux pit, by weakening the timbers which kept out a vast accumulation of water. He accomplished that work of madness in a fury of destruction in which he twenty times risked his life. And when the torrent had invaded the mine, imprisoning the unfortunate workers, Souvarine went calmly away into the unknown without a glance behind. Germinal.
SPIRIT, an English horse which ran in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
SPONTINI, a master at the College of Plassans. He came originally from Corsica, and used to show his knife, rusty with the blood of three cousins. L’Oeuvre.
SQUELETTE-EXTERNE (LE). See Mimi-la-Mort. L’Oeuvre.
STADERINO (SIGNOR), a Venetian political refugee, and a friend of Comtesse Balbi. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
STEINBERG (GOLIATH), a Prussian spy who was engaged in 1867 as a farm servant by Fouchard at Remilly. He became the lover of Silvine Morange, promising her marriage, but disappearing before the ceremony. It was said that he served also on other farms in the neighbourhood of Beaumont and Raucourt. During the war he was able to give important information to the German forces. In trying to regain his former influence over Silvine, he threatened to remove their child to Germany, and, to prevent his doing so, she betrayed him to Guillaume Sambuc and the francs-tireurs of his band, who killed him in the house of Fouchard, in the presence of Silvine, by cutting his throat, and bleeding him in the same manner as a pig. La Debacle.
STEINER, a banker in Paris. He was a German Jew, through whose hands had passed millions. He spent vast sums upon Rose Mignon and Nana. Nana.
STERNICH (DUCHESSE DE), a celebrated leader of society in the Second Empire. She dominated all her friends on the ground of a former intimacy with the Emperor. La Curee.
STEWARD (LUCY), was the daughter of an engine-cleaner of English origin who was employed at the Gare du Nord. She was not beautiful, but had such a charm of manner that she was considered the smartest of thedemi-mondainesin Paris. Among her lovers had been a prince of the royal blood. She had a son, Ollivier, before whom she posed as an actress. Nana.
STEWART (OLLIVIER), son of the preceding. He was a pupil at the naval college, and had no suspicion of the calling of his mother. Nana.
SURIN (ABBE), secretary to the Bishop of Plassans, of whom he was a great favourite. He was a constant visitor at the home of M. Rastoil, with whose daughters he played battledore. La Conquete de Plassans.
SYLVIA, an actress who was admired by Maxime Saccard. La Curee.
TABOUREAU (MADAME), a baker in the Rue Turbigo. She was a recognized authority on all subjects relating to her neighbours. Le Ventre de Paris.
TATIN (MADEMOISELLE), kept an under-linen warehouse in the Passage Choiseul, and was so seriously affected by the competition of Octave Mouret’s great store that she became bankrupt. Au Bonheur des Dames.
TARDIVEAU (BARON DE), a character inLa Petite Duchesse, a play by Fauchery. The part was played by Fontan.
TATAN NENE, a young girl of great beauty who had herded cows in Champagne before coming to Paris. She was one of Nana’s friends. Nana.
TAVERNIER, an old doctor of Orleans, who had ceased to practise. Georges Hugon made a pretext of visiting him, in order to be able to join Nana at La Mignotte. Nana.
TEISSIERE (MADAME), amondaineof the Second Empire. She was a friend of Madame de Lauwerens and of the Saccards. La Curee.
TESTANIERE (MADAME), a protegee of Madame Correur, who recommended her to Eugene Rougon, the Minister of State. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
TEUSE (LA), an elderly woman who acted as servant to Abbe Mouret. In addition, she cleaned the church and kept the vestments in order; on occasion, it was said, she had even served the Mass for the Abbe’s predecessor. She was garrulous and ill-tempered, but was devoted to Mouret, of whom she took the greatest care, and she was also kind to his weak-minded sister, Desiree. La Faute de l’Abbe Mouret.
THEODORE, a Belgian who gave lessons on the piano to Clarisse Bocquet, and afterwards became her lover. Pot-Bouille.
THEODORE, son of a paste-board maker. He was to have married Nathalie Dejoie, but wishing to establish himself in business, demanded a considerable dowry. He afterwards married the daughter of a workman, who brought him nearly eight thousand francs. L’Argent.
THERESE, a former neighbour of the Lorilleux in Rue de la Goutte d’Or. She died of consumption, and the Lorilleux thought they saw a resemblance between Gervaise and her. L’Assommoir.
THIBAUDIER (M.), a banker at Caen. He had a daughter, Louise, but having married again soon after the death of his first wife, he troubled little about her, and was quite willing to consent to her marriage with Lazare Chanteau. La Joie de Vivre.
THIBAUDIER (LOUISE), daughter of M. Thibaudier, a banker at Caen. She was a slight, delicate girl, with an attractive manner, and Lazare Chanteau fell in love with her, though he was at the time engaged to Pauline Quenu. Pauline having magnanimously released him, they were married. Lazare’s morbid mania having become more acute, and Louise being herself in poor health, their relations became strained, and the marriage was not a happy one. They had a son who was named Paul. La Joie de Vivre.
Louise died young. Le Docteur Pascal.
THOMAS, keeper of an eating-house at Montmartre. L’Assommoir.
THOMAS (ANSELME), a journeyman saddler at Plassans. He married Justine Megot, tempted by the annuity of twelve hundred francs which she received from Saccard. He disliked her child, the little Charles Rougon, who was degenerate and weak-minded. Le Docteur Pascal.
THOMAS (MADAME ANSELME), wife of the preceding. See Justine Megot. Le Docteur Pascal.
TISON, keeper of a dram-shop at Montsou. Germinal.
TISSOT (MADAME), a friend of Madame Deberle. Une Page d’Amour.
TITREVILLE (MADAME) carried on the business of an artificial-flower maker, of which Madame Lerat was forewoman, and where Nana Coupeau was a pupil. She was a tall woman who never unbent, and the girls were all afraid of her, pretending to be engrossed in work whenever she appeared. L’Assommoir.
TOUCHE (M.), a townsman of Plassans who expressed disbelief in the success of theCoup d’Etat. La Fortune des Rougon.
TOUCHE, an Attorney’s clerk at Plassans. He married Sidonie Rougon in 1838, and went with her to Paris, where he started business as a dealer in the products of the South. He was not very successful, and died in 1850. La Curee.
TOURMAL (LES), a family who resided at Bonneville and lived chiefly by smuggling and stealing. The father and grandfather were sent to prison, and the daughter, when shown kindness by Pauline Quenu, rewarded her by attempting to steal such small articles of value as she could conceal. La Joie de Vivre.
TOUTIN-LAROCHE (M.), a retired candle-manufacturer; now a municipal councillor, and a director of the Credit Viticole, the Societe Generale of the Ports of Morocco, and other companies of doubtful standing. His ambition was to enter the Senate, and he clung to Baron Gauraud and Saccard in the belief that they could assist him. La Curee.
TRICON (LA), a well-known procuress, who numbered Nana among her clients. She had a passion for racing, and at the Grand Prix seemed to dominate the crowd.
TROMPETTE, one of the horses in the Voreux pit. It only lived a few months after being taken underground. Germinal.
TRON, a labourer in the farm of La Borderie. He was one of Jacqueline Cognet’s lovers, and exhibited jealousy amounting to insanity regarding her. Having been dismissed by his master, he opened a trap-door through which Hourdequin fell and was killed. When he found that Jacqueline would not forgive him for this stupid murder, which ruined her prospects, he set fire to the farm buildings. La Terre.
TROUCHE (HONORE), brother-in-law of Abbe Faujas. Having been unsuccessful in business at Besancon, he followed Faujas to Plassans, where he went with his wife to live in rooms rented by the Abbe from Francois Mouret. He was of bad character and quite unscrupulous, but by the influence of Faujas he was appointed Secretary to the Girls’ Home started by Madame Mouret and other ladies of Plassans. Having got a footing in the Mourets’ house, he soon began to take advantage of his position, and little by little got possession of the whole premises. He did all he could to encourage the idea of Francois Mouret’s madness, and after the unfortunate man’s removal to the asylum was able with greater ease to carry out his schemes. Mouret having ultimately escaped from the asylum, returned to his home and set it on fire; Trouche perished in the flames. La Conquete de Plassans.
TROUCHE (MADAME OLYMPE), wife of the preceding, and sister of Abbe Faujas. She accompanied her husband to Plassans, and contributed largely to the ruin of the Mouret family. Utterly heartless, she stopped at nothing, robbing Madame Mouret of money, clothing, everything that came within her power. Nemesis came with the return of Francois Mouret, who set fire to his house, causing the death of Madame Trouche as well as that of her husband. La Conquete de Plassans.
TROUILLE (LA), the nickname of Olympe Fouan. La Terre.
TRUBLOT (HECTOR), a young man whom Madame Josserand hoped at one time to secure as a husband for her daughter. He had, however, no thoughts of marriage, and as he was averse to any risk of complications, his habit was to select his female friends from among the maid-servants of his acquaintances. He was employed as correspondent in the office of Monsieur Desmarquay, a money-changer. Pot-Bouille.