A Zola Dictionary Part 15

G

GABET (MERE), an old woman who a.s.sisted the Huberts with their washing.

She became ill, and being in great poverty, was a.s.sisted 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, gla.s.s-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, una.s.sisted, in the forest of Fontainebleau. His landscapes were conscientious and excellent in intent, but his real pa.s.sion 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 Pla.s.sans, 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 Pla.s.sans 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 Pla.s.sans, 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'a.s.sommoir.

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'a.s.sommoir.

GAUDRON FILS, the eldest child of the Gaudrons, was a journeyman carpenter. L'a.s.sommoir.

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 a.s.sisted 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 Pla.s.sans.

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 t.i.ttle-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 Pla.s.sans 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 a.s.s 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 pa.s.sed without her ever having asked his family name. La Curee.

GERALDINE, a character in _La Pet.i.te d.u.c.h.esse_, 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 Pla.s.sans a boarding-school for children, where the sculptor Mahoudeau had known Pierre Sandoz and other comrades who met later in Paris. L'Oeuvre.

G.o.dARD (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 G.o.dard, in order to perform Ma.s.s, 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 pa.s.sion for the miserable, and to these he gave everything--his money, his linen, almost the clothes off his back. La Terre.

G.o.dEBOEUF, a seller of herbs who occupied the shop in Rue Pirouette which formerly belonged to Gradelle, the pork-butcher. Le Ventre de Paris.

G.o.dEMARD, 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, G.o.demard."

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 a.s.sisted her when in difficulties. L'a.s.sommoir.

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 a.s.sist Gervaise until neglect of work entrusted made it impossible to do so longer. She died in October, 1868, of acute rheumatism. L'a.s.sommoir.

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 a.s.sist. 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 Pla.s.sans. 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 Ma.r.s.eilles. 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 Ma.r.s.eilles, 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, subst.i.tute 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 a.s.sisted the Huberts in making the necessary arrangements for their adoption of Angelique. Le Reve.