A Zola Dictionary Part 23

MAGINOT, inspector of woods at Mezieres. He married Gilberte de Vineuil, but died a few years afterwards. La Debacle.

MAGINOT (MADAME), see Gilberte de Vineuil.

MAHEU (ALZIRE), the fourth child of Toussaint Maheu, aged nine years.

She was deformed and delicate, but of precocious intelligence, and was able to a.s.sist her mother in many ways, sacrificing herself always for others. She died of cold and hunger during the strike at Montsou.

Germinal.

MAHEU (CATHERINE), second child of Toussaint Maheu, worked as a putter in the Voreux pit along with the other members of her family. She liked Etienne Lantier, but became the mistress of Chaval, who treated her so abominably that she eventually returned home. As a result of the terrible catastrophe brought about by Souvarine, she was imprisoned at the bottom of the pit along with Chaval and Etienne. A struggle between the two men ensued, and Chaval was killed. Days elapsed before rescue arrived, but before then Catherine had died in the arms of Etienne, whom she had really loved all along. Germinal.

MAHEU (ESTELLE), seventh child of Toussaint Maheu, aged three months.

Her constant crying disturbed the household. Germinal.

MAHEU (GUILLAUME), great-grandfather of Toussaint Maheu. When a boy of fifteen, he found rich coal at Requillart, the Montsou Company's first pit, and the seam he discovered was named after him. He died of old age at sixty. Germinal.

MAHEU (HENRI), sixth child of Toussaint Maheu, aged four years.

Germinal.

MAHEU (JEANLIN), third child of Toussaint Maheu, aged eleven years. He was employed at the Voreux pit, and earned twenty sous a day. His nature was vicious, and he forced his companions Bebert Levaque and Lydie Pierron to commit petty thefts, with the proceeds of which he concealed himself in a disused mine. His criminal tendencies increased until he was unable to resist the inclination to kill one of the soldiers who guarded the Voreux pit during the strike. He accordingly waited till night, and leaping on the shoulders of Jules, a little soldier from Brittany, thrust a knife into his throat and killed him. Germinal.

MAHEU (LENORE), fifth child of Toussaint Maheu, aged six years. She was always fighting with her brother Henri, who was very like her in appearance, both having large heads with light yellow hair. Germinal.

MAHEU (NICOLAS), grandfather of Toussaint Maheu. He was killed by a landslip in the pit, when he was barely forty years old. Germinal.

MAHEU (TOUSSAINT), son of old Bonnemort, and husband of La Maheude. He was considered one of the best workmen in the Voreux pit, did not drink, and was liked and respected by all his companions. He had been for a considerable time under the influence of the doctrines taught by Etienne Lantier when he was selected by his comrades to place their views before the officials of the company. In the great strike which followed he took part, and in the attack on the troops sent to guard the pit he was driven on by his wife to join the aggressors. He fell, shot through the heart, after the fatal volley fired by the soldiers. Germinal.

MAHEU (VINCENT). See Bonnemort.

MAHEU (ZACHARIE), eldest child of Toussaint Maheu. He worked in the Voreux pit along with his father, but was lazy and seized any opportunity of pleasure. He was married to Philomene Levaque, by whom he already had two children. The strike interested him very little, and he spent most of his time playing _crosse_ with Mouquet. But when his sister Catherine was entombed in the pit he was one of the first to come forward to the rescue, and he worked day and night with frantic energy.

The ninth day, in his haste, he was imprudent enough to open his lamp, and a sudden explosion of gas reduced him to a calcined, unrecognizable ma.s.s. Germinal.

MAHEUDE (LA), wife of Toussaint Maheu. She was at first against the miners' strike, but moved by the hardship of her lot and the poverty in which she was forced to bring up her family, she ultimately urged her husband to take an active part. Even after she had seen him killed by the bullets of the soldiers, she was furious with those who talked of submitting. But further tragedies broke her spirit; her son Zacharie was killed in an attempt to rescue his sister, entombed at the bottom of the Voreux pit. Out of charity the company allowed the afflicted woman to go underground again, though she was past the usual age, and found employment for her in the manipulation of a small ventilator. Germinal.

MAHOUDEAU, a sculptor. The son of a stonemason at Pla.s.sans, he attained great success at the local art compet.i.tions, and came to Paris as the _laureat_ of his town, with an allowance of eight hundred francs per annum for four years. In the capital, however, he found his level, failing in his compet.i.tions at the School of Arts, and merely spending his allowance to no purpose; so that in order to live he was obliged at the end of his term to enter the employment of a manufacturer of church statues. Later, however, he met with Claude Lantier and other companions from Pla.s.sans, and under their influence his ambitions revived. He installed himself in a studio in Rue du Cherche-Midi, and there set about the production of a colossal work ent.i.tled _La Vendangeuse_ (the Vintage Girl), for which Madame Mathilde Jabouille served as model. For a time Chaine, who also came from Pla.s.sans, lived with Mahoudeau, but they quarrelled over Mathilde, and ultimately separated. After this Mahoudeau lived alone, in considerable poverty, until he got employment from a manufacturer of artistic bronzes. He then began to produce work which suited the popular taste, and his productions began to be seen on middle-cla.s.s chimney-pieces. L'Oeuvre.

MAIGRAT, the princ.i.p.al shop-keeper in Montsou. He was originally an overseer at the Voreux pit, but, a.s.sisted by the company, started a business which grew to such proportions that he ultimately crushed out most of the other retail traders. He was a greedy, rapacious man, and during the strike made the women furious by refusing credit. For other reasons also they hated him, and his shop was one of the first places attacked by the maddened strikers. In terror Maigrat took refuge on the roof, but his foot slipped, and he was dashed to the ground, being killed on the spot. Even this did not satisfy his a.s.sailants, for the frenzied women, led by La Brule, rushed forward and mutilated the still quivering body. Germinal.

MAIGRAT (MADAME), wife of the preceding. She was a pitiful creature who pa.s.sed all her days over a ledger without even daring to lift her head.

On the day of the attack by the strikers she was a witness of the death of her husband and of the terrible events which followed. Up at the window she stood motionless; but beneath the last gleams of the setting sun the confused faults of the window-panes deformed her white face, which looked as though it were laughing. Germinal.

MALGRAS (LE PERE), a picture-dealer with whom Claude Lantier had frequent dealings. He was a thick-set old man, with close-cropped white hair, and wore a dirty old coat that made him look like an untidy cabman. Beneath this disguise was concealed a keen knowledge of art, combined with a ferocious skill in bargaining. As a superb liar, moreover, he was without an equal. He was satisfied with a small profit, but never purchased in the morning without knowing where to dispose of his purchase at night. He viewed with disdain the modern methods of picture-dealing introduced by Naudet, and like a cautious man he retired with a modest fortune to a little house at Bois-Colombes. L'Oeuvre.

MALIGNON (M.), a young stockbroker who was supposed to have a large fortune and accordingly was received everywhere in society. He posed as a critic of art, literature, and the drama, and pretended to be bored with everything. Madame Deberle, being carried away by his attentions, was foolish enough to promise to meet him at a flat which he had taken, but Madame Helene Grandjean having warned her that Dr. Deberle had got wind of the affair, the intended liaison came to nothing. Une Page d'Amour.

MALIVERNE (ROSE). See Madame Rose Fouan.

MALIVOIRE, a coach-hirer at Arromanches. He was the owner of the omnibus which ran between Arromanches and Bayeux. La Joie de Vivre.

MALOIR (MADAME), a respectable-looking elderly woman, was Nana's friend, chaperone, and companion, writing for her such letters as she required.

She was always ready to receive the secrets of others, but never told anything about herself. It was said that she lived upon a mysterious pension, but she never appeared to carry any money with her. She had a mania for doing up all her hats afresh. Nana.

MAMAN NINI, the pet name given by Angelique to Francois Hamelin. Le Reve.

MANGUELIN (MADAME), a young, retiring woman, who was to some extent dependent on the bounty of Madame Deberle. Une Page d'Amour.

MANOURY, a salesman at the Central Markets in Paris. He was the employer of Logre and Clemence. Le Ventre de Paris.

MARCEL, a vegetable-dealer at the Paris _Halles Centrales_. Le Ventre de Paris.

MARDIENNE FRERES, manufacturers of church ornaments in Rue Saint-Sulpice. Mademoiselle Menu worked in their establishment.

Pot-Bouille.

MARECHAL, a bookmaker who had formerly been coachman to Comte de Vandeuvres. As the result of a racing swindle by Vandeuvres, Marechal lost a large sum over a filly named Nana, and, his suspicions having been aroused, he caused such a scandal that the Comte was disqualified by the racing committee. Nana.

MARESCOT (M.), a cutler in the Rue de la Paix, who had once turned a grindstone in the streets and was now said to be worth several millions.

He was a man of fifty-five, large, bony, with the huge hands of an old workman; one of his delights was to carry off the knives and scissors of his tenants, which he sharpened himself for his own amus.e.m.e.nt. He owned the large tenement-house on the Rue Goutte d'Or, in which resided the Coupeaus, Lorilleux, and others, and though a fair landlord, would brook no delay in payment of rent, turning out defaulters without mercy.

L'a.s.sommoir.

MAREUIL (M. DE), a retired sugar-refiner of Havre whose real name was Bonnet. After ama.s.sing a large fortune, he married a young girl of good birth, whose name he a.s.sumed. He was ambitious and hoped to become a member of the Corps Legislatif through the influence of his friend Saccard, whose brother Eugene Rougon was a Minister of State. To secure this he agreed to a marriage between his daughter and Maxime Saccard. He was a man of solemn and imposing appearance, but was absolutely without brains. La Curee.

MAREUIL (MADAME HELENE DE), wife of the preceding. She came of a n.o.ble and wealthy family, but lived such a fast life that she died young, worn out by pleasure. La Curee.

MAREUIL (LOUISE DE), daughter of a retired sugar-refiner of Havre.

Slightly deformed and plain-looking, but with fascinating manners, she married Maxime Saccard, to whom she brought a large dowry. Six months afterwards she died of consumption in Italy. La Curee.

MAREUIL (COMTESSE), employed Clara Prunaire in her house to attend to the mending of linen. Au Bonheur des Dames.

MARGAILLAN, a great building contractor, many times a millionaire, who made his fortune out of the great public works of Paris, running up whole boulevards on his own account. He was a man of remarkable activity, with a great gift of administration, and an instinctive knowledge of the streets to construct and the buildings to buy. Moved by the success of Dubuche at the School of Art, and by the recommendations of his masters there, Margaillan took the young architect into partnership, and agreed to his marriage with his daughter Regine.

Unfortunately, Dubuche showed deplorable incapacity in carrying into practice the theories which he had learned at the School of Art, and Margaillan, after losing considerable sums, returned to his original methods of construction, thrusting his son-in-law to one side. He possessed a magnificent estate named _La Richaudiere_, near Bennecourt.

L'Oeuvre.

MARGAILLAN (MADAME), wife of the preceding. She was a girl of the middle-cla.s.ses, whose family history was a bad one, and after suffering for years from anemia, she ultimately died of phthisis. L'Oeuvre.

MARGAILLAN (REGINE), daughter of the preceding, and wife of Louis Dubuche. She was very delicate, and suffered from a phthisical tendency derived from her mother, which in turn she handed to her two children, Gaston and Alice. It was frequently necessary for her to leave home for the benefit of her health, and during her absences the children were left at _La Richaudiere_ in charge of their father. L'Oeuvre.

MARIA, an actress at the Theatre des Varietes. Nana.

MARJOLIN, a boy who was found in a heap of cabbages at the Paris market.

It was never known who his parents were, and he became the adopted child of the place, always finding a lodging with one or other of the market-women. Later on he lived with Madame Chantemesse, who had adopted Cadine, another foundling, and the two children grew up together, becoming inseparable. Marjolin was always of slow intellect, and as the result of an injury to his head he became practically an idiot. Gavard gave him employment in the poultry market. Le Ventre de Paris.

MARSOULLIER, proprietor of the Hotel Boncoeur, where Gervaise Macquart and Lantier put up when they came to Paris. L'a.s.sommoir.

MARTIN, coachman to Dr. Cazenove. He was an old man who formerly served in the navy, and had his leg amputated by Cazenove. La Joie de Vivre.

MARTINE, the old servant of Dr. Pascal, with whom she had been for thirty years. She brought up Clotilde Rougon, whose affection for the doctor excited her jealousy later on. Martine, who was devoted to her master, desired to force him to be reconciled with the Church, but Clotilde, at first her accomplice, escaped from religious influences and gave herself entirely to Pascal, leaving Martine with no other resource but prayer. She was extremely avaricious, but when the doctor was ruined, her devotion was such that she used some of her own money to purchase the necessaries of life for him. Distracted at the sudden death of her master, and in the hope of saving him from d.a.m.nation, she a.s.sisted Madame Felicite Rougon to destroy his great work on heredity, which in her narrow-minded bigotry she believed was intended to subvert true religion. The work of destruction completed, she went away to live by herself at Sainte-Marthe, as she refused to serve any other master than the one she had been with so many years. Le Docteur Pascal.

MARTINEAU (M.), a notary of Coulonges, and brother of Madame Correur.

He ignored his sister for many years, but his principles would not allow him to disinherit her, and he made a will under which his property would be divided between her and his wife. Soon thereafter, Madame Correur, knowing him to be in bad health, denounced him as a dangerous Republican to Rougon, then Minister of the Interior, and his arrest followed. The shock, together with the unnecessary harshnesses displayed by Gilquin, the commissary of police, caused Martineau's death, and the subsequent popular outcry had much to do with Rougon's second resignation of office. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

MARTINEAU (MADAME), wife of the preceding. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.