Complete Works of Emile Zola (1901 page)

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 assist 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 publishing 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-class 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 Plassans 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.

ROUGON (CLOTILDE), born 1847, daughter of Aristide Rougon, accompanied her father and mother to Paris in 1852. After the death of her mother in 1854, she was sent to live with Dr. Pascal Rougon, her uncle, who had frequently offered to take her to enliven his silent scientific home. La Curee.

At Plassans Clotilde lived a quiet healthy life, much of it spent in the open air. She was not highly educated, but having considerable artistic talent was able to assist Doctor Pascal by making illustrations for his great work on heredity. At one period she developed strong religious tendencies under the influence of Martine, the doctor’s old servant, who took her to church, and imbued the girl with her own bigoted ideas regarding the salvation of Pascal. Her grandmother, Felicite Rougon, who wished, for family reasons, to destroy Pascal’s manuscripts on the subject of heredity, played on Clotilde’s feelings, and induced her to assist in a search for the hated work. Rougon surprised them in the act, and subsequently laid bare to Clotilde the whole facts of the terrible family history. In time the mysticism of the Church gave place to passionate love between Clotilde and Pascal. The doctor felt, however, that she was sacrificing her youth for him, and sent her to Paris to live with her brother Maxime. Soon afterwards, Pascal became ill, and died before she was able to return. A child was born some months later. Le Docteur Pascal.

ROUGON (EUGENE), born 1811, eldest son of Pierre Rougon, was educated at Plassans and Paris, and was called to the Bar. He practised in the local Court for a number of years, but with little success. Though of lethargic appearance, he was a man of ability, who “cherished lofty ambitions, possessed domineering instincts, and showed a singular contempt for trifling expedients and small fortunes.” With the Revolution of February, 1848, Eugene felt that his opportunity had come, and he left for Paris with scarcely five hundred francs in his pocket. He was able to give his parents early information of the designs of the Bonapartes, and so prepared the way for the events of the
Coup d’Etat
of 1851, when the family fortunes were made. La Fortune des Rougon.

During his early days in Paris Rougon resided at the Hotel Vanneau, kept by Madame Correur, and while there he made the acquaintance of Gilquin and Du Poizet, both of whom assisted him in spreading the Bonapartist propaganda. By his exertions in this cause he established a claim for reward, and he was appointed a member of the State Council, ultimately becoming its President. He fell into disfavour, however, with the Court on account of his opposition to a claim for two million francs by a distant relative of the Empress Eugenie. Finding that his position was insecure, he tendered his resignation to the Emperor, who accepted it. About this time he met Clorinde Balbi, an Italian adventuress, who endeavoured to induce him to marry her. Carried away for the time being, Rougon made overtures to her which she resented, and he was on the point of offering her marriage. Reflection on her somewhat equivocal position in society induced him to think better of this, and he offered to arrange a marriage between her and his friend Delestang. The offer was accepted, and the marriage took place. Soon after, Rougon married Veronique Beulin-d’Orchere. During his retirement Rougon was surrounded by a band of followers, the Charbonnels, Du Poizet, Kahn, and others, who in the hope of profiting by his return to office lost no chance of establishing a claim upon him. After the Orsini plot against the life of the Emperor, of which Rougon had prior information through Gilquin, the need for a strong man arose, and he was again called to office, being appointed Minister of the Interior. His harshness in carrying out reprisals against the Republican party, and even more, his recklessness in finding appointments for his friends, led to a public outcry, and his position again became undermined. Clorinde, who had never forgiven him for not marrying her, did much to foment the disaffection, and even his own band of followers turned against him. Always quick to act, Rougon again placed his resignation in the hands of the Emperor, who to his surprise accepted it. Three years later he was once more a member of the Corps Legislatif, and having brought his principles into accordance with the more liberal views then professed by the Emperor, he gave his strong support to the measures giving effect to them. In consequence, he was appointed by the Emperor as a Minister without department, and commissioned to defend the new Policy. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

When his brother Aristide came to Paris, Eugene found a situation for him, but, fearing to be compromised by him, suggested that he should change his name to Saccard which he did. There was no intimacy between the brothers, but Eugene occasionally visited Aristide at the great house built by him in the Parc Monceau. La Curee.

After Saccard’s bankruptcy, Eugene refused to have any further connection with him, though he tacitly approved of the foundation of the Universal Bank. The Bank having failed, however, he did nothing to stay legal proceedings against his brother; but, after a sentence of imprisonment had been passed, he connived at his escape from the country while the sentence was under appeal. L’Argent.

He continued to take a lively interest in Plassans, and it was by him that Abbe Faujas was sent there to counteract the clerical influence, which at that time was strongly Legitimist. He kept up a correspondence with his mother, whom he advised as to each step she should take in political matters. La Conquete de Plassans.

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 of
locomotor ataxy
at 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.