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 mass. 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 Plassans, he attained great success at the local art competitions, 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 competitions 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 Plassans, 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 entitled La Vendangeuse (the Vintage Girl), for which Madame Mathilde Jabouille served as model. For a time Chaine, who also came from Plassans, 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-class chimney-pieces. L’Oeuvre.
MAIGRAT, the principal shop-keeper in Montsou. He was originally an overseer at the Voreux pit, but, assisted 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 assailants, 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 passed 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.