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 damnation, she assisted 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.
MARSY (COMTE DE), Minister of the Interior before Eugene Rougon, who succeeded him on his appointment as President of the Corps Legislatif. Marsy, who was said to be the son of a queen, was brilliant, immoral, and unscrupulous. He was the chief political opponent of Eugene Rougon and had great influence at the Court of Napoleon III. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
MARTY (M.), a master at the Lycee Bonaparte, who was being ruined by the extravagance of his wife, and was obliged to double his salary by giving private lessons, in order to meet the constantly growing household expenses. Au Bonheur des Dames.
MARTY (MADAME), wife of the preceding, was a woman of about thirty-five years of age, whose face, never beautiful, was now much marked by small-pox. She had a perfect mania for spending money on clothes, and never visited “The Ladies’ Paradise” without buying innumerable articles for which she had no need. As a result of her extravagance, her husband was nearly ruined, and was forced to increase his earnings by giving private lessons. Au Bonheur des Dames.
MARTY (VALENTINE), daughter of the preceding, a young girl of fourteen years of age, who was used by her mother as an excuse for some of her extravagance, as she dressed her like herself, with all the fashionable novelties of which she submitted to the irresistible seduction. Au Bonheur des Dames.
MASCART (PERE), a blind paralytic to whom Angelique showed much kindness. Le Reve.
MASSACRE, one of the dogs of old Soulas, the shepherd. It shared the hatred of its master of La Cognette. La Terre.