BOSC, an old actor at the Theatre des Varietes, where he played the part of Jupiter in the Blonde Venus, and the Duc de Beaurivage in the Petite Duchesse. He had a good-natured but somewhat drunken appearance. He treated women with disdain, and the idea that any man should trouble himself about them raised in him the only indignation of which he was capable. Nana.
BOUCHARD (M.), head-clerk in the office of the Minister of Interior. His house was the first thrown open to Eugene Rougon on his arrival in Paris. Later on, Bouchard inherited his father’s property, and at fifty-four years of age married Adele Desvignes. He was appointed head of a department after Rougon’s return to office. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
BOUCHARD (MADAME), wife of the preceding, was the daughter of a respectable family at Rambouillet. M. Bouchard “had been anxious to marry a young lady from the provinces, because he made a point of having a steady wife. However, the fair and adorable little Adele, with her innocent blue eyes, had in less than four years proved to be a great deal more than a mere flirt.” Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
BOULAND(MADAME), the nurse who attended Madame Lazare Chanteau. La Joie de Vivre.
BOUM, a horse which belonged to M. Gasc and ran in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
BOURDELAIS, an upper clerk in the office of the Minister of Finance. Au Bonheur des Dames.
BOURDELAIS (MADAME) was a short, fair woman of thirty, with a delicate nose and sparkling eyes, who had married a chief clerk in the Treasury. She was an old schoolfellow of Madame Desforges. Belonging to a good middle-class family, she managed her household and three children with an excellent knowledge of practical life. Au Bonheur des Dames.
BOURDEU (M.), formerly Prefect of the Drome, but turned out of office by the Revolution of 1848. Politically he was a Legitimist, and he was a friend of M. Rastoil, at whose house his party was in the habit of meeting. At one time he was suggested as a likely candidate for the representation of Plassans, but he retired after Delangre had been brought forward through the machinations of Abbe Faujas. Madame de Condamin promised him, however, that through her influence he would be rewarded with a prefecture. La Conquete de Plassans.
BOURDONCLE, the son of a poor farmer near Limoges, started at “The Ladies’ Paradise” at the same time as Octave Mouret. He was very active and intelligent, but he lacked that touch of genius possessed by his companion, before whom he had bowed from the first. Acting on Mouret’s advice, he put all his savings into the business, and, after passing through the various grades, he became in time one of the six persons who assisted Mouret to govern “The Ladies’ Paradise,” exercising a general control of the whole staff. Au Bonheur des Dames.
BOURGAIN-DESFEUILLES (GENERAL). During the war of 1870 he was at the head of a brigade of infantry, of which the 106th regiment of the line, commanded by Colonel de Vineuil, formed part. Like so many other officers he proved himself incompetent, and after the capitulation he, alone among the generals, took advantage of the pretext of illness to sign an undertaking to the Germans not to take any further part in the war. La Debacle.