BRULE (LA), mother of La Pierronne. She was the widow of a miner who had been killed in the pit, and lived with her daughter at the settlement known as the Deux-Cent-Quarante. A terrible old woman, frantic to revenge on the masters the death of her husband, she was the leader in the outrages perpetrated by the strikers in the Montsou district. It was she who gave the signal for the attack on the troops, but at the first volley fired by the soldiers she fell back stiff and crackling like a bundle of dry faggots, stammering one last oath in the gurgling of blood. Germinal.
BRUNET (LES), a bourgeois family in the new quarter of Plassans, of whom Madame Felicite Rougon was jealous. La Fortune des Rougon.
BUDIN (LES), peasants of Rognes, whose daughter was said to have been cured of a fever by Sourdeau, who cut a live pigeon in two, and applied the halves to her head. La Terre.
BUQUIN-LECOMTE, a deputy at the Corps Legislatif. He desired leave of absence. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.
BURGAT, a blacksmith, one of the band of insurgents which entered Plassans in December, 1851. La Fortune des Rougon.
BURNE, an English jockey who rode a horse called Spirit in the Grand Prix de Paris. Nana.
BUSCH, a man of German origin who came to Paris, and engaged in business of a shady character on the fringe of the Bourse. “In addition to usury and a secret traffic in jewels and precious stones, he particularly occupied himself with the purchase of ‘bad debts.’” In pursuit of creditors he was unsparing, and his methods were not infrequently of the nature of blackmail. Jordon, Madame de Beauvilliers, and Saccard himself fell into his power, though Saccard refused to submit to extortion. Another of Busch’s lines of business was the purchase of depreciated shares and debentures, thousands of which he collected together, selling them to bankrupts who found difficulty in accounting for real or imaginary losses. His one redeeming feature was his extraordinary love for his brother Sigismond, whom he nursed with the greatest care until his death. L’Argent.
BUSCH (SIGISMOND), brother of Busch, the money-lender, was an able man, educated at a German University, and speaking several languages. He had met Carl Marx at Cologne in 1849, and became a contributor to the New Rhenish Gazette. “From that time he professed Socialism with an ardent faith, giving his entire being to the idea of an approaching social renovation, which would assure the happiness of the poor and humble.” After his master was banished from Germany, Sigismond, engrossed in his dreams, was so careless of his material affairs that he would have perished of hunger had his brother not taken him to live with him. From this time the elder Busch, ferocious as a wolf towards a debtor, looked after his brother with almost maternal care, and was heart-broken when Sigismond died of consumption a few years later. L’Argent.
BUTEAU, second son of Pere Fouan; brother of Hyacinthe and of Fanny Delhomme; cousin and husband of Lise Mouche; father of Jules and Laure. From early youth he was of violent temper, and having drawn a lucky number in the conscription, he went away from home, and got work, first at the farm of La Borderie and later at La Chamade. He was a true son of the soil, knowing nothing of the world beyond the narrow district in which he was born, and possessing that fierce passion for the land which is the characteristic of so many peasants. When Pere Fouan made a division of his property among his family, Buteau was dissatisfied with the lot which he drew, and refused to take possession of it. In this attitude he persisted for two years, until the formation of a new road gave a greatly increased value to his share. In the same way he refused to marry his cousin Lise Mouche, by whom he already had a son, until, after her father’s death, she had inherited a share of his property. Buteau’s chief anxiety then became to prevent a division of this land between his wife and her sister Francoise, and when, after the girl’s marriage to Jean Macquart, this became imminent, he and his wife eventually murdered her. His father had been a witness of the crime, and as his silence was essential, he too was cruelly done to death. After these terrible events Buteau was able to sleep calmly, for the land, his overwhelming passion in life, was his beyond possibility of dispute. La Terre.
BUTEAU (MADAME), wife of the preceding. See Lise Mouche. La Terre.