FOUCART, the owner of a cheap restaurant frequented by Jory, Mahoudeau, and their band. L’Oeuvre.
FOUCART (MADAME), the nurse who attended Sidonie Rougon at the birth of Angelique and left the child at the foundling hospital. She assisted Sidonie both by taking her into her house and lending her money, but when Madame Foucart herself fell into difficulties Sidonie did nothing for her, not even paying back what she owed. It was from Madame Foucart that Hubert subsequently got information regarding the parentage of Angelique. Le Reve.
FOUCHARD, father of Honore Fouchard, and uncle, on the mother’s side, of Henriette and Maurice Levasseur. He was a small farmer at Remilly, who to make money more quickly took up the trade of butcher also. Avaricious to the last degree, and with a nature of unpitying hardness, he opposed the marriage of Honore with his servant Silvine Morange. At the end of two years of waiting Honore went off, after a terrible scene with his father, though the old man still kept the girl, with whom he was well pleased. When the French troops were marching to Sedan, Fouchard concealed all the animals on his farm, burying even his supply of bread and wine, in the hope of being able to sell to better advantage later on. The death of his son, who was killed in the battle, cost him a few tears, but he was quickly consoled by some good purchases of horses stolen from the battlefield. He took Prosper Sambuc as farm-worker, because the soldier, being liable to imprisonment by the Prussians, could not ask him for any wages. He began to do a considerable trade in butcher-meat with the conquering army, selling them all the diseased animals that he could secure. A suspicion of being concerned in the death of Goliath Steinberg led to his arrest, but he was released soon afterwards, thanks to the intervention of Captain von Gartlauben, a friend of the Delaherches. La Debacle.
FOUCHARD (HONORE), only son of the preceding. At twenty years of age, in 1867, he drew a good number for the conscription, but on account of the opposition of his father to his marriage with Silvine Morange, he enlisted, and was sent to Africa, in the artillery. When he heard that Silvine had become the mistress of Goliath Steinberg he became so ill that he had to remain in hospital for three months. He afterwards received a letter from Silvine saying that she had never loved any one but him, and when passing through Remilly on his way to the front, he saw her and forgave everything. His battery was among those which on 1st September, 1870, defended the Calvary d’Illy, but was cut to pieces by the terrible fire of the Prussians. Honore was killed, and fell across his gun, firmly grasping the letter from Silvine, which in his death-struggle he had drawn from his bosom. La Debacle.
FOUGERAY (MADEMOISELLE DE), eldest daughter of the Baronne de Fougeray. She entered a convent, because it was said, a young man with whom she was in love had died. The event created much talk in all classes of society in Paris. Nana.
FOUQUE (ADELAIDE), generally known as Aunt Dide, the common ancestress of the Rougon-Macquarts, born at Plassans in 1768, was the last representative of a family who had owned a market-garden there for several generations. “This girl, whose father died insane, was a long, lank, pale creature, with a scared look and strange gait.” In 1786, six months after the death of her father, she married one of her own workmen, named Rougon, “a rough-hewn peasant from the Basses Alpes.” Rougon died fifteen months after his marriage, leaving a son named Pierre. Scarcely a year had elapsed before the widow took as her lover a man named Macquart, who lived in a hovel adjoining her own property, and two children were born. The legitimate son, Pierre Rougon, was brought up along with his half brother and sister, Antoine and Ursule, with whom, however, he was not on good terms. From her eighteenth year Adelaide was subject to nervous fits, which brought on convulsions, and though she was not yet insane, these repeated shocks produced cerebral disorders. “She lived from day to day like a child; like a fawning animal yielding to its instincts.” These conditions continued for about twenty years, till the death of Macquart, and the children grew up as best they could. By this time Pierre realized the situation, and playing upon his mother’s mental weakness, he brought her completely under his sway. On the death of Macquart, Adelaide went to live in the hovel bequeathed to her by him, and Pierre sold the family property, appropriating the price. Living at first entirely alone, her intellect became more and more affected by the recurring convulsive fits. Subsequently her grandson Silvere Mouret lived with her, but after his execution, of which she was a witness, she became quite insane. La Fortune des Rougon.
She was always under restraint, and remained a living sore to the family. The little property which belonged to her son Antoine Macquart was close to the asylum where she was confined, and Pierre Rougon seemed to have placed him there to look after her. Adelaide seldom spoke, and for twelve years had never moved from her chair. La Conquete de Plassans.
At 104 years old she was still living in the asylum at Les Tulettes. She was little better than a skeleton, and in her long, thin face it was only in the eyes that there was any sign of life. Immovable in her chair, she remained from year to year like a spectre, calling up the horrors of her family history. A sudden accident, the death of little Charles Saccard from nasal hemorrhage, wakened in her sleeping brain recollections of years before; she saw again the murder of Silvere, killed by a pistol-shot, and she saw also her lover Macquart, the smuggler, killed like a dog by the gendarmes. The shock proved too much for her feeble strength, and she died the following day (in 1873), aged 105 years, three months, and seven days. Le Docteur Pascal.
FOUSSET (LE PERE), tenant of the farm of Millouard, in the Canton of Orgeres. He was a victim of the band of brigands commanded by Beau-Francois. La Terre.
FRANCHOMME (LOUIS), a cousin of Francoise Hamelin and her brother, with whom he went to reside for a time when recovering from a fever. His wife having become fond of Angelique Marie, who lived at that time with Francoise Hamelin, he obtained permission to take her to Paris, where she could be taught the trade of making flowers. Unfortunately, however, he died three months later. Le Reve.