FIRMAT, an old peasant of Rognes who was a neighbour of Mouche. He became paralysed. La Terre.
FIRMAT (LA), wife of the preceding. She was well known in the village for her knowledge of animals, and was frequently consulted when it would otherwise have been necessary to call in a veterinary surgeon. She worked hard to support her invalid husband, to whom she was devoted, and wept at the thought that he was soon to die. La Terre.
G
GABET (MERE), an old woman who assisted the Huberts with their washing. She became ill, and being in great poverty, was assisted by Angelique, and later by Felicien. Le Reve.
GAGA, an elderly demi-mondaine who had flourished in the reign of Louis Philippe, and was still notorious in the Second Empire. She had a daughter named Lili, who became the mistress of the Marquis Chouard. Nana.
GAGEBOIS, glass-works at Montsou. The strike of miners led to the fires being extinguished. Germinal.
GAGNIERE, an artist, one of the band of Claude Lantier. He belonged to Melun, where his well-to-do parents, who were both dead, had left him two houses; and he had learned painting, unassisted, in the forest of Fontainebleau. His landscapes were conscientious and excellent in intent, but his real passion was music. Becoming more and more engrossed in this, he took lessons in playing the piano from a middle-aged lady whom he married soon afterwards. He established himself at Melun in one of his two houses, going to Paris two or three times a month to attend a concert, and he continued to exhibit each year at the Salon one of his little studies of the banks of the Seine. L’Oeuvre.
GALISSARD, a haberdasher of Plassans, whose daughter married Professor Lalubie. She was a pretty girl to whom Claude Lantier and Sandoz used to sing serenades.
GARCONNET, a Legitimist who was Mayor of Plassans at the time of the Coup d’Etat. He was taken prisoner by the insurgents. La Fortune des Rougon.