HAFFNER (MADAME SUZANNE), wife of a celebrated manufacturer of Colmar, a millionaire twenty times over, whom the Empire was transforming into a politician. She was the inseparable companion of the Marquise d’Espanet, and had been a schoolfellow of Madame Renee Saccard. La Curee.
HALLEGRAIN (CAPTAIN JACQUES), the father of Christine. He was a Gascon from Montauban. A stroke of paralysis in the legs caused his retirement from the army, and he settled at Clermont with his wife and daughter. One day, when they were at church, he died of a second attack of paralysis. L’Oeuvre.
HALLEGRAIN (MADAME), wife of the preceding. She survived him for five years, remaining at Clermont, managing as well as she could on her scanty pension, which she eked out by painting fans, in order to bring up her daughter as a lady. During these five years Madame Hallegrain became each day paler and thinner, until she was only a shadow; one morning she could not rise, and she died, looking sadly at Christine, with her eyes full of great tears. L’Oeuvre.
HALLEGRAIN (CHRISTINE), daughter of the preceding, was born at Strasburg. Her father died when she was twelve years old, and her mother, who had a severe struggle to make a living for herself and her child, only survived him five years. Christine was left penniless and unprotected, without a friend, save La Mere des Saints-Anges, the Superior of the Sisters of the Visitation, who kept her in the convent until she got a situation as reader and companion to Madame Vanzade, an old lady who lived in Paris. Chance led to a meeting between Christine and Claude Lantier on the evening of her arrival in the city, and the acquaintanceship ripened into love. Ultimately she ran off with him, and they took up house at Bennecourt, where they lived happily for several years, a son being born to them in 1860. She was devoted to Claude, who was engrossed in his art, and when she saw that he was becoming discontented in the country she urged his return to Paris. There he became obsessed by the idea of a masterpiece, by means of which he was to revolutionize the world of art, and Christine allowed him to sacrifice their child and herself to his hopes of fame. They began to encroach on the principal of their small fortune, and while this lasted were not unhappy, though Claude’s increasing mental disturbance already gave cause for anxiety. Their marriage had taken place some time previously, and this had tended to make her position more comfortable. The exhaustion of their means was followed by great hardships, but Christine continued to sacrifice everything to her husband. The death of their child drew him away from his task for a time, but he again took it up, his mind becoming more and more unhinged. Christine made a last effort to detach him, but the call of his masterpiece was too strong, and one morning she found him hanging in front of the picture, dead. She fell on the floor in a faint, and lay there to all appearance as dead as her husband, both of them crushed by the sovereignty of art. L’Oeuvre.
HAMELIN (CAROLINE), sister of Georges Hamelin, accompanied him to Paris after the death of their father. She took a situation as governess, and soon after married a millionaire brewer in whose house she was employed. After a few years of married life, she was obliged to apply for a separation in order to avoid being killed by her husband, a drunkard who pursued her with a knife in fits of insane jealousy. Living with her brother, in the flat of the Orviedo mansion above that occupied by Saccard, she made the acquaintance of the latter, becoming after a time his housekeeper and subsequently his mistress. During the absence of her brother in the East, after the foundation of the Universal Bank, she did everything she could to protect his interests, and tried to persuade Saccard to discontinue the gambling in the shares of the bank which ultimately led to its ruin. Like her brother, she sold all her shares in the bank, and after the final crash divested herself of all her means in the assistance of ruined shareholders. She followed her brother in his flight to Rome. L’Argent.
HAMELIN (GEORGES), son of a Montpellier physician, a remarkable savant, an enthusiastic Catholic, who had died poor. After his father’s death he came to Paris, along with his sister Caroline, and entered the Polytechnic school. He became an engineer, and having received an appointment in connection with the Suez Canal, went to Egypt. Subsequently he went to Syria, where he remained some years, laying out a carriage road from Beyrout to Damascus. He was an enthusiast, and his portfolio was full of schemes of far-reaching magnitude. Having met Saccard in Paris, he joined with him in the formation of the Universal Bank, which was intended to furnish the means of carrying out some at least of his schemes. Against his wish, Hamelin was made chairman of the bank, and he thus became liable for the actions of the other directors, though he was himself absent in the East forming the companies in which the bank was interested. He was a man of high honour, and when the gamble in the shares of the bank reached an excessive point, he did all he could to restrain it, even selling his own shares. The money received for these was subsequently used in relieving other shareholders who lost their all. When the crash came, Hamelin was arrested along with Saccard, and, after trial, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of three thousand francs. By a technicality of law they were allowed a month to appeal, during which they were at liberty. With the connivance of Eugene Rougon, they fled the country, Hamelin going to Rome, where he secured a situation as an engineer. L’Argent.
HAMELIN (FRANCOISE), sister of M. Hamelin, a farmer, who lived at Soulanges. She brought up Angelique Marie, who was handed over to her by the Foundling Hospital when only a few days old. Angelique remained with her until she went to Paris with Madame Franchomme, some years later. Le Reve.
HARDY, tax-collector at Cloyes. La Terre.
HARTMANN (BARON), Director of the Credit Immobilier, a concern which had large interests in property immediately adjoining “The Ladies’ Paradise.” The Baron had been a lover of Madame Desforges, and through her influence he agreed to give financial support to Octave Mouret, thereby enabling him to carry out the large schemes of extension to which he had long looked forward. Au Bonheur des Dames.
HAUCHECORNE, principal assistant in the draper’s shop known as Vieil Elbeuf. He married Desiree, the daughter of his employer, and succeeded to the business, which he ultimately handed over to Baudu, his own son-in-law. Au Bonheur des Dames.