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Part 12

Repertory of the Comedie Humaine, Part 1 · Anatole Cerfberr — chapter 12 of 39 · ~1,748 words · public domain

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BRUNNER (Madame), second wife of Gedeon Brunner. The only daughter of a German inn-keeper. She had been very badly spoiled by her parents. Sterile, dissipated and prodigal, she made her husband very unhappy, thus avenging the first Mme. Brunner. She was a step-mother of the most abominable sort, launching her stepson into an unbridled life, hoping that debauchery would devour both the child and the Jewish fortune. After ten years of wedded life she died before her parents, having made great inroads upon Gedeon Brunner's property. [Cousin Pons.]

BRUNNER (Frederic), only son of Gedeon Brunner, born within the first four years of the century. He ran through his maternal inheritance by silly dissipations, and then helped his friend Wilhelm Schwab to make away with the hundred thousand francs his parents had left him. Without resources and cast adrift by his father he went to Paris in 1835, where, upon the recommendation of Graff, the inn-keeper, he obtained a position with Keller at six hundred francs per annum. In 1843 he was only two thousand francs ahead; but Gedeon Brunner having died, he became a multi-millionaire. Then for friendship's sake he founded, with his chum Wilhelm, the banking house of "Brunner, Schwab & Co.," on rue Richelieu, between rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs and rue Villedo, in a magnificent building belonging to the tailor, Wolfgang Graff. Frederic Brunner had been presented by Sylvain Pons to the Camusots de Marville; he would have married their daughter had she not been the only child. The breaking off of this match involved also, the relations of Pons with the De Marville family and resulted in the death of the musician. [Cousin Pons.]

BRUNO, /valet de chambre/ of Corentin at Passy, on rue des Vignes, in 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] About 1840 he was again in the service of Corentin, who was now known as M. du Portail and lived on rue Honore-Chevalier, at Paris. [The Middle Classes.] This name is sometimes spelled Bruneau.

BRUTUS, proprietor of the Hotel des Trois-Maures in the Grand-Rue, Alencon, in 1799, where Alphonse de Montauran met Mlle. de Verneuil for the first time. [The Chouans.]

BUNEAUD (Madame), ran a bourgeoisie boarding-house in opposition to Mme. Vauquer on the heights of Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, in 1819. [Father Goriot.]

BUTIFER, noted hunter, poacher and smuggler, living in the village hard by Grenoble, where Dr. Benassis located, during the Restoration. When the doctor arrived in the country, Butifer drew a bead on him, in a corner of the forest. Later, however, he became entirely devoted to him. He was charged by Genestas with the physical education of this officer's adopted son. It may be that Butifer enlisted in Genestas' regiment, after the death of Dr. Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]

BUTSCHA (Jean), head-clerk of Maitre Latournelle, a notary at Havre in 1829. Born about 1804. The natural son of a Swedish sailor and a Demoiselle Jacmin of Honfleur. A hunchback. A type of intelligence and devotion. Entirely subservient to Modeste Mignon, whom he loved without hope; he aided, by many adroit methods, to bring about her marriage with Ernest de la Briere. Butscha decided that this union would make the young lady happy. [Modeste Mignon.]

CABIROLLE, in charge of the stages of Minoret-Levrault, postmaster of Nemours. Probably a widower, with one son. About 1837, a sexagenarian, he married Antoinette Patris, called La Bougival, who was over fifty, but whose income amounted to twelve hundred francs. [Ursule Mirouet.]

CABIROLLE, son of the preceding. In 1830 he was Dr. Minoret's coachman at Nemours. Later he was coachman for Savinien de Portenduere, after the vicomte's marriage with Ursule Mirouet. [Ursule Mirouet.]

CABIROLLE (Madame), wife of Cabirolle senior. Born Antoinette Patris in 1786, of a poor family of La Bresse. Widow of a workman named Pierre alias Bougival; she was usually designated by the latter name. After having been Ursule Mirouet's nurse, she became Dr. Minoret's servant, marrying Cabirolle about 1837. [Ursule Mirouet.]

CABIROLLE (Madame), mother of Florentine, the /danseuse/. Formerly janitress on rue Pastourelle, but living in 1820 with her daughter on rue de Crussol in a modest affluence assured by Cardot the old silk- dealer, since 1817. According to Girondeau, she was a woman of sense. [A Start in Life. A Bachelor's Establishment.]

CABIROLLE (Agathe-Florentine), known as Florentine; born in 1804. In 1817, upon leaving Coulon's class, she was discovered by Cardot, the old silk-merchant, and established by him with her mother in a relatively comfortable flat on rue de Crussol. After having been featured at the Gaite theatre, in 1820, she danced for the first time in a spectacular drama entitled "The Ruins of Babylon."* Immediately afterwards she succeeded Mariette as /premiere danseuse/ at the theatre of the Porte-Saint-Martin. Then in 1823 she made her debut at the Opera in a trio skit with Mariette and Tullia. At the time when Cardot "protected" her, she had for a lover the retired Captain Girondeau, and was intimate with Philippe Bridau, to whom she gave money when in need. In 1825 Florentine occupied Coralie's old flat, now for some three years, and it was at this place that Oscar Husson lost at play the money entrusted to him by his employer, Desroches the attorney, and was surprised by his uncle, Cardot. [A Start in Life. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment.]

* By Renee-Charles Guilbert de Pixerecourt; played for the first time at Paris in 1810.

CABOT (Armand-Hippolyte), a native of Toulouse who, in 1800, established a hair-dressing salon on the Place de la Bourse, Paris. On the advice of his customer, the poet Parny, he had taken the name of Marius, a sobriquet which stuck to the establishment. In 1845 Cabot had earned an income of twenty-four thousand francs and lived at Libourne, while a fifth Marius, called Mougin, managed the business founded by him. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

CABOT (Marie-Anne), known as Lajeunesse, an old servant of Marquis Carol d'Esgrignon. Implicated in the affair of the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne" and executed in 1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]

CACHAN, attorney at Angouleme under the Restoration. He and Petit- Claud had similar business interests and the same clients. In 1830 Cachan, now mayor of Marsac, had dealings with the Sechards. [Lost Illusions. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

CADENET, Parisian wine-merchant, in 1840, on the ground-floor of a furnished lodging-house, corner of rue des Postes and rue des Poules. Cerizet also dwelt there at that time. Cadenet, who was proprietor of the house, had something to do with the transactions of Cerizet, the "banker of the poor." [The Middle Classes.]

CADIGNAN (Prince de), a powerful lord of the former regime, father of the Duc de Maufrigneuse, father-in-law of the Duc de Navarreins. Ruined by the Revolution, he had regained his properties and income on the accession of the Bourbons. But he was a spendthrift and devoured everything. He also ruined his wife. He died at an advanced age some time before the Revolution of July. [The Secrets of a Princess.] At the end of 1829, the Prince de Cadignan, then Grand Huntsman to Charles X., rode in a great chase where were also found, amid a very aristocratic throng, the Duc d'Herouville, organizer of the jaunt, Canalis and Ernest de la Briere, all three of whom were suitors for the hand of Modeste Mignon. [Modeste Mignon.]

CADIGNAN (Prince and Princesse de), son and daughter-in-law of the preceding. (See Maufrigneuse, Duc and Duchesse de.)

CADINE (Jenny), actress at the Gymnase theatre, times of Charles X. and Louis Philippe. The most frolicsome of women, the only rival of Dejazet. Born in 1814. Discovered, trained and "protected" from thirteen years old on, by Baron Hulot. Intimate friend of Josepha Mirah. [Cousin Betty.] Between 1835 and 1840, while maintained by Couture, she lived on rue Blanche in a delightful little ground-floor flat with its own garden. Fabien du Ronceret and Mme. Schontz succeeded her here. [Beatrix.] In 1845 she was Massol's mistress and lived on rue de la Victoire. At this time, she apparently led astray in short order Palafox Gazonal, who had been taken to her home by Bixiou and Leon de Lora. [The Unconscious Humorists.] About this time she was the victim of a jewelry theft. After the arrest of the thieves her property was returned by Saint-Esteve--Vautrin--who was then chief of the special service. [The Member for Arcis.]

CADOT (Mademoiselle), old servant-mistress of Judge Blondet at Alencon, during the Restoration. She pampered her master, and, like him, preferred the elder of the magistrate's two sons. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]

CALVI (Theodore), alias Madeleine. Born in 1803. A Corsican condemned to the galleys for life on account of eleven murders committed by the time he was eighteen. A member of the same gang with Vautrin from 1819 to 1820. Escaped with him. Having assassinated the widow Pigeau of Nanterre, in May, 1830, he was rearrested and this time sentenced to death. The plotting of Vautrin, who bore for him an unnatural affection, saved his life; the sentence was commuted. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

CAMBON, lumber merchant, a deputy mayor to Benassis, in 1829, in a community near Grenoble, and a devoted assistant in the work of regeneration undertaken by the doctor. [The Country Doctor.]

CAMBREMER (Pierre), fisherman of Croisic on the Lower-Loire, time of Louis Philippe, who, for the honor of a jeopardized name, had cast his only son into the sea and afterwards remained desolate and a widower on a cliff near by, in expiation of his crime induced by paternal justice. [A Seaside Tragedy. Beatrix.]

CAMBREMER (Joseph), younger brother of Pierre Cambremer, father of Pierrette, called Perotte. [A Seaside Tragedy.]

CAMBREMER (Jacques), only son of Pierre Cambremer and Jacquette Brouin. Spoiled by his parents, his mother especially, he became a rascal of the worst type. Jacques Cambremer evaded justice only by reason of the fact that his father gagged him and cast him into the sea. [A Seaside Tragedy.]

CAMBREMER (Madame), born Jacquette Brouin, wife of Pierre Cambremer and mother of Jacques. She was of Guerande; was educated; could write "like a clerk"; taught her son to read and this brought about his ruin. She was usually spoken of as the beautiful Brouin. She died a few days after Jacques. [A Seaside Tragedy.]

CAMBREMER (Pierrette), known as Perotte; daughter of Joseph Cambremer; niece of Pierre and his goddaughter. Every morning the sweet and charming creature came to bring her uncle the bread and water upon which he subsisted. [A Seaside Tragedy.]

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