Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/271

 his father, who made and soon lost a fortune. The previous fast life of his mother, who afterwards married again, gave rise to or upheld some more or less influential connections and made her, during the first Empire, the titular femme de chambre to Madame Mere&mdash;Letitia Bonaparte. Napoleon's fall marked the ruin of the Hussons. Oscar and his mother&mdash;now married to M. Clapart&mdash;lived in a modest apartment on rue de la Cerisaie, Paris. Oscar obtained a license and became clerk in Desroches' law office in Paris, being coached by Godeschal. During this time he became acquainted with two young men, his cousins the Marests. One of them had previously instigated an early escapade of Oscar's, and it was now followed by one much more serious, on rue de Vendome at the house of Florentine Cabirolle, who was then maintained by Cardot, Oscar's wealthy uncle. Husson was forced to abandon law and enter military service. He was in the cavalry regiment of the Duc de Maufrigneuse and the Vicomte de Serizy. The interest of the dauphiness and of Abbe Gaudron obtained for him promotion and a decoration. He became in turn aide-de-camp to La Fayette, captain, officer of the Legion of Honor and lieutenant-colonel. A noteworthy deed made him famous on Algerian territory during the affair of La Macta; Husson lost his left arm in the vain attempt to save Vicomte de Serizy. Put on half-pay, he obtained the post of collector for Beaumont-sur-Oise. He then married&mdash;1838&mdash;Georgette Pierrotin and met again the accomplices or witnesses of his earlier escapades&mdash;one of the Marests, the Moreaus, etc. (A Start in Life)

HUSSON (Madame Oscar), wife of the preceding; born Georgette Pierrotin; daughter of the proprietor of the stage-service of Oise. (A Start in Life)

HYDE DE NEUVILLE (Jean-Guillaume, Baron)&mdash;1776-1857&mdash;belonged to the Martignac ministry of 1828; was, in 1797, one of the most active Bourbon agents. Kept civil war aflame in the West, and held a conference in 1799 with First Consul Bonaparte relative to the restoration of Louis XVIII. (The Chouans)