Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/439



ROGUIN, born in 1761; for twenty-five years a Paris notary, tall and heavy; black hair and high forehead; of somewhat distinguished appearance; affected with ozoena. This affection caused his ruin, for, having married the only daughter of the banker, Chevrel, he disgusted his wife very soon, and she was untrue to him. On the other hand, he had paid mistresses, and kept and was fleeced by Sarah van Gobseck&mdash;"La Belle Hollandaise"&mdash;mother of Esther. He had met her about 1815. In 1818 and 1819 Roguin, seriously compromised by careless financial ventures as well as by dissipation, disappeared from Paris; and thus brought about the ruin of Guillaume Grandet, Cesar Birotteau, and Mesdames Descoings and Bridau. (Cesar Birotteau, Eugenie Grandet, A Bachelor's Establishment) Roguin had by his wife a daughter, whom he married to the president of the Provins tribunal. She was called in that city "the beautiful Madame Tiphaine." (Pierrette) In 1816 he made, for Ginevra di Piombo, a respectful request of her father that he would allow his daughter to marry Luigi Porta, an enemy of the family. (The Vendetta)

ROGUIN (Madame), born Chevrel between the years 1770 and 1780; only daughter of Chevrel, the banker; wife of the preceding; cousin of Madame Guillaume of The Cat and Racket, and fifteen years her junior; aided her relative's daughter, Augustine, in her love affair with the painter, Sommervieux; pretty and coquettish; for a long time the mistress of Tillet, the banker; was present with her husband at the famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau, December 17, 1818. She had a country-house at Nogent-sur-Marne, in which she lived with her lover after Roguin's departure. (Cesar Birotteau, At the Sign of the Cat and Racket, Pierrette) In 1815 Caroline Crochard, then an embroiderer, worked for Madame Roguin, who made her wait for her wages. (A Second Home) In 1834 and 1835 Madame Roguin, then more than fifty years of age, still posed as young and dominated Du Tillet, who was married to the charming Marie-Eugenie de Granville. (A Daughter of Eve)