His family had been miners
for generations, and he himself had worked in the pit since he was eight
years old. After forty-five years of work underground he was given a
post as fireman, and for five years worked each night at the Voreux pit
for a wage of forty sous. He suffered greatly from rheumatism, which
eventually turned into a form of dropsy, while his mind became affected
to some extent by the sufferings occasioned by the great strike which
took place at Voreux and other neighbouring pits. After the terrible
scenes at Montsou, he could only sit in his chair before the fireless
grate, with fixed and unseeing eyes, but in a sudden accession of
madness he found strength to strangle Cecile Gregoire, who chanced to be
left alone with him for a few moments. Germinal.
BONNET. See De Mareuil.
BORDENAVE, manager of the Theatre des Varietes. He was a coarse man,
with cynical views as to the stage, and cared nothing as to the means by
which a popular success might be secured. Though he was well aware that
Nana could neither sing nor act, he saw that her beauty was of a type
likely to attract the Parisian public, and accordingly gave her the
chief part in the _Blonde Venus_.
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