He owned a large factory in Rue Maqua, which had been the property of
the family for a hundred and sixty years; in the rear of the building
was a palatial courtyard shaded with old trees, gigantic elms dating
from the foundation of the establishment. Jules, married to a woman dull
and plain-looking, had been kept by his mother in the dependent position
of a mere boy, but at fifty years of age, his wife being dead, he became
enamoured of Gilberte Maginot, a pretty young widow of Charleville,
and married her in spite of the determined opposition of his mother.
An ardent Bonapartist, he was much excited by a chance meeting with
Napoleon III, but after the repeated defeats of the army in the war with
Prussia his loyalty cooled, and he ultimately charged the Emperor with
all the miseries which ensued. After the battle of Sedan an ambulance
was established in the courtyard of his factory, and the wounded Colonel
Vineuil was removed to his house. La Debacle.
DELAHERCHE (MADAME JULES). See Gilberte Vineuil. La Debacle.
DELANGRE (M.), mayor of Plassans. He was the son of a bricklayer, and
when he passed as a lawyer had to be content with petty suits that no
one else would take up.
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