She brought up Clotilde Rougon, whose affection for the
doctor excited her jealousy later on. Martine, who was devoted to her
master, desired to force him to be reconciled with the Church, but
Clotilde, at first her accomplice, escaped from religious influences and
gave herself entirely to Pascal, leaving Martine with no other resource
but prayer. She was extremely avaricious, but when the doctor was
ruined, her devotion was such that she used some of her own money to
purchase the necessaries of life for him. Distracted at the sudden
death of her master, and in the hope of saving him from damnation, she
assisted Madame Felicite Rougon to destroy his great work on heredity,
which in her narrow-minded bigotry she believed was intended to subvert
true religion. The work of destruction completed, she went away to live
by herself at Sainte-Marthe, as she refused to serve any other master
than the one she had been with so many years. Le Docteur Pascal.
MARTINEAU (M.), a notary of Coulonges, and brother of Madame Correur.
He ignored his sister for many years, but his principles would not allow
him to disinherit her, and he made a will under which his property would
be divided between her and his wife.
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