Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/348

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MICHAUD (Justin), an old chief quartermaster to the cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard, chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He married one of the Montcornet maids, Olympe Charel, and became, under the Restoration, head warden of the Montcornet estates at Blangy in Bourgogne. Unknown to himself he was secretly beloved by Genevieve Niseron. His military frankness and loyal devotion succumbed before an intrigue formed against him by Sibilet, steward of Aigues, and by the Rigous, Soudrys, Gaubertins, Fourchons and Tonsards. On account of the complicity of Courtecuisse and Vaudoyer the bullet fired by Francois Tonsard, in 1823, overcame the vigilance of Michaud. (The Peasantry)

MICHAUD (Madame Justin), born Olympe Charel, a virtuous and pretty farmer's daughter of Le Perche; wife of the preceding; chambermaid of Madame de Montcornet—born Troisville—before her marriage and induction to Aigues in Bourgogne. Her marriage to Justin Michaud was the outcome of mutual love. She had in her employ Cornevin, Juliette and Gounod; sheltered Genevieve Niseron, whose strange disposition she seemed to understand. For her husband, who was thoroughly hated in the Canton of Blangy, she often trembled, and on the same night that Michaud was murdered she died from over-anxiety, soon after giving birth to a child which did not survive her. (The Peasantry)

MICHEL, writer at Socquard's cafe and coffee-house keeper at Soulanges in 1823. He also looked after his patron's vineyard and garden. (The Peasantry)

MICHONNEAU (Christine-Michelle). (See Poiret, the elder, Madame.)

MICHU, during the progress of and after the French Revolution he played a part directly contrary to his regular political affiliations. His lowly birth, his harsh appearance, and his marriage with the daughter of a Troyes tanner of advanced opinion, all helped to make his pronounced Republicanism seem in keeping, although beneath it he hid his Royalist faith and an active devotion to the Simeuses, the