ainful of the
male, she had thrashed at least one would-be lover. When she was quite
little she had loved Jacques Lantier, and now it was to him alone she
would have given herself. Jacques did not care for her, however, and she
came to know that he had a mistress, Severine Roubaud. Convinced of
her own right to be loved, for she was stronger and handsomer than the
other, the girl was tortured by jealousy; and each Friday, as she saw
the express rush past, bearing the two lovers to Paris, was seized
with an imperious desire to end everything, and by causing their death
prevent them from passing any more. She accordingly brought about a
terrible railway accident, in which a large number of persons were
killed; but the crime was useless, for Severine and Jacques escaped with
trifling injuries. The thought that Jacques knew her guilt, and must in
future regard her as a monster, rendered life hateful to Flore, and to
meet death she set out on a walk of heroic determination through the
tunnel of Malaunay, allowing herself to be cut in pieces by an express
train. La Bete Humaine.

FLORENCE, an actress at the variety theatres. Marsy offered her a
valuable house. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

Pauline Letellier met her one day on the boulevards accompanied by
Malignon. Juliette Deberle, who was a little jealous, assured her that
Florence was at least forty and very plain-looking. Une Page d'Amour.

FLORENT, elder son of a widow who took as her second husband M. Quenu,
who, however, died three years later, leaving a son. Florent was a
gentle, studious youth, and his mother lavished all her affection on
him, dying in the end from hardships endured in her struggle to keep
him at college in Paris. After her death Florent took young Quenu,
his half-brother, to live with him in Paris, giving up all thought of
continuing to attend the Law School, and taking pupils in order to find
means of sustenance. Years of hardship followed, and Florent became
imbued with Republican ideas. Two days after the _Coup d'Etat_ of 1851,
while the military were firing on the mob in the Boulevard Montmartre,
he was knocked down and stunned. When he recovered, he found that he was
lying beside the body of a young woman, whose blood had oozed from her
wounds on to his hands. He was horrified at the sight, and rushed away
to join a party of men who were throwing up barricades in an adjoining
street. Worn out with fatigue, he fell asleep, and on awakening fo