Mining
Company. Germinal.

HOMME NOIR (L'), an apparition said to haunt the Voreux pit. It was said
to take the form of an old miner who twisted the necks of bad girls.
Germinal.

HONORINE, a maid-servant with the Gregoires. She was a girl of some
twenty years, who had been taken in as a child and brought up in the
house. Germinal.

HONORINE, a servant in the employment of the Badeuils. When dismissed
for misconduct she became insolent.

HORN (LEA DE), a Parisian _demi-mondaine_ whose drawing-room was
frequented by some of the old ministers of Louis Philippe. Nana.

HORTEUR (ABBE), parish priest of Bonneville, was a thick-set man of
peasant-like build whose red hair was still unsilvered by his fifty
years. Much of his time was spent in cultivating a small plot of ground
in the churchyard, which he had enclosed as a vegetable garden. With
regard to religion, he had come to be contented with the observance of
outward ceremonies, and his tolerance had degenerated into a state of
indifference as to the spiritual condition of his flock. He was on good
terms with Chanteau, with whom it was his custom to play draughts every
Saturday. La Joie de Vivre.

HOTON, a sugar-refinery at Montsou. Its prosperity was greatly affected
by the strike of miners. Germinal.

HOURDEQUIN (ALEXANDRE), born 1804, was the only son of Isidore
Hourdequin. He studied at the college of Chateaudun, but made little
progress, as his only interest was in farming, for which he had an
absolute passion. On the death of his father he became master of La
Borderie, which he cultivated on the latest principles of agriculture,
spending large sums upon it. He married a sister of Baillehache, the
notary, who brought him a considerable sum, which also went into the
land. His wife died in a few years, leaving him with two children, a
son named Leon, who to his great disappointment became a soldier, and a
daughter who died young. In spite of these misfortunes he retained all
his passion for the land, and in it he gradually sunk all his fortune,
getting little from it in return. A liaison with Jacqueline Cognet,
followed, and she gradually acquired complete influence over him. He
died as the result of an accident brought about by Tron, one of his own
servants, who was also a lover of Jacqueline. La Terre.

HOURDEQUIN (MADAME), wife of the preceding. See Mademoiselle
Baillehache. La Terre.

HOURDEQUIN (ISIDORE), born 1767, was the descendant of an old peasan