k was mechanical, and he
seemed to carry it through without thought or intelligence. His wife,
a cousin of Jacques Lantier, looked after the level-crossing which
adjoined their house until failing health prevented her from leaving
the house. For this little man, silently and without anger, was slowly
poisoning his wife with a powder which he placed in the salt which she
ate. This crime, patient and cunning, had for its cause a legacy of a
thousand francs left to Aunt Phasie by her father, a legacy which
she had hidden, and refused to hand over to Misard. But the old woman
triumphed in the end, for though Misard searched day and night for the
treasure, he was never able to find it; she died taking her secret with
her. An old woman of the neighbourhood, La Ducloux, whom he had employed
to attend to the level-crossing after the death of his wife, induced him
to marry her by pretending that she had discovered the secret hoard. La
Bete Humaine.

MISARD (MADAME), wife of the preceding. See Phasie (Aunt).

MORANGE (CHARLOT), son of Silvine Morange and of Goliath Steinberg.
Physically he resembled his father's race, whom, however, he was brought
up to hate. Hidden behind his mother, he was at three years old a
witness of the murder of his father by the francs-tireurs. La Debacle.

MORANGE (SILVINE), servant with Fouchard at Remilly. Her mother, who was
a worker in a factory at Raucourt, died when she was quite young, and
her godfather, Dr. Dalichamp, got her a situation with Fouchard.
Honore Fouchard fell in love with her, and they became engaged, but the
opposition of the old man was so great that Honore went away from home
and enlisted in the army. During his absence Silvine fell a victim
to the wiles of Goliath Steinberg, and a child, Charlot, was born,
Steinberg having previously disappeared. She had all along loved Honore,
and when he passed through Remilly on his way to fight the Prussians
he forgave her, and promised to marry her on his return. When she heard
that he had been killed in the battle of Sedan, she became nearly mad,
and with Prosper Sambuc made a wild search of the battlefield for her
lover's body. They found it eventually, and brought it back in a cart
for burial. Goliath Steinberg, who was a German spy, again made advances
to her, and, to save herself and her friends, she betrayed him to the
francs-tireurs, who killed him in her presence. La Debacle.

MORIZOT, a friend of Malignon, who took him to the c