The Beast Within - Emile Zola [24]
Lachesnaye, a judge in the Court of Appeal, has inherited a fortune worth two million francs. His wife has also inherited an undisclosed amount from Grandmorin. Although they are well off, the Lachesnayes are not, like Madame Bonnehon, beyond caring about money, and they wish to contest the bequest of the house at La Croix-de-Maufras to Séverine.
Denizet, the examining magistrate, has no private income, his father, a once-prosperous cattle farmer, having gone bankrupt. Denizet is described as a poorly paid magistrate whose ‘meagre salary hardly sufficed to cover his immediate needs’. The novel does not specify his salary, but in his preparatory notes Zola records that the examining magistrate at Rouen earned 6,000 francs, whereas a judge in Paris earned 8,000 francs. Denizet, aged over fifty, covets promotion to Paris. The novel tells us that promotion would mean a rise in salary of 166 francs a month, which would enable him to pay his housekeeper a little more and to buy himself some new clothes.
The lady on the train to Auteuil, who is not named, having previously lived in something like penury, enjoys unexpected prosperity as a result of an advantageous marriage and is able to spend nearly half the year travelling from one holiday resort to another. The novel does not specify what her financial situation is, but she clearly enjoys a very comfortable life-style. She is an example of Second Empire ‘arrivisme’.
The rich and the affluent stand in the wings of the novel. The action of the novel centres on people who work to earn a living and who have more limited means.
The Dauvergnes receive two full-time salaries. The father is an assistant stationmaster at the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, and the son, Henri, is a mainline guard. Between them they earn 6,000 francs. They also enjoy subsidized accommodation and heating allowances. The family lives very comfortably and enjoys luxuries such as a piano and a cage of exotic birds.
Jacques is a top-link train driver. He earns 2,800 francs and with bonuses for fuel economies and maintaining his locomotive he increases this to 4,000francs.
Pecqueux, Jacques’s fireman, earns 2,800 francs including bonuses, in other words slightly less than Jacques. Pecqueux squanders most of his income on drink.
Roubaud, an assistant stationmaster at Le Havre, earns approximately 2,000 francs, which is less than half the allegedly ‘meagre’ salary of Denizet. His wife’s shopping spree at the Bon Marché (chapter I) comes to 300 francs, which represents the total of her savings during the winter. The novel does not specify what Roubaud allows her for housekeeping (she pays for laundry and domestic help). Roubaud is surprised at her extravagance; 300 francs is almost as much as two months of his salary. Roubaud’s gambling debts at one point amount to 1,000 francs a month, which is half his annual salary. The 10,000 francs stolen from Grandmorin, which enable him to continue gambling, represent five years’ salary. Roubaud is provided with accommodation and also enjoys first-class concessions for rail travel.
Misard earns 1,200 francs as a section operator. He has come down in the world, having previously earned more as a platelayer. Misard is also provided with accommodation (the level-crossing keeper’s cottage). He is determined to get his hands on the 1,000 francs left to his wife by her father. The money would be the equivalent of almost a year’s salary. He offers ‘hospitality’ to the passengers stranded in the blizzard and seizes the opportunity to scrounge money from them.
Madame Victoire is paid 100 francs as a lavatory attendant but receives 1,400 francs in tips. She is also provided with accommodation and fuel allowances. Roubaud reflects that if her husband did not spend all his money on drink they would be earning between them over twice as much as himself.