LACHESNAYE (DE), judge at the Rouen Court of appeal, was the husband of Berthe Grandmorin, whom he somewhat resembled in character.  He was a little man, dry and yellow, who had been a judge at the Court of Appeal from the age of thirty-six; he had been decorated, thanks to the influence of his father-in-law, and to the services which his father had rendered on the High Commissions at the time of the Coup d’Etat.  He was disliked by Denizet, the examining magistrate, in whose eyes he represented the class of judicial functionary who attained position by wealth and influence.  Lachesnaye was incensed at the will of his father-in-law, Grandmorin, who left fully half of his fortune to women of all classes, most of them unknown to his family.  La Bete Humaine.

LACHESNAYE (MADAME DE), wife of the preceding.  See Berthe Grandmorin.  La Bete Humaine.

LACOUR (ZEPHYRIN), a young lad from the same village as Rosalie, whose sweetheart he was.  He was drawn in the conscription and sent to Paris, where, by permission of Madame Grandjean, he came to see Rosalie, her maid, every Sunday.  He was a good-hearted lad, whose ambition was to get out of the army, marry Rosalie, and return to his native village.  Une Page d’Amour.

LADICOURT (BARONNE DE), a lady who lived at Vouziers.  Captain Beaudoin lunched at her house on 26th August, 1870, at the hour when the Seventh Army Corps was taking up its position for battle.  La Debacle.

LADRICOURT (COMTE DE), father of the Baroness Sandorff.  He was a confirmed gambler, and a man of brutal manners.  He died of apoplexy, completely ruined, after a series of disgraceful failures.  L’Argent.

LA FALOISE (HECTOR DE), a youth who came from the country to Paris in order to complete his education.  Thanks to the death of an uncle, he was very rich, and his chief ambition was to be in everything ultra Parisian.  He posed as a man who had experienced everything, and who no longer thought anything worthy of being taken seriously.  Introduced behind the scenes of the Theatre des Varietes by his cousin Fauchery, he met Nana, who did him the honour of ruining him without much loss of time.  When his money was done, he returned to the country in the hope of marrying a distant relation who was both ugly and pious.  Nana.

LAFOUASSE, a tavern-keeper in the neighbourhood of Plassans, between the old demesne of Paradou and the village of Artaud.  He was treated by Dr. Pascal Rougon for ataxy, but died after a hypodermic injection of a serum with which the doctor was experimenting.  Le Docteur Pascal.

LAGARDE (EDMOND), a sergeant in the 6th Regiment of the line.  At the most his age was twenty-three, but he did not appear more than eighteen.  He took part in the battle of Sedan, and was wounded in the left arm, which was broken by a bullet.  His father, who was a shopkeeper in Paris, was a customer of Delaherche, and he was removed to the house of the manufacturer, where he was treated as one of the family.  A handsome lad, he aroused the pity of Gilberte Delaherche, whose lover he became.  La Debacle.