LERAT (MADAME), nee Coupeau, was a sister of Coupeau and Madame Lorilleux.  She was a widow of thirty-six years of age, and was forewoman in the manufactory of artificial flowers carried on by Madame Titreville.  The eldest of the Coupeau family, she was “a tall, skinny, mannish-looking woman, who talked through her nose”; she lived a hard-working, cloisteral existence, but she had a perfect mania for making improper allusions, so very obscure that only she herself could understand them.  L’Assommoir.

For a long time she lost sight of her niece Nana, but later she found her in a position of apparent wealth.  Madame Lerat had abandoned her trade of artificial-flower-maker and lived upon her savings, scraped together sou by sou.  Nana rented a small house for her aunt, and gave her an allowance of a hundred francs per month to look after her little son Louiset.  Nana.

LERENARD, the keeper of a cafe in the neighbourhood of Montsou.  Germinal.

LEROI, alias CANON, a journeyman carpenter, who deserted Paris on account of some trouble, and preferred to live in the country, tramping from village to village, doing a week here and a week there, and offering his services from one farm to another when his employer did not want him.  When there was a scarcity of work he begged on the high-roads, living partly on the vegetables he stole.  He professed strong revolutionary principles, which he was fond of airing in village ale-shops.  He was a friend of Hyacinthe Fouan.  La Terre.

LETELLIER, father of Madame Deberle and her sister Pauline.  He owned an extensive silk warehouse on the Boulevard des Capucines.  “Since his wife’s death he had been taking his younger daughter about everywhere, in search of a rich husband for her.”  Une Page d’Amour.

LETELLIER (JULIETTE).  See Madame Deberle.

LETELLIER (PAULINE), the younger daughter of M. Letellier, a wealthy silk merchant, and sister of Madame Deberle.  She was a giddy young girl who went about everywhere with her father in the hope of securing a rich husband, and was a constant visitor at the house of her sister.  Une Page d’Amour.

LETURC (MADAME), widow of a captain, was a protegee of Madame Correur, who obtained a tobacco licence for her.  Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

LEVAQUE, a neighbour of the Maheus.  He was of intemperate habits, and beat his wife on little provocation.  During the strike he was among the most reckless, and at the assault on the Voreux pit he was taken prisoner by the troops.  His arrest made him a sort of hero, and by the Paris newspapers he was credited with a reply of antique sublimity to the examining magistrate.  Germinal.

LEVAQUE (ACHILLE), the eldest child of Zacharie Maheu and of Philomene Levaque.  He was three years old when his parents were married.  Germinal.

LEVAQUE (BEBERT), son of the Levaques, was a little boy of twelve, who already worked in the pit.  Along with Lydie Pierron, he was a companion of Jeanlin Maheu in many escapades.  As Jeanlin became more daring and unscrupulous, Bebert and Lydie were drawn together in an affection born of their common fear of him.  The three children were present at the attack on the Voreux pit, and Bebert and Lydie, killed by the volley fired by the troops, fell dead in one another’s arms.  Germinal.