to develop the genius of a great painter, but the one whose deceptive talent, set off by a pretended display of audacity, would command a premium in the market.  He speculated, in fact, on the ignorance and vanity of amateurs.  It was he who invented Fagerolles as a fashion, and made large sums out of his works.  His success in forcing up the prices of pictures turned his head to some extent, and he even talked of crushing out all the other dealers.  The exaggerated rise in the price of pictures came, as was inevitable, to an end, and in the fall which followed Naudet was practically ruined.  L’Oeuvre.

NEGREL (MADAME), sister of M. Hennebeau, the manager of the Montsou mines.  She was married to a captain, and after she became a widow lived at Avignon on a small income, contenting herself with little in order that she might properly educate her son Paul.  Germinal.

NEGREL (PAUL), son of the preceding.  He was an engineer at the Voreux pit, an appointment which he received from his uncle, M. Hennebeau, with whom he lived, being treated as one of the family.  Madame Hennebeau, notwithstanding a liaison which subsisted between her and Negrel, planned for him a marriage with Cecile Gregoire, an arrangement which was only prevented by the murder of the girl by old Bonnemort.  Negrel posed as taking no interest in the affairs of practical life, but in the terrible disaster at the Voreux pit he threw himself into the work of rescue with an ardour beyond praise.  Germinal.

NOEMI, an actress at the Vaudeville.  Madame Deberle admired the realistic manner in which she died in a piece she played.  Une Page d’Amour.

NORINE, a vendor of salted provisions, who went around the neighbourhood of Cloyes.  La Terre.

NORMANDE (LA), the sobriquet of Louise Mehudin.  Le Ventre de Paris.

NOUGAREDE, an old senator who was on the point of asking the hand of Clorinde Balbi after having seen her at a ball in the character of Diana the huntress.  Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

O

OCTAVE, the favourite lover of Blanche de Sivry.  Nana.

ORVIEDO (PRINCE D’), came to Paris from Spain with an immense fortune made on the Stock Exchange.  There were strange stories told regarding the sources of his wealth; stories not more creditable than those told of the armed bandits of former days, for his robberies, though less open, were more dangerous.  For twenty years he took his share of booty in all the great financial swindles.  He ultimately died of apoplexy.  L’Argent.