VAUCOGNE (MADAME HECTOR), wife of the preceding.  See Estelle Badeuil.  La Terre.

VAUCOGNE (ELODIE), daughter of the preceding, and granddaughter of M. and Madame Charles Badeuil.  She was seven years old when her parents took over the maison publique of her grandfather, and she was then sent to a convent at Chateaudun to be educated by the Sisters of the Visitation.  Her holidays were spent with her grandparents, and she was supposed to be under the impression that her parents were carrying on a large confectionery business, but Victorine, a servant who had been dismissed for misconduct, had made her aware of the facts, and when, at eighteen years of age, she was asked in marriage by her cousin Ernest Delhomme, she astonished her grandparents by joining with him in a desire to succeed to the family establishment.  La Terre.

VAUGELADE (DUC DE), at one time the master of Gourd, who was his valet.  Pot-Bouille.

VENOT (THEOPHILE), an old lawyer who made a speciality of ecclesiastical cases, and had acquired a fortune by serving the Jesuits.  He had retired with a comfortable sum, and led an existence slightly mysterious; received everywhere, saluted very low, even a little feared, as he represented a great and unknown force which he had behind him.  An intimate friend of the Muffats, he did everything in his power to put an end to the liaison between the Comte and Nana, and, though no success attended his efforts for a considerable time, he was able when ruin seemed imminent to save Muffat from scandal and to console him by a return to the practice of religion.  Nana.

VERDIER (BARON), proprietor of a racing-stable.  Frangipane, one of his horses, ran in the Grand Prix de Paris.  Nana.

VERDIER, a lawyer who had been for a long time engaged to Hortense Josserand.  The marriage was put off from time to time, as he had got entangled with a woman from whom he found separation difficult.  Pot-Bouille.

VERDONCK, a grocer at Montsou.  His business was much affected by the competition of Maigrat, and he gave credit during the first week of the strike in the hope of getting back some of his old customers.  Germinal.

VERLAQUE, an inspector in the fish-market at the Halles Centrales.  Having fallen into bad health, he was allowed to find a substitute to keep the place open for him in case he should recover.  Florent was appointed, and paid a considerable portion of the salary to Verlaque.  Le Ventre de Paris.

VERLAQUE (MADAME), wife of the preceding.  Florent assisted her after the death of her husband.  Le Ventre de Paris.

VERNIER, an art critic who published an article on Fagerolles the artist.  L’Oeuvre.