VINCARD, a silk merchant, who, seeing that his business was likely to be seriously affected by the competition of “The Ladies’ Paradise,” he sold it to Robineau, and took a restaurant at Vincennes.  Au Bonheur des Dames.

VINCENT, a tavern-keeper in the neighbourhood of Montsou.  Germinal.

VINEUIL (COMMANDANT DE), father of Gilberte.  Retired from active service on account of his wounds, he was appointed Director of Customs at Charleville.  His wife died of consumption, and he sent his daughter, about whose health he was alarmed, to reside for a time at a farm near Chene-Populeux.  He died soon after Gilberte’s marriage to Maginot, the Inspector of State Forests.  La Debacle.

VINEUIL (COLONEL DE), brother of the preceding.  In 1870 he commanded the 106th Regiment of the line, which formed part of the Seventh Army corps.  He was a man of fine appearance and character, and bore his part bravely through the disastrous campaign, until he was severely wounded on the battlefield of Sedan.  Notwithstanding his wound, he remained on his horse till the end, when he was removed to the house of Delaherche, the husband of his niece Gilberte.  By December his wound was cured, but crushed by his country’s defeats, his mental depression was so great that he remained in a darkened room, refusing to hear news from the outer world, and associating only with his old friend Madame Delaherche, the mother of his niece’s husband.  At the end of December he died suddenly, horror-struck by an account of the surrender of Metz, which he chanced to read in an old newspaper.  La Debacle.

VINEUIL (GILBERTE DE), daughter of Commandant de Vineuil.  She was first married to Maginot, and afterwards to Jules Delaherche.  When she was nine years old, her father, alarmed at a cough she had, sent her to live at a farm, where she came to know Henriette Levasseur.  Even at that age she was a coquette, and when at twenty she married Maginot, the Inspector of the State Forests at Mezieres, her character had not changed.  Mezieres she found dull, but her husband allowed her full liberty, and she found all the gaiety she desired at Charleville.  There she lived solely for pleasure, and Captain Beaudoin became her lover.  In 1869 she became a widow, and in spite of the stories told about her she found a second husband, Jules Delaherche.  On the eve of the battle of Sedan she resumed for the nonce her former relations with Beaudoin.  Gay and irresponsible by nature, she flirted with Captain von Gartlauben, a Prussian officer, who was quartered on her husband after the capitulation of Sedan, while at the same time she carried on a liaison with Edmond Lagarde, a young soldier who had been wounded, and whom she had assisted to nurse.  La Debacle.

VIOLAINE (LOUISE), an actress at the Theatre des Varietes.  She took the part in the Blonde Venus originally played by Nana, and secured a great success.  Nana.