COUPEAU (MADAME), mother of Coupeau the zinc-worker. She was an old woman, and, her sight having given way, was unable to support herself. Her daughter, Madame Lorilleux, refused anything but the most trifling assistance, and ultimately Gervaise Coupeau took the old woman into her own home and supported her till her death, which occurred some years later. L’Assommoir.
COURAJOD, a great landscape painter, whose masterpiece, the _Pool at Gagny_, is in the Luxembourg. Long before his death he disappeared from the world of art, and lived in a little house at Montmartre surrounded by his hens, ducks, rabbits, and dogs. He refused to speak of his former fame, and when Claude Lantier called on him the old man seemed to be entering into a second childhood, forgetful of his past. L’Oeuvre.
COUTARD, a soldier of infantry who belonged to the Second Division of the First Army Corps, which was defeated at Wissembourg on 4th August, 1870. He and his companion Picot were slightly wounded, and were left behind, not being able to rejoin their regiments for three weeks, most of which they spent tramping the country through wet and mud, endeavouring to overtake the vanquished army of France. La Debacle.
CRASSE (LA), i.e. “The Dirty.” Sobriquet of a professor at the college of Plassans, so called by the pupils as he marked by the constant rubbing of his head the back of every chair he occupied. L’Oeuvre.
CREVECOEUR, a lace merchant in Rue Mail. Henri Deloche left his employment, and entered Octave Mouret’s shop on the same day as Denise Baudu. Au Bonheur des Dames.
CRON, a carter at Vendome. He was the father of Leonie Cron. L’Argent.
CRON (LEONIE), the girl to whom the Comte de Beauvilliers gave the document which afterwards came into the hands of Busch, and was used by him as a means of blackmailing the widow of the Comte. L’Argent.
CUCHE, a family of fisher people who resided at Bonneville. They were ruined by their house being washed away by the sea. The father and mother lived extremely dissolute lives, and their son grew up little better than a savage. Pauline Quenu made great efforts to reform him, but he refused all attempts to make him settle down. La Joie de Vivre.
CUDORGE (MADAME), a seller of umbrellas in the Rue Neuve de la Goutte d’Or, where she was a neighbour of Gervaise Lantier. L’Assommoir.