PELLETIER, one of Benassis' patients in Isere, who died in 1829, was buried on the same day as the last "cretin," which had been kept on account of popular superstition. Pelletier left a wife, who saw Genestas, and several children, of whom the eldest, Jacques, was born about 1807. [The Country Doctor.]
PEN-HOEL (Jacqueline de), of a very old Breton family, lived at Guerande, where she was born about 1780. Sister-in-law of the Kergarouets of Nantes, the patrons of Major Brigaut, who, despite the displeasure of the people, did not themselves hesitate to assume the name of Pen-Hoel. Jacqueline protected the daughters of her younger sister, the Vicomtesse de Kergarouet. She was especially attracted to her eldest niece, Charlotte, to whom she intended to give a dowry, as she desired the girl to marry Calyste du Guenic, who was in love with Felicite des Touches. [Beatrix.]
PEROUX (Abbe), brother of Madame Julliard; vicar of Provins during the Restoration. [Pierrette.]
PERRACHE, small hunchback, shoemaker by trade, and, in 1840, porter in a house belonging to Corentin on rue Honore-Chevalier, Paris. [The Middle Classes.]
PERRACHE (Madame), wife of the preceding, often visited Madame Cardinal, niece of Toupillier, one of Corentin's renters. [The Middle Classes.]
PERRET, with his partner, Grosstete, preceded Pierre Graslin in a banking-house at Limoges, in the early part of the nineteenth century.
[The Country Parson.]
PERRET (Madame), wife of the preceding, an old woman in 1829, disturbed herself, as did every one in Limoges, over the assassination committed by Jean-Francois Tascheron. [The Country Parson.]
PERROTET, in 1819, laborer on Felix Grandet's farm in the suburbs of Saumur. [Eugenie Grandet.]
PETIT-CLAUD, son of a very poor tailor of L'Houmeau, a suburb of Angouleme, where he pursued his studies in the town lyceum, becoming acquainted at the same time with Lucien de Rubempre. He studied law at Poitiers. On going back to the chief city of La Charente, he became clerk to Maitre Olivet, an attorney whom he succeeded. Now began Petit-Claud's period of revenge for the insults which his poverty and homeliness had brought on. He met Cointet, the printer, and went into his employ, although at the same time he feigned allegiance to the younger Sechard, also a printer. This conduct paved the way for his accession to the magistracy. He was in turn deputy and king's procureur. Petit-Claud did not leave Angouleme, but made a profitable marriage in 1822 with Mademoiselle Francoise de la Haye, natural daughter of Francis du Hautoy and of Madame de Senonches. [Lost Illusions.]
PETIT-CLAUD (Madame), wife of the preceding, natural daughter of Francis du Hautoy and of Madame de Senonches; born Francoise de la Haye, given into the keeping of old Madame Cointet; married through the instrumentality of Madame Cointet's son, the printer, known as Cointet the Great. Madame Petit-Claud, though insignificant and forward, was provided with a very substantial dowry. [Lost Illusions.]
PEYRADE, born about 1758 in Provence, Comtat, in a large family of poor people who eked out a scant subsistence on a small estate called Canquoelle. Peyrade, paternal uncle of Theodose de la Peyrade, was of noble birth, but kept the fact secret. He went from Avignon to Paris in 1776, where he entered the police force two years later. Lenoir thought well of him. Peyrade's success in life was impaired only by his immoralities; otherwise it would have been much more brilliant and lasting. He had a genius for spying, also much executive ability.
Fouche employed him and Corentin in connection with the affair of Gondreville's imaginary abduction. A kind of police ministry was given to him in Holland. Louis XVIII. counseled with him and gave him employment, but Charles X. held aloof from this shrewd employe.
Peyrade lived in poverty on rue des Moineaux with an adored daughter, Lydie, the child of La Beaumesnil of the Comedie-Francaise. Certain events brought him into the notice of Nucingen, who employed him in the search for Esther Gobseck, at the same time warning him against the courtesan's followers. The police department, having been told of this arrangement by the so-called Abbe Carlos Herrera, would not permit him to enter into the employ of a private individual. Despite the protection of his friend, Corentin, and the talent as a policeman, which he had shown under the assumed names of Canquoelle and Saint-
Germain, especially in connection with F. Gaudissart's seizure, Peyrade failed in his struggle with Jacques Collin. His excellent transformation into a nabob defender of Madame Theodore Gaillard made the former convict so angry that, during the last years of the Restoration, he took revenge on him by making away with him. Peyrade's daughter was abducted and he died from the effects of poison. [The Gondreville Mystery. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PEYRADE (Lydie).[*] (See La Peyrade, Madame Theodose de.)
[*] Under the title of "Lydie" a portion of the life of Peyrade's daughter was used in a play presented at the Theatre des Nations, now Theatre de Paris, but the author did not publish his play.
