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Tall, dark
haired and swarthy, Jean Beaulieu insisted on being known as
the vicomte de Beaulieu, but in fact he came under the
category that there were more aristocrats in France after
the Revolution than there were before.
He was set on
showing as good an appearance as he could, and was
frustrated by the people around him to didn’t live up to his
plans. He was cruel and unfeeling to his family, his
children as well as his wife, though he treated his four
eldest sons somewhat differently. Determined to recover a
grande lineage, he set about trying to have a dozen sons to
hand down his expertise to, and the four eldest seemed to
him to be heaven sent to get his lineage started.
Pompous and
proud, it was beneath Jean to consider that he might be part
of the bourgeoisie. He knew he came from finer stock than
that, even though he couldn’t prove it. With his four sons,
he would establish himself.
His family firm
was not mere trading, buying and selling, it was a dynasty,
and he would see it expanded to the biggest, most
profitable, and well run organisation in France or die in
the effort. Each of Jean's sons was trained to specialise in
an aspect of his company. By the time he met Otto von Goff,
he had ten sons, the eldest four of whom were adult and
working in the family firm.
The daughter who
came after the four, and the younger sons gave him permanent
disappointment and frustration. He was heavy handed with
them, often beating them and his wife because his impossible
dream of himself was not being satisfied and he blamed them
instead of taking a look at his life.
Jean had no love
of Prussians or Prussia, but he tolerated dealing with Otto
because it was such a good business opportunity. He planned
to expand his dealings with Prussia to expand his future. |
