M. Coquenard

M. Coquenard is a procurator and the husband of Madame Coquenard. His brief appearance at Porthos’s departure for the campaign reveals a stark contrast between his courteous public farewell and his private hope that his cousin will die in the field. Through that contrast, the episode presents him as a resentful counterpoint to his wife’s openly expressed attachment to Porthos.

Identity and Household

M. Coquenard is identified through his profession and marriage: he is the procurator whose wife is known for her attachment to her relatives, a source of serious, recurring disputes between them. Porthos is described as Madame Coquenard’s cousin, and M. Coquenard regards him as a beloved relative while meeting him in the household. The scene makes the kinship a point of tension rather than uncomplicated family affection.

Reaction to Porthos’s Equipment

When Porthos passes through the Rue aux Ours in his new uniform and on his fine horse, Madame Coquenard signals for him to dismount and visit her. Porthos’s appearance is conspicuously martial: his spurs jingle, his cuirass gleams, and his sword strikes against his side. The clerks who had previously found him laughable show no inclination to do so now; he looks formidable.

M. Coquenard is introduced to Porthos in this newly splendid equipment. His little gray eyes sparkle with anger at the sight. The campaign’s expected severity offers him inward consolation: he privately hopes that his cousin will be killed in the field. The military danger that makes Porthos’s appearance impressive thus becomes, for M. Coquenard, the possibility of his rival’s removal.

Farewell and Characterization

In public, M. Coquenard pays Porthos compliments and bids him farewell, while wishing him every prosperity. His polite leave-taking conceals the opposite wish he has entertained. Madame Coquenard, by contrast, cannot restrain her tears. Her grief attracts no suspicion because she is known to be deeply attached to her relatives, despite her husband’s continual serious disputes with her over them.

The couple’s contrasting responses define M. Coquenard’s role in the episode. He does not openly obstruct Porthos’s departure; instead, resentment surfaces in his inward hope that the campaign will do what he cannot. The farewell gives that hostility a public mask of good wishes, while Madame Coquenard’s visible distress makes the emotional division within the household plain.