# Widow Lerouge — The Lerouge Case character guide

> Widow Lerouge in The Lerouge Case by Émile Gaboriau.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** the Widow Lerouge, Lerouge, Noel, The Widow Lerouge, Widow Lerouge Noel, the murdered Widow Lerouge, Claudine Lerouge, Claudine, Poor Claudine

**First appearance:** 0000-the-lerouge-case

## Snapshot

A murdered old woman whose hidden knowledge of a noble birth and a buried secret made her, for years, a quiet danger to powerful people.

## Who they are

Claudine Lerouge lived modestly, but her past as a servant to a great lady left her holding the proofs of a clandestine birth and a child raised in secret. Her demands and extravagance, fed by that knowledge, eventually made her a liability to those she could expose. Her violent death in the opening pages sets the whole machinery of the novel in motion, and the question of what she knew and who feared it drives the investigation forward.

## Relationships

### [Noel Gerdy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/characters/noel_gerdy)

_psychological_

Noel is obsessed with silencing Widow Lerouge, who holds the secret of his true parentage, leading him to murder her.

### [Noel Gerdy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/characters/noel_gerdy)

_psychological_

Noel is obsessed with silencing Widow Lerouge, who holds the secret of his true parentage, leading him to murder her.

### [Noel Gerdy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/characters/noel_gerdy)

_psychological_

Noel is obsessed with silencing Widow Lerouge, who holds the secret of his true parentage, leading him to murder her.

## In the story

### [The Lerouge Case](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/chapters/the-lerouge-case)

The victim of the murder, found dead in her home.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/chapters/i)

The murder victim, found dead in her cottage with her face in the ashes and two stab wounds. She was a secretive woman who lived in Bougival for twelve years, known for her fine clothes and jewels, and had a son named Jacques.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/chapters/ii)

The murder victim; her body is examined, and evidence from her fingernails reveals the murderer wore kid gloves.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/chapters/iii)

The murder victim; revealed to have been Noel Gerdy's nurse and a former servant of Madame Gerdy.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/chapters/iv)

Mentioned as the nurse who participated in the conspiracy and who could have provided decisive testimony; her murder destroyed that evidence.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/chapters/ix)

Claudine Lerouge is Noel's former nurse, potentially a key witness who could support Noel's claims.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/characters/widow_lerouge
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lerouge_case_se/characters