The race of the Rougons was destined to become refined through its female side.

Adelaide had made Pierre a man of moderate enterprise, disposed to low ambitions; Felicite had inspired her sons with a higher intelligence, with a capacity for greater vices and greater virtues.
At the period now referred to the eldest, Eugene, was nearly forty years old.

He was a man of middle height, slightly bald, and already disposed to obesity.

He had his father's face, a long face with broad features; beneath his skin one could divine the fat to which were due the flabby roundness of his features, and his yellowish, waxy complexion.

Though his massive square head still recalled the peasant, his physiognomy was transfigured, lit up from within as it were, when his drooping eyelids were raised and his eyes awoke to life.