Gericke

Young man whom Marie meets at Spa in July 1874 (carnets 021-023). In 021/1874-07-11 he is "le plus gentil d'ici", calls her Douchenka (Russian: darling), and she banters with him ("je l'appelle Imbécile"). In 034.0358 (1875-06-17) Marie calls him "cet horrible Hollandais", so she took him for Dutch. He is apparently not the "Hollandais" of 021/1874-07-11, who is named there separately from Gericke ("Alors vient le Hollandais").

Why he matters in 1875

According to Marie's mother, Gericke later drew away and kept out of sight at Spa because he thought Marie was in love with him (reported in 034.0357, 1875-06-17). The humiliation left her afraid of seeming "aimable" and of being thought amorous, which colours her behaviour towards Audiffret (034.0357-0358, 034.0535: "le souvenir du maudit Gericke qui me gâte tout. Je ne fais rien comme à Spa").

Tagged in 48 files (carnets 021-023 chiefly, then 027-034, 044-045, 068, 070).

Identity per the edition index (added 2026-10-21)

The Mon Journal t.10 index identifies him as «Gericke (Charles, baron d'Herwynen), 127-128», the pages of 070/1877-04-20, where Marie calls him «cet ivrogne hollandais» (070.0746). Gericke van Herwijnen is a Dutch baronial family; its best-known member in 1874 was Louis (J.L.H.A.) baron Gericke van Herwijnen (1814–1899), Dutch minister of foreign affairs 1871–1874 and envoy in Brussels until 1895 (parlement.com). Whether Marie's Gericke was his son or another relative was not established (0.5).

1877

In Naples on 20 April 1877, three years after Spa, the memory returns as a superstitious dread: she fears that every man will behave like Gericke and divides men into «les Gericke et les Merjeewsky» (070.0743–0758).