In this old man one was conscious of a man put to the proof.

Though so near to his end, he preserved all the gestures of health.

In his clear glance, in his firm tone, in the robust movement of his shoulders, there was something calculated to disconcert death.

Azrael, the Mohammedan angel of the sepulchre, would have turned back, and thought that he had mistaken the door.

G---- seemed to be dying because he willed it so.