After much hesitation he took courage, and decided to speak to her.
It was evening; the little hunchback, in much agitation, directed his steps toward the work-woman's garret just as he was about to enter, he thought he heard a strange voice pronouncing the maiden's name.
He quickly pushed open the door, and perceived Toinette weeping, and leaning on the shoulder of a young man in the dress of a sailor.
At the sight of my uncle, she disengaged herself quickly, and ran to him, crying out: "Ah! come in--come in! It is he that I thought was dead: it is Julien; it is my betrothed!" Maurice tottered, and drew back.

A single word had told him all! It seemed to him as if the ground shook and his heart was about to break; but the same voice that he had heard by his mother's deathbed again sounded in his ears, and he soon recovered himself.

God was still his friend! He himself accompanied the newly-married pair on the road when they left the town, and, after wishing them all the happiness which was denied to him, he returned with resignation to the old house in the suburb.
It was there that he ended his life, forsaken by men, but not as he said by the Father which is in heaven.

He felt His presence everywhere; it was to him in the place of all else.

When he died, it was with a smile, and like an exile setting out for his own country.