I shall never come back again.

My bones will rest in some corner over yonder." And yet, after he had affectionately embraced Pierre and Guillaume, he drew himself up like one who remained unconquered, and he raised a supreme cry of hope.

"But after all, who knows?
Triumph may perhaps come to-morrow.
The future belongs to those who prepare it and wait for it!" Then he walked away, and long after he had disappeared his firm, sonorous footsteps could be heard re-echoing in the quiet night..