All of them would believe that he was dead, and he remembered suddenly that Julie, who was there among them, would believe it, too.

Would she grieve?
Or would he merely be one of the human beings passing through her life, fleeting and forgotten, like the shower that had just gone?
It was true that he had escaped, but he might be killed in some battle before she was rescued from Auersperg--if she was rescued.
These thoughts were hateful, and turning into the road by which they had come to the chateau he ran down it.

He ran because he wanted motion, because he wished to reach the French army as quickly as he could, and help Lannes organize for the rescue of Julie.
He ran a long distance, because his excitement waned slowly, and because the severe exercise made the blood course rapidly through his veins, counteracting the effects of his cold and wetting.

When he began to feel weary he turned out of the road, knowing that it was safer in the fields.

He had the curious belief or impression now that the black shower was all arranged for his benefit.